#Mac export to toaster?
8 messages in this thread
A friend of mine works at a shop where most of the the illustration
is done on a Macintosh, but the animation is done on an Amiga equipped with
the video toaster. Is there a format in which a Mac graphic image might be
exported and then imported into the Amiga to be animated with the toaster?
– Richard
Richard,
Assuming that the "image" is indeed a 2D image, have they thought
about adding a decent Genlock to the MAC and using it as just another video
source for the toaster?
-John
Richard–
We had a similiar problem were I work – getting Illustrator files into a
usable format for video work. Some possibilities:
* If its a vector based package, like Illustrator or Freehand, that
outputs postscript, its time for a software postscript interpreter. We
used GoScript on the PC, because Post was not out yet on the Amiga, and we
were advised by "someone in the know" (who could obviously be wrong) to
avoid Pixelscript. At anyrate, such packages on most platforms will often
give you the option to "drive" a raster file instead of a printer. Once
you have a raster file (IFF, PCX, TIFF…) its easy to use either HiJaak on
the PC or ADPro (better choice) on the Amiga to convert to the needed file
format – I would guess IFF(24) for the Toaster. However, the downside is
that most of these interpreters do not support color. Makes it difficult
to use a gradient fill…
* Plan B is to use a package that will save out your art as a raster
file. If you can do this, that is, save a TIFF file, you're ready to go
straight into ADPro to convert to the needed format.
I am assuming that your Mac as a SuperFD floppy, so you can write files
to 720k IBM format disks. CrossDos on the Amiga can read these. Since
24-bit TIFF's may get a bit large, look into Stuffit on the Mac for
crunching these files, and look for UNSIT (PD/Shareware (?)) for the Amiga
to uncrunch. UNSIT is probably waiting to be downloaded right here.
I hope that this is helpful. We went nuts at first trying to get this
down to a science…
Jonathan
– via Whap!
I'm working on an article for Compute magazine about moving files between
Mac, PC and Amiga. What sort of secrets did you learn in your search for
ways to move files around? I've got MacLink, Hijaak, PhotoShop and some PD
utilities… SuperDrives are great. Does anyone hear know about CBM's
high-density drive, and what it might offer?
John–
My routine was something like this:
The artist would create art in Illustrator '88 (now 3.0); he/she would
save the art in EPS format with no preview (use the '88 compatibility
switch when using 3.0). I would transfer that to the PC using the
SuperDrive, and load it into a text editor. After adding a SHOWPAGE
command at the end of the EPS, I would load it into my rasterizer. First,
I was using Hijaak PS, which used an older version of GoScript to actually
do the rasterizing, but switched to GoScript 3.0 (which has PCX and TIFF
drivers). All art had to fit into a predetermined size that matched up
with the screen size on the Amiga.
After it was rasterized, I would convert it with Hijaak, although now I
use ADPro, which seems to do a better job (haven't upgraded to the new
Hijaak, though). At that point, I was ready to work with the outlines as
converted to IFF. Now, I'll use Post1.6 and ADPro on the Amiga, giving me
much more control. If I learn some Postscript, I can then modify the files
at will and scale where necessary, without having to go back to the Mac.
Hit me with any other questions – I was going to write a similiar
article for Amazing, but I wimped out.
Jonathan
– via Whap!
How many colors do you keep in the transfer? Can you 'rasterize' to
24-bits with any of those utilities? With Post? Probably you could set
page output settings in Illustrator to get the correct PS page size, scale
I'm not working with the Toaster; the art transfers as 1-bit monochrome,
and I finish the art in DPaint or whatever. Photoshop on the Mac might
(I'm only vaguely familiar with it) give you deep color abilities, but I'm
not sure if it accepts vector files. Post does not support deep color, as
far as I can tell, but I could be wrong on this one.
There is a mac version of arc somewhere as well, I worked with a service
bureau which had such a beast.