#Archit.Walkthroughs
5 messages in this thread
Hi, Christophe
PMJI, but the actual resolution for NTSC video is 512×486 (I'm not sure of the
exact PAL/SECAM resolution, but it's just a little higher, certainly NOT
640×480). Rendering at higher resolutions that video will support will cause
your frame to be cropped when laying to tape. As a matter of fact, I've never
tried it, so I'm not even sure if you CAN lay an oversized res image on tape.
For 24/32bit frame accurate (RGB out to an animation controller that lays one
frame at a time on a frame accurate tape deck), if you render your animation in
PAL resolution, with "Render to Fields = ON" (alpha channel on for 32bit),
you'll get the highest image qaulity possible. If you just render an 8-bit
.flc or .fli at higher that 320×200, you'll get vertical refresh 'tear-lines'
with all the player utilities I've ever seen.
A good setup for frame accurate tape recording can run from $10,000 on up. The
lower prices would be for a frame controller like the Diaquest, a Targa+ frame
buffer card, and a Hi-8 frame accurate deck. Some tape decks even have the
hardware to do animation, like the Sony EV0-9750, which runs about $5000. High
quality decks like Beta-SP cost considerably more, I think somewhere in the
$12-25,000 range.
What I do when I need to lay anything to tape is take it to a service bureau.
I place all my rendered 512×480, 24bit .TGA files on a portable storage medium
and let the service bureau lay it onto tape. If the job calls for such high
quality (most do), I factor the 24bit image into the final price. 3D animation
is EXPENSIVE but effective.
Hope this long winded message helps.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie).
P.S.: I'm not sure if I mentioned everything needed to lay animation to tape,
I've been modeling too many hours and my brain is mashed. Also, prices and
equipment model numbers are U.S., so I don't know if they apply to the European
market.
John:
>> the actual resolution for NTSC video is 512×486
At the risk of quoting myself (one of my favorite sources <g>, I will repeat
a message I sent to Dave M a few days ago.
> #: 50432
>
> NTSC is analog, which is a difficult concept for us digital-mutants to
> understand! There is a fixed number of horizontal lines, 486 of which are
> visible, but the other direction just basically expands to fill the screen!
>
> A Vista card, considered the high end of video, will output 756×486. The
> Targa card, on the other hand, will output 512×486. These are the two
> extremes. The Abekas accepts 720 pixels horizontally.
>> Rendering at higher resolutions that video will support will cause your
>> frame to be cropped when laying to tape.
It all depends upon your graphics card! Vista resolution will be better
than Targa (30% more pixels, yes it is noticable!) with a Vista card. If
your service bureau can't support the better graphics resolutions, maybe you
should look for a better service bureau!
Greg Pyros
>>>There is a fixed number of horizontal lines, 486 of which are
> visible, but the other direction just basically expands to fill the
screen!>>>
Greg, I think you meant Vertical resolution is limited by the NTSC vertical
scan rate ie 525 lines of which 480 are visable, 486 for good rule of thumb for
borderless display. The horizontal line also being analog can be integrated to
an infinite number of lines of resolution but is limited to circuit design
/quality. Other limiting factors on particular video equipment such as cameras
and monitors further complicate this issue.
Don:
Sure I did! Vertical resolution = number of horizontal lines, no?
I was just over-simplifying to make a short story long!
Greg Pyros
Hi John,
Thanks for your advice, these are just the things I was hoping to hear by
placing my first message here, all the tips I get are welcome.
However the converter someone in our userclub has works the following way: He
uses a SPEA Graphite Hilite Card which has a connector for a videoconverter,
connects it to converter, and on the converter he can connect about 8 other
media like a TV so he can also get live his PC view on TV, and I've seen it
will working in the 3Deditor in 3Dstudio, and while rendering a still image and
it is pretty good. I know the real resolutions of TV are lower then any VGA
screen our higher screen modes but the quality of the converters seem to be
very important to get good results.
Thanks again, it's good to be on compuserve before I really get started 100
procent, I'm already learning a lot.
By the way the prices you mentioned seem to be quite similar, although this
does not apply to software (much more expensive in Europe then in the US, some
of the well known programmes up to 3 times higher prices)
Christophe Van Oyen (Bruges, Venice of The North)