#Full screen animation
19 messages in this thread
Hi,
I'm having problems playing full screen animation. I even dropped resolution of
the rendered animation from 800×600 to 640×480 and can still see each frame
drawn on the screen (8 sec animation goes for 40 sec !). I thought that it
would be CL graphic card (only 1Mb) with 486/66 & 16Mb causing problems so I've
tried on P66 with Diamond 4Mb VRam – same effect !!! Is there a seeting during
rendering that might help ???
BTW – after converting file to AVI the final result is even worse …
What's the secret of playing full screen good resolution animation ???
greg 🙂
>> What's the secret of playing full screen good resolution animation ??? <<
Hey, you're getting 6 fps at 640 x 480, which sounds fairly good to me for
a flic on a 486! I usually am happy with 320 x 240 at 15 fps.
For faster flic playback, try to load the flic into RAM, it will play
faster than off of the HD. How big is the file?
If you want full resolution playback at 30 fps, look into the PAR or PVR
by DPS, or one of the MARS cards. They use special compression schemes to
playback video in real time.
Paul S.
Mucios gracios Paul,
that was quick response, thx.
So looks like 640×480 on 486/16Mb 4Mb VRAm like is no go.
I probably sound ignorant but what ' PAR or PVR by DPS, or one of the MARS
cards' means ?
Why the hell Diamond advertises the 4Mb VRAM card as the one that 'plays
smooth, realistic video in full screen up to 1280×1024' ?
Did I just wasted some money here ? …
Once again thx for quick response.
greg 🙂
DPS is Digital Processing Systems. They make the PAR (Personal Animation
Recorder) and now the PVR (Perception Video Recorder). If you do a search in
the library under DPS, PAR and/or PVR you will find some detailed info about
these products.
Basically, they act like a VCR inside your computer. They have their own
dedicated hardrives, and playback animations at 30 fps. You can import .tga
files onto their drives, and even render straight to them from inside 3DS.
Then, rather than playing a flic back, you load up the PAR/PVR and watch the
video on a regular TV monitor.
The MARS cards work in a similar way, except they utilize a regular system
drive, I believe.
As far as Diamond's claim, I'll leave that to someone else to answer. I don't
have much experience with video cards.
>> Once again thx for quick response. <<
You're welcome!
Paul S.
Hi Greg, PMJI but nobody mentioned that the Par solution is about a $2500-$3000
purchase. Just to put it in perspective.
As far as Diamond goes, I would use wincim and FIND:DIAMOND. I'm sure the have
a presence in a forum here on CIS.
-Tyler Colwell
Sierra Analysis Group/Mountain Motion
>> As far as Diamond goes, I would use wincim and FIND:DIAMOND. I'm sure the
>> have a presence in a forum here on CIS.
PMFJI, but whoever needs Diamonds forum can be find it in GRAPHB section #3.
Ralph
>Hi Greg, PMJI but nobody mentioned that the Par solution is about a
>$2500-$3000 purchase. Just to put it in perspective.
>
>As far as Diamond goes, I would use wincim and FIND:DIAMOND. I'm >sure the
have a presence in a forum here on CIS.
>-Tyler Colwell
>Sierra Analysis Group/Mountain Motion
thx, for that Tyler, that will save me some time …
greg 🙂
Another option to the PAR is the Matrox Animation Xpress, for playing back
broadcast quality animations from hard disk in real time. If you would like
more information, please e-mail me you address, and I will mail you a brochure.
Regards,
Lori Smordin[Matrox]
Lori, thx for the response.
Please send me info about Matrox (price ?)
greg 🙂
Can you send me some info on your speedy animation playback cards.
Thanks
Geoff Coope
The Matrox Animation Xpress is a digital animation recorder. It eliminates
time-consuming frame-by-frame recording by playing back broadcast-quality
animations directly from hard disk in real time. It also provides a direct
connection to Autodesk 3D Studio. If you would like me to send you a brochure,
please e-mail me your mailing address.
Regards,
Lori Smordin[Matrox]
Based in the UK:
SILKMOTH LTD
Mulberry House
9 Lowe Street
Macclesfield
Cheshire, SK11 7NJ
ENGLAND
Thanks
Geoff
Lori,
I would be interested in seeing some info on this card.
Thanks for your help!
– Darin Lenderink
Flat Earth Games
Darin Lenderink – Flat Earth Games
Greg,
there's a few techniques in creating smooth playing animations on computers and
they mostly pertain to how well an animation compresses. What you're actually
doing is minimizing the number of pixels which change from frame to frame.
Try to do them on a plain coloured background (1 colour value like black)
Rotate objects rather than rotate the camera.
Lock off camera movement entirely or keep it slow enough to avoid strobing and
tearing. Consider using cuts rather than a dynamic flying camera in long
scenes.
That should help.
Martin
Martin, Thanx a lot !
That was my problem ! In this particular animation I'm using camera flying the
company logo. I couldn't understand why another animation of similar
resoulution didn't those problems.
greg 🙂
Greg-
I think I can clear up your confusion re the diamond stealth Vram card and its
claim to do smooth video at outrageous resolutions-
ie. it is in actual fact merely interpolating (enlarging) a low resolution AVI
to a larger resolution while playing the file – this doesn't mean you can play
back files originally rendered at these high resolutions (e.g.600*800)
unfortunately. Also video playback will be dependent on your cpu speed,
harddrive/controller speed and amount of ram available as well as having one of
the fastest video cards on the market (I would perhaps agree that sometimes
computer hardware adverts can be a trifle vague – or should that be
misleading?;-^), tho it has to be said that diamond is a highly respected
company and the card you have is definately one of the best going.)
Also as an alternative to the PAR/MARS cards (not forgetting the MAX!) being
mentioned, if your budget (like mine unfortunately!) can't stretch to these
prices you could also try contacting FAST and MIRO (GO fast or GO miro) who
produce cards at a much lower price point that do more or less the same kind of
thing (ie full motion video) as their more expensive counterparts ( although
obviously not to the same degree of quality- But as I'm sure you know you tend
to get what you pay for !(G))
Just my 2cents anyway- hope it helps
Stuart Aitken
Stuart,
Many thanks for your response re: Diamond VRAM card and full screen animation
playing. This the best info I've received (down to earth I mean …).
What sort of price I'm looking for the lower end card that can play full screen
animation ?
greg 🙂
Fast have just brought out a card that will do exactly what you want at a price
of around L500 here in the uk
at the current rate of exchange (about $1.60 to L1.00) that will probably mean
you'll get it in the states at around $500 (BG)!
its called the FPS60 and will (reputedly) do full pal or nstc resolution at 50
or 60 fields a second.
The Matrox MAX, DPS perception ,etc are much better boards but you'll need a
VERY fast Harddrive , controller and large ($4000- at least) bank balance!
for more info on the fast card GO FAST.
Stuart "not in fact a salesperson for fast" Aitken