#3ds to vhs
12 messages in this thread
James,
<What do you mean by inexpensive?
<If you have roughly $2K – $3K to work with, go for a PAR
I mean less $. For now we just want to get our feet wet & develope animation
skills within our dept. If things go well we will start to buy better
equipment. I guess what I am looking for is the minimum starter system.
Bruce Ordway
Well, you could use one of those inexpensive VGA to NTSC cards, like the
Cardinal Snap Plus. I have never used one myself, so I cannot be more
specific.
IMHO, if you are just learning, just store your FLCs on your HD (or arch to
floppy) and use your RGB for viewing. You may quickly outgrow the Snap Plus
and it would be a wasted investment. Once you get the hang of flics, a PAR or
MAX or T2000 will be a welcome addition and good investement.
— James — MAP —
I the name Targa a lot. Have you ever used one?
I have used a Targa+. It was limmited by 16 bit color at 720×480, and the 24
bit color was only at 512×486, so I was never totally happy with it. I have
heard that Targa's Vista products are far superior, but I really want an
Illuminator Pro that works with PCI. I currently use the DPS PAR and severely
enjoy it.
Wow, was that a load of shop talk or what? <BG>
— James — MAP —
James,
I will be primarily importing CAD drawings of mechanical elements into 3DS &
animating them. The animations will be used by our sales & service departments.
Besides a video card, what other equipment will I need to get to videotape?
Thanks
Bruce
If you are on a shoestring budget, consider buying a used Targa+. Get the
S-Video cable to attach the Targa to a consumer VCR. You can play FLCs off
your HD onto your Targa+ with AAPLAYHI and record them on your VCR.
The color will not be that great, and the playback will probably have some
tearing and speed fluctuation, but with practice, you can at least get some
basic animations to VHS tape. With practice you can even make it look pretty
good!
You could also consider using a service bureau, or even a local animator to
transfer your FLCs to tape. This would save you the cost of a Targa+ and VCR
for the short term. I still feel the best investment overall is a PAR and VCR.
— James — MAP —
James,
<If you are on a shoestring budget, consider buying a used Targa+. Get the
<S-Video cable to attach the Targa to a consumer VCR.
Thanks for the info. I am looking for the absolute cheapest. I have a learning
curve to go through with the software & I don't want to spend much on hardware
yet.
Bruce
i missed the beginning of this thread. if you are in the L.A. area i can help
with your 3ds to vhs solutions.
bill.
< if you are in the L.A. area i can help with your 3ds to vhs solutions.
Minneapolis
Just saw your message about being in Minneapolis after I posted my
VideoVGA message to you. I'm located in Fargo, ND. Its so flat, I think I can
see your house from here!
Give me a call or e-mail me if you'd like. I usually get down to the
cities every month or two …we could talk shop. Next trip I'm meeting a guy
from KARE 11 who uses 3DS. Hope to be there sometime this month.
See ya,
Paul Sanford
LEVEL 5 PRODUCTIONS
(701) 232-1295
Another option would be a VideoVGA card. I'm unsure of the brand and
price, but it may be cheaper than a used Targa+. I can find out more if you'd
like. My dealer let me use his while I was having trouble with my Targa+64,
and it works fine for NTSC output if high quality is not an issue. It can
output at 640x480x256 color NTSC (S-video or composite), as well as functioning
as your systems VGA card (same specs), saving space and money. I'm unsure of
the total # of colors available, but I'm pretty sure the palette is at least
32,000 colors, if not 65,000. It only shows 256 at one time.
If you are looking to output flics to tape, it works fine. If you later
want to advance to frame-by-frame, it looks good (but not true-color). There
is usually no color banding as you often get with flics, because the 256 colors
can change each frame.
It also offers some video in/out options, such as keying live video over a
color, etc.
Good luck,
Paul Sanford
LEVEL 5 PRODUCTIONS
Hi Bruce,
I'm a reseller in Florida. VGA to Video is my thing! Tell me what you want to
accomplish and indicate a budget range and I will spit out the answer to your
prayers.