#Mainactor Pro. questions
7 messages in this thread
Who out there is using MAINACTOR PROFESSIONAL by VillgeTronic for
animations? I'd like to hear from you about how well it works when creating 24
bit animations. The main questions I have about it are:
1) Will it compress/play Lightwave 3D animations? How?
2) Does it play Full Screen, 24 bit animations or is it
limited to a small window?
3) How many FPS is it capable of? Is it faster when used
with an 040 or 060?
4) About how many seconds of anim. can be played per 100mb
of hard drive space? How aout 500mb? 1gig?
5) It's listed that it has special, fast support for the
Picasso II. How fast is it? (Assuming you have a Picasso II.)
6) Does it support sound?
7) Is it easy to use and learn?
8) If you think this program sucks, then do you have another
suggestion other than a PAR, VLAB, or Flyer board?
Also, if you know anything about the new MAINACTOR BROADCAST coming out,
could you tell me what improvements it will provide over the PRO version?
I'm looking for something inexpensive to compress my 24 bit Lightwave 3D
animations, so I can record them to tape. I need it for making an animation
tape for my school portfolio, and for making Flying Logos and simple animations
for myown work. I can't afford to get a NLE board or a single frame tape deck.
MAINACTOR looks like what I need, but I was hoping one of you professionals out
there could give me some comments, suggestions, and advice about it. My
computer is an Amiga 2000 equipped with an 030/50mhz board (soon to be upgraded
to an 060), 34 megs of Fast Ram, 2 Chip, and a Picasso II 2 meg board with
Cybergraphics. Thanks so much for your help.
Keep On Animating!
Waiting for the MacroSystem's 060 accelerator to be released.
Chris Shepard: 030/50 Toaster A2000 & MacIIfx via Emplant.
i don't have pro but 1.55c
it has a specila picasso2 anim format which is better than ilbm anims and is
compressed
i don't know if it supports framstores unless they are animJ format>
it supports inclusion of sound
a mac quadra 640x48024bit at 1mb per 30 frames…so i guess 100 seconds/500
seconds
supports mpeg loading thru rexx file <from aminet<mpeg loader>
it's very easy to use even as shareware
it 's fps vary upon cpu….it's like brilliance with fps ….upto 99fps…
from disk option of anim players i have rarely work
the more buffer assigned the faster it iswindow is resizable,and can use
workbemch,and graphic screens<option to create public screen…
Picasso 2 card is best for this program….pro has more features than 1.55c i
think…It may even support framestores/24bit avi and mov files
Some have written here earlier that magic Latern 2.0 has it's own fast disk
playing format for many 24-bit cards. Also, if you want it quick, down and
dirty, just use DCTV. you can use rend-24 to make anim 5 DCTV frames, (with the
3 or 4 bit plane/laced or non-laced options) and than convert them to anim 8
format, OR you could try the Brit program, ClariSSA which says it can produce
50 f/s (PAL format, tho') out of interlaced anim 5 animation – even in DCTV
format. LS
well chris shepard wanted it for his picaso 2 card…mainactor pro has it's own
anim format specifaclly for the picasso 2 ,which is also faster/compressed….
He has a video toaster and a picasso 2 card….and wanted to have 24bit
realtime anims for his clients ithink
Chris, I have Main actor pro and Magic Lantern. I use Main Actor mostly as an
animation converter, which it does very well. I haven't found anything that
will allow me to play back full screen high color anims. If I have a client
that can't spend the money on a full blown anim, I just render 16 color anims
in DPaint or Brilliance. I have a Toaster/Flyer system so I don't worry about
playback anymore.
Rich, <<I have Main actor pro and Magic Lantern. I use Main Actor mostly as an
animation converter, which it does very well. I haven't found anything that
will allow me to play back full screen high color anims.>>
I managed to get my Mainactor demo to work, and I have been able to get full
screen, 24 bit animations to play. However, the anims are choppy. I think
it's because of my 030, and that it will speed up considerably when I upgrade
to an 060. Correct me if I'm wrong.
'Wish I had a Flyer myself. It makes the animations much easier to put
together and looks professional. I only wished it didn't cost that much. I
might go with VLAB Motion, but I'm still researching.
Upgrading to the blazing fast DKB Wildfire 68060/50 in October.
Chris Shepard: 030/50 A2000 with Toaster 4000 & MacIIfx via Emplant.
Chris, in my opinion the only way your going to get away from the choppy anim
playback is with an NLE system such as the Flyer or a tape deck you can record
single frames to.