#Abekas / Accom
8 messages in this thread
I have been involved in a bit of dialog with another forum member and want to
verify a claim he has made that is contrary to some information I have received
via FAX from the respective manufacturers this afternoon. I would like to give
him the benefit of the doubt and see if there is something I'm missing to this
issue.
The claim was made that it is not possible to use an Abekas DDR or Accom
without attaching it to an SGI platform. I was under the impression that the
Abekas was a stand alone system.* I also just received some literature from
Diaquest where they claim to support the respective DDRs with their Animaq
software which runs under windows for 14 different DDR control including the
Abekas and Accom.
*My info received from Abekas indicates that the video link is via either
SCSI-2 or ethernet. The file format is a "TAR" format. Seems to me that all
that would be required is a lan and some form of software conversion from the
TGA files. The purchase of an SGI machine is not required to load and control
the Abekas. Can you clarify this issue?
The literature did state that the A65 comes with software to run on the SGI
Indigo but did not state that this platform was required to use the Abekas,
only to gain special features of this software.
Don,
I won't stake my reputation on it, but I'm pretty sure the Abekas people told
me you can hook a PC to an Abekas. That didn't include needing an SGI. The SGI
might have some nice software to control it, though, but it's not strictly
necessary.
Don,
Diaquest controls the Abekas & Accom from PCs and Macs. Has been used
for years. Also their Animaq/VM works with the FAST Video Machines to access
the DDRs and usual roundup of VTR suspects.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Hi Kevin:
Yes, I pretty much gathered that with info from the horses mouth. It never
ceases to amaze me how much "matter of fact" mis-information is disseminated on
these forums. I have come to know a small collection of people here that I can
trust for straight facts on my questions. Others, I just use as leads for
verification. On another forum, I received the info that I would have to
switch to the mac inorder to use Anamaq/VM as it only works on the Mac. This
came from a MAC dealer. When I received this info I was holding a FAX spec
sheet stating just the oposite.
I will probably be forced (kicking and screaming) into buying the Anamaq/vm if
a contract I submitted is accepted. It calls for many special effects
involving rotoscoping and general single frame video processing using component
betacam SP editing quality. In my opinion, the PAR will work for all the
straight animation as it has already passed the qualify tests but has failed
due to artifacts on the rotoscoping. A second submittal using non compressed
rotofiles mapped and output to the par did pass, so, I guess we need to be able
to single frame (quick pass) the roto files for the project. I am bidding on
the complete post for the 30 minute show (22 minutes + commercials pre
packaged) The 22 minutes has about 7 minutes of stuff requiring rendered
frames. I am bidding against houses that will probably do some of the effects
with real time processing.
That's silly. Both Abekas and Accoms are nothing more than stand alone
computers running their own version of Unix. The "normal" way to transfer stuff
back and forth is using standard Unix tools (over a TCP/IP network). You can
also control them through a SCSI port if you want to dedicate the unit to one
single machine (using ethernet any machine on the net can access it). Blausen
Medical over in Texas (see Siggraph Demo Tape) has a fleet of PC's controlling
an Abekas and no SGI. Paul Lind runs his Abekas from PC's.
>> Paul Lind runs his Abekas from PC's <<
Absolutely! I run both my Abekas and Accom from my PC's as well as my SGI
machines. You could probably run the things from any platform. The Accom
especially is actually a baby AT motherboard with standard PC serial ports. The
entire damn thing is a PC.
Sorry I haven't jumped on this thread. I'm absolutely swamped!!!!!!!
I figured Gus or Greg would jump in and straighten things out.
Take Care, Paul
Thanks guys, I thought so! The arguement originally was that the low end DDRs
were not so low price because they "required the SGI" I'm glad you guys with
true experience have been reading. I guess my assumption that the true DDRs
are still a very cost effective upgrade from the PAR.
Things have been going well here, Paul and its good to hear from you once in
awhile.
Don Landis
Paul:
>> I figured Gus or Greg would jump in and straighten things out.
Shows what happens when you leave these things to others! <bg> I was out of
town from the 26th through the 29th, and I'm just now catching up on ASOFT!
Greg Pyros