CompuServe Thread

#Premiere and PAR

12 messages in this thread
#137731From: David McLaughlinNov 23, 1994 7:04 PM
I am presently beta testing Premiere 4.0 for Windows. It simply doesn't work with the PAR card. When selecting the PAR drive as the output destination for a targa sequence, "test.tga", the "making movie " box comes on for about 2 seconds then dissapears,and Premiere locks up. When checking the PAR drive directory, the file name "test.tga" is created, but this file is only garbage. I also get a General Protection fault in Premiere. When trying to rotoscope from the PAR while in Premiere with an animatiom selected on the PAR, and put in the construction window, with targa sequence output selected to the "c" drive, no compression, it outputs a nunbered sequence of targa files, but all the same file — the first frame of the animation. In other words it does not auto-increment. I have played around with the PAR windows set up screen with it's different options, and nothing works. Adobe Premiere technical support knows nothing. DPS PAR technical support also knows nothing. Furthermore, DPS assures me that they have a guy working with Adobe to make sure that the PAR will work directly with Premiere. Unfortunately, this apparantly is not the case. Joyce Chung, the Premiere Windows project manager , is not aware of any liaison . I reported my problems in writing both to Adobe and to DPS, with no reply from DPS. Joyce Chung did call me, which I appreciate greatly. However, Adobe does not seem concerned that Premiere will neither save to the PAR or rotoscope from it, and neither does DPS ! I tried my best to stress the importance of this PAR market to Adobe. I am affraid that Premiere 4.0 for Windows will be released in about two weeks, and it will not work with the PAR. PAR users could let Adobe know how important this would be. Contact Joyce Chung at Adobe Systems. If perhaps I am doing something wrong with the PAR, someone could let me know. I certainly got no help from DPS. David
#137992From: David McLaughlinNov 26, 1994 3:06 PM
Further developments. Thanks to Dean Oliver of Virtually Real, who responded, I can now save directly to the PAR from within Premiere. However, Premiere still has trouble auto incrementing from the PAR. Hopefully, Adobe can be persuaded to fix this before it's release.
#138724From: Dale SykesNov 30, 1994 6:03 AM
Reading your thread and thought I would get more info on PAR. I have some info on it but don't really understand what it cna do. Why does it need additional software to make it work. I thought it was supposed to stand alone. Does it not have the capibility to take incremental bitmaps and transpose them frame by frame to video tape?
#138798From: David McLaughlinNov 30, 1994 12:15 PM
Dear Dale. PAR stands for " Personell Animation Recorder ". Most people use it to output directly from 3D Studio and play back near broadcast quality from it in real time. It is made by Digital Processing systems. (606) 371-5533. David.
#138803From: Dale SykesNov 30, 1994 12:29 PM
Yes David I know who makes it. But what I'm trying to understand is where does Premier come into play. Does the PAR system need additional software to make it run well or does it run fine the way it comes out of the box. If so why Premier?
#138840From: Christophe Van OyenNov 30, 1994 3:00 PM
Premier, like Razor Pro gives you more editing capabilities and sound support, so you can play real-time animation+ sound, if you have a good sound-board the sound is at CD quality, if you can then record to BetacamSP, you can make in one flow presentations with perfect quality in some instances good enough for broadcast. Premier and Razor Pro give you capabilities like you have in Video Post, but much more then that. However you can easily use the PAR without that software, most people have done for about 10 months now. Christophe
#138905From: Cal HainesNov 30, 1994 7:29 PM
All DPS PAR tech support has ever done for me is deny that any problem could be theirs: "ITS A DOS PROBLEM", "ITS A SCSI PROBLEM ", "ITS A PHASE-OF-THE-MOON" PROBLEM. WHEN IT COMES TO PAR, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!
#138924From: David McLaughlinNov 30, 1994 8:42 PM
Dear Cal. I am still very satisfied with my PAR, and also with the tech support ( except for my questions on Premiere). It's a great product. The problems with Premiere and PAR will be solved in two weeks. Notice how quiet the "people who know" have been with this thread. David
#139062From: John N. JordanDec 1, 1994 9:56 AM
To relay something I read somewhere in this forum, someone asked DPS at Comdex, and they said Premiere would support the PAR soon. I believe January, but that's just a guess on my part. What DPS needs to do (if they aren't already) is to make the same type driver setup as the Quicktime based video boards have been doing for the Mac for a couple years now.. allowing a plug-n-play ability with any AVI based program. I believe the MCI drivers are a good start, but not enough. Personally, I'm waiting for Premiere to come out before I make a decision. After having a pretty costly misunderstanding with In-Sync, I'm not so gung-ho on their product as I had been. Also, Premiere should have more features, and at a lower cost. all IMHO, JNJ
#139129From: David McLaughlinDec 1, 1994 4:03 PM
dear John. Several weeks ago Gus Grubba ,on another thread, suggested that the problem lies with the PAR driver and it's "looping" characteristics designed for backgrounds and texture maps. He suggested that Premiere needs to request a specific number of frames (targa files) from the PAR. Or in the alternative, the PAR needs to have a command line switch to turn off the "looping " when necessary. I think that he was talking about the same problem I have reading from the PAR. When I attempt to import a targa sequence from the PAR, which I know to be only 10 frames in length, the project window in Premiere says that I just imported 48 seconds worth of animation ! It seems like if I could turn off the "looping ", the project window would read correct.
#139135From: Ian ChristieDec 1, 1994 4:31 PM
What were your "costly misunderstandings with In-Synch"? Ian.
#139157From: Jamie CarrDec 1, 1994 6:27 PM
John, 'pretty costly misunderstanding with in:sync' what are you referring to ? Jamie Carr in:sync