#Mind's Eye
19 messages in this thread
Are you currently using an Abekas as part of your video production? What
exactly would you like to see in software that links the Abekas to 3D
Studio? (Anyone else interested in Abekas support, please chime in, too!)
Actually, we haven't yet added an a-60 to our edit suite, but as of now,
for hand drawn rotoscpoing, frame editing, etc, it'd be nice to be able to
simply lay the animations directly to digital, rather than laying them to
tape….. even though we're a component room, there is some generation loss
from beta to beta (source to master ( animation cut into the master), so
just seeing the support there would be nice..
I think the biggest gain from Abekas support will be the availability of
video post production / service bureau type places that will offer deals
like "send us an Exabyte tape in Abekas format, and we'll send you back a
tape." With this, you'd make a $2000 investment in an Exabyte tape drive
(which makes a great backup unit, too) and gain the benefits of digital
recording. It stacks up well against investing in a complete
single-framing solution.
I'm sure that for service bureaus, that would be more than true.
For us, since we are a production service company, including everything
from cameras, cranes, lights, stages, etc, to complete post production
facilities,
any compatibility with exisiting post hardware (Grass Valley, Abekas,
etc.) is something that I find myself looking for constantly.
All of our paint and animation (including CG) is PC based, and a lot of
the time, I find myself wanting to call MANY tech support lines, and ask
the question "Hey, have you guys ever even HEARD of, or seen for that
matter, anything even resembling BROADCAST QUALITY equipment?"
(Just a note for the ADesk guys, none of this pertains to you)
because it seems as thought there is always a problem getting either the
hardware, or the software to be fully functional with our suite, or any of
the equipment in it……
I guess in my question about Abekas compatibility, I was sending out a
little test to see what kind of response I'd get, either a "What the heck
is Abekas", or the resonse I've gotten so far…..
Autodesk (3DS) is really the first company whose software I've purchased
that actuly seems like it was written for a brodcast environment….
Just wish I could say the same thing about our paint software……
John,
Yes, I'd like to see that. According to Gary Yost somebody's writing an
IPAS or a conversion utility to do that, although he was rather vague about
details and such.
Yes, I've heard that rumor, too. 🙂 Do you work with an A-60, directly
or indirectly?
I haven't used an A-60 at all yet, but have the capability of sending my
animations to a production house equipped with one.
John, I should probably explain what an Abekas is to the folks who might
not be familiar with that device.
A company called Abekas in Calif. makes a bunch of video postproduction
equipment. They're most-famous for making a line of digital disk recorders
that store digital video on extremely fast hard disks (either in component
D1 format or composite D2 format). Once the video is in digital format on
the disk recorder, it can be pumped out through encoders to any format
(Betacam, D1, D2, 1", etc.). It just so happens that the Abekas DDR's use
the Exebyte 8mm tape backup system as an archival storage device. And
since you can buy an Exebyte tape drive to backup a PC or Mac, there's a
fairly simple way to get data over from the PC to the DDR. The only catch
is that the data must be formatted in the correct CCITT 4:2:2 digital video
format on the PC before backing up to the Exebyte. This requires a program
to convert Targa files to digital video format. With such a program, a 3DS
user could theoretically back up images to a $2000 Exebyte tape drive, and
then send the tapes out to a postproduction house with the capability of
delivering true broadcast-quality video via FedExp in any format.
This would allow any 3DS user to do broadcast-quality stuff with only a
$2000 investment in the Exebyte drive.
(Works great in theory, anyway… 🙂
– G
Gary,
Thanks for explaining that to me/us. I thought it was along those lines but
now you've given me the definitive answer. Theoretically, this sounds like
an excellent capability to have, especially for someone like me who still
hasn't made the questionable investment of buying a broadcast deck. It
remains to be seen as to who has the A60 setup and what they would charge
for such a service: I vaguely know of one such place up in SF, in the same
building as Xaos. I'll try and contact them and see what such a service
would cost FYI, or for anyone who's interested.
Happy New Year.
Every city has at least a few post houses with Abekas devices. Not _all_
of them have the Exebyte unit, but many do. And since there has been some
activity in Mac-land with this type of thing, it's getting more
commonplace.
I'm pretty sure that this is going to be part of the next wave of service
bureau work. It makes it possible for anyone to do broadcast quality work
competitive with Wavefront/Alias stuff without having to have ANY video
equipment at home. Of course, it's always best to have at least a hi8,
svhs, or 3/4" deck to do real-time video tests to, but you can get those
used pretty cheaply these days.
– G
PS: In San Francisco, both Varitel and Pacific Video Resources do this
kind of thing.
Garyrendering your animation to a sequence of targa files loading them onto a
tape back up such as a Colorado Jumbo, then tacking them to a post
production house, instead of the Exebyte. A $250.00 tape backup verses
$2000.00 backup. Is this just for the benifit of the Abekas? And if so what
is the quality difference between targa files rendered on the computer,
saved to tape, then single framed recorded on to 3/4" tape or SVHS verses
the digital video format?
Always trying to learn something new.
Carl
Carl, the BIG (and singular) difference between using the Exebyte drive and
ANY other tape drive is that the Abekas units ONLY work with Exebyte
drives. They're not DOS devices, so you can't use standard DOS archival
media. Due to some fortunate serendipity, the Exebyte is available as a
backup device across almost all hardware (Mac, PC, Amiga, Sun AND Abekas).
Regarding quality difference… there's no comparison. Every analog method
of getting video to tape has its associated analog artifacts. Basically,
if you've got to get the image onto tape using a frame buffer, you're going
to introduce a zillion pieces of video "garbage" into the signal. However,
when you go straight to video digitally, there are NO analog artifacts.
It's like the difference between night and day.
– G
Garyand learn.
Carl
Gary
Thanks for the enlightment!
Thats what I love about this forum. I can always learn something new.
Carl
GaryAnyway the message #30508 is suppose to start out: "Am I missing somethin
here or what? What is the difference between rendering your animation to a
sequence of targa files……." in case you couldn't fiqure it out.
Bye Bye
Carl-
Got it.
– G
What I'm really waiting for is all the cool ideas that your users might
suggest – ways to combine the power of an Exabyte tape drive with the video
post production in 3D Studio, and IPAS…
An Abekas is a great way to digitize video, too – you could as easily send
that service bureau a video tape, and they could send you back an Exabyte
(digital data) tape containing 30 or 60 seconds of digitized video. That
might occupy the first part of the tape. There's still a few gigs free.
🙂
An Exabyte 8500 drive has very fast seek times for a tape drive. You could
store several sequences of animation on a single tape; then combine and
recombine them as needed. Subsequent images could be stored on the middle
of the tape, etc. effectively adding a 5 gig hard drive to your system.
You're right… the Abekas/Exebyte combo is certainly the most efficient
way to deal with digitized video for rotoscoping. You'd be able to store
_minutes_ worth of video on one tape, and you wouldn't have to use up
valuable hard disk space.
– G
Everyone is talking about the Abekas and Exebyte systems. Who, where and
how do I find them? Anyone around with info on disc I can borrow?