CompuServe Thread

Andrew, you have a few choices and I'll list them in order of expense, more or less, least to most: 1) have someone render and/or lay your animations to tape. Figure around $0.25 – $1.00 per frame depending on whether they render the images or not and what type of equipment they are using. Consider a minimum of svhs if you are going to need to do any editing, 3/4"SP and BetacamSP are better still and will hold up better over generations of editing. 2) buy a vga-ntsc converter with which you can create 8-bit, 256 colour .flc files and play them back and record them in realtime to any deck of your choice. Could be a lowly consumer vhs. The converters cost anywhere from $300 to $1600+ depending on quality and features. 3) buy a motion jpeg card (such as the DPS Personal Animation Recorder) which does similar to #2, but in much higher quality full-colour (24-bit more or less), 30 frames per second (fixed), full-screen (752×480 res.) directly off a dedicated hardrive. This is a great option, IMHO, as you can get better than svhs quality without the hassle of frame-by-frame recording. Price is around $2500. 4) buy a frame accurate vtr, a framebuffer, and a vtr controller. Probably best quality depending on components you select but definetly most expensive. Figure a minimum of $5k up to $20k+. Ouch! Considering you're a student you're probably not rolling in dough – when I was at University I hardly had 2 pennies to rub together <g>. Good luck! Martin

hi, Andrew I also live in Florida ,Tampa to be exact, I go to school for AutoCad training and work with 3d studio at home . I am still learning the program myself and do not post messages that often, maybe when I know what I 'm doing. I do know a thing or two about putting animations on tape, If you don't need 24bpp tapes get a VGA to NTSC Board and a consumer VHS or SVHS deck. The next option is a frame buffer card (Targa's or Matrox) , a single frame controller (Softvtr or Drastic tech…lots more) , and a Frame accurate VTR in just about any flavor(format) you want. The third set up is a real time JPG thing I know very little about, I just went Frame by frame so the third set up is most likely the wave of the future and I missed the boat. Anyway it's nice to see sombody from FL on the Fourm so I can come out of the shadows once in awhile. I'm now saving for my next computer a P5 60 or 66 with 32 or more megs and a 1.2 gig drive, now if I could just get a job I'd be all set. Starving Animator Wantabe Richard Smith 72613,2367

Hello Andrew I just went through the process about a week or so ago – I think the thread is still active. It's called VTR SEARCH CONTINUES and is in section 5 or 6, HARDWARE. It's probably all still on CIS. If not, post a message and maybe some one will be good enough to upload the whole thing. I found it fabulously informative. Any questions, just let me know. I'm sure everyone will be happy to help. Seeya James

Andrew, >>output to NTSC… Just a caution, some VGA-to-NTSC solutions require a VGA passthru connector on the VGA board. I understand the Diamond Viper does NOT have this connector. (I have the Magni VGA Producer Pro which works extremely well but needs the passthru.) 8-bit color animations (FLI or FLC) to tape are lower quality, but can be very rewarding at a much lower cost than a single-frame controller and deck. 8-bit is also more than suitable for many technical animation projects. For high quality video, however, 24-bit is a must, whether single-frame, laser disk, or other. However, be prepared to spend $5000 to $10000 or more for this quality. Unless you are making steady money with animation, it may be cheaper to pay someone to put it onto tape for you. Of course, a single-frame setup is great fun – I wouldn't trade mine for anything (yet). JKJ