#Targa boards
14 messages in this thread
Hi, I need information on Targa boards…!
– What is it exactly for? – Is it available for the Amiga? – Is is for
Animation?
Thanks!
The Targa board is made by AT&T or Bell Labs or someone in that family
(grin). It fits into an "industry standard" slot (that is, IBM). The only
way I know to use one on an Amiga involves a Bridgeboard, though there
_may_ be some way to get at a 2000's XT slots with a pseudo-Bridgeboard.
To the best of my knowledge, it's not especially "for animation." It is a
display adapter, capable of showing lots and lots and lots of colors at
once in lots and lots and lots of pixels. To the right monitor.
It's made by TrueVision.
— Ethan
The Targa board does indeed require the Amiga Bridgeboard to use.
The board allows the user to display 24 bit RGB format pictures in high
resolution with 16.7 million colors. Cost for the board runs into the
thousands and may include the necessary image processing software to
retouch the images.
A low cost alternative for the Amiga (if you just want to digitize and
display the intricate pics) is the VD1 framegrabber/buffer, from Impulse.
It allows you to view the high resolution 16.7 million color pics. A high
end monitor IS recommended to catch all of the detail. The cost of the VD1
is somewhere around $1000. I would go for the VD1 myself, and retouch the
pics in paint programs that accept RGB format.
**** Vance ****
Vance, Is IMPULSE still selling the VD-1? They announced in their Spring
newsletter that they were coming out with a new display only adaptor that
upped the resolution/colors anty, for under $1000. The VD-1 was primarily
designed as a frame grabber, with buffer capabilities added afterwards.
The new board is strictly frame buffer. It will supposedly also have NTSC,
RBG, and SVHS output from it. Sounds too good to be true… time will
tell.
Re the Targa, however, there is a lot of PC software that supports the
Targa, and Amiga stuff too. While there is not much for the VD-1, etc…
If only CMD would release a new video standard, so that hardware and
software people could support one another…–jp–
Will the Amiga BridgeBoard be fast enough to run TARGA softwares?
Are there other boards comparable to the VD1 board?
Pat.
Depends what "fast enough" means. Most software for the targa is awfully
slow on an XT.
The Mimetics is "comparable". Neither has RGB outputs. —Mike
What are the paint programs that can accept RGB files?
There is an EXCELLENT article in AV/Video's Computer Pictures magazine
about using Caligari, a Targa board, and a bridgeboarded Amiga for High end
rendering… the guy loves it especially the Caligari interface… he says
something like "imagine a whole system, hardware and software for less
(~12,000$) than the closest competitor's software alone (Topas from AT&T)"
Well, Vance and Thomas are both right, but there is more: I own a TARGA
board but am not using it in the Amiga environment. The board I have is a
16-bit board, and displays "only" 32K colors. We find that more than
sufficient for video applications. If you are going to print, you will
need the board that Thomas mentions. The cost for the TARGA-16 is now
around $2K list but can be frequently obtained for less. Again, the guys
are right that you will need a bridgeboard to run the TARGA board. You
will also need software such as TIPS or even Time Arts Lumena for paint. A
company in Dallas called Videotex sells software for interfacing Targa
images with other formats such as VGA, CGA, EGA, and even for producing
color seperations, if you are into the print end of things. As for
animation, the best software currently on the market for TARGA is TOPAS,
marketed by AT&T Graphics Software Labs in Indianapolis. There is also
some EXCELLENT image processing software called QFX, written and sold by a
guy named Ron Scott in Houston. I suggest, however, that you carefully
consider the need for at least a 68020 board for the Amiga before going to
animation applications. It does not seem to me that most of these
applications were written to TARGA with the Amiga in mind, and you might
find that, for TARGA-based applications, you are better advised to go into
an IBM-compatible platform. We use a Compaq 386/25MHz machine with 9 Meg
of RAM and a pretty large HD for animation recording. We need it! We use
Amigas DAILY in our graphics work, but NOT with the TARGA board. I would
be interested to hear other opinions on this from the rest of you out
there. Hope this helps.
Numbers: AT&T GSL (317) 844-4364
Videotex (214) 343-4500
Ron Scott (713) ? Houston
Ken,
"ImageLink" from Active Circuits allows many 3-d programs for the Amiga
display directly (so to speak) on the Targa. This obviates the need for
expensive programs like TOPAS. It also supports "Transport Controller" for
single-frame recording.
BTW, hi! If you want more info on the ImgageLink, give me a call _after_
the 6th; I'm off to London for a week. —Mike
Yep! Would like to have the info on ImageLink. Not for myself: too busy
paying off my TOPAS to get that, too, but I know of a few others who are
preparing to take the plunge into their own systems. I will be happy to
forward info both on ImageLink and your Transport Controller if you will
forward it to me at: Media of Exchange
140 Parkhouse St.
Dallas TX 75207
Hope your trip is productive. Good to hear from you again.
–Ken
Thanks for the infos!
a Targa board is an AT&T product and put out by TrueVision At the ByteShop
of Merrick were I work We are TrueVision Dealers. there very few of us on
Long Island. If you want to know mre about this product Call me we have one
in our Amiga on the Sales floor running ImageLink software so we can
produce a picture 16 mill colors from Sculpt 4D.
BYTESHOP 1732A sunrise Hwy Merrick N.Y. 11566 (516)-379-2983 Ask for Donald
Youngner