EnigmA Amiga Run 1997 July/EnigmA AMIGA RUN 20 (1997)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1997-07 & 08][EAR-CD IV].iso/lightwave/utilities/par251/par.doc

Text File | 1995-01-26 | 16KB | 328 lines

New Features:

IMPORTERS and EXPORTERS (Imp/Exp)


   Importers and Exporters have been improved.  The import and export
libraries have been rewritten and optimized.

The way that importing and exporting works has been changed to make it more
efficient and easier to use.  Under the 'AmigaDOS Files' menu, in the
center of the buttons you will find a new button labeled 'Imp/Exp' this
button controls all the parameters of importing and exporting files.


 Import
   Chroma Filter:
      This works the same as it did before, when it is
      selected, color filtering for legal NTSC/PAL color
      values will be used.

   Targa Flip:
      If you are loading animation frames that were rendered on a
      PC, you may encounter files which have the fields reversed.
      This usually only happens with targa files rendered in
      3DStudio.  Selecting 'Targa Flip' will cause all the frames
      to be imported with reverse fields, this only works with
      TARGA images.

 Export

   Translate:  (Quite possibly the coolest feature of all!)
      Translate forces other programs to see PAR animation files
      as if they are sequences of images instead of single
      animations.  This means that any program that can load 24
      bit iff's can now load images directly out of PAR
      animations without having to use ARexx or having to
      pre-export the files.  This makes using the PAR for
      rotoscoping extremely efficient and easy to use.  For
      instance if you wanted to use a picture viewing program to
      display PAR images on your computer monitor you just have
      to set the Export mode to 'Translate', then set the file
      type to any of the export types (IFF, SGI, PAR, TARGA,
      etc).  Then from your image viewing software, select the
      par animation and the frame offset of the desired image,
      for instance if you want to have an animation called 'Boat'
      and you want to display frame 200, then from the file
      requester of the image viewer, select 'Boat' and edit the
      file name so that it has the frame offset appended.  For
      frame 200, we would select 'Boat' and add .0200 to the end
      so the filename would become 'Boat.0200'.  The PAR will
      automatically 'Translate' the request for the non existent
      filename and export the proper frame to your image viewer.

   The real power of the 'Translate' function is to allow the PAR to
   be a source of multiple image streams for use in rotoscoping and
   compositing software.

   Lightwave 3D

   To use the PAR as a source of one or more video streams for use in
   Lightwave 3D as animated texture maps (Rotoscoping), you would use
   the following method:


   1. Select 'Translate' from the export buttons.
   2. Select 'IFF' for the export file type.
   3. From Lightwave, under 'Images' choose 'Image Sequence'.
   4.  Using the previous example, choose the animation you would like
   to use as the source, we would choose 'Boat' on the PAR hard drive
   and append '.' only to the end of the file name.  (Lightwave works
   best if you leave off the frame number when loading sequences).

   5.  Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all the image sequences that you would
   like to import.

   From that point on, you can use the image sequences in place of any
   texture map in Lightwave 3D.  This method should work for any
   software that allows you to specify a starting frame and that it
   will be loading a sequence of images.

   Note:    Any software that attempts to physically scan the directory
      for all the images will not work.  Some batch rendering
      software works this way, expecting all files to be
      available at once and since the PAR translates the files on
      the fly, only one file will appear in the directory at any
      one time.

 Frame
   The frame button will allow you to choose which form of 'field'
   handling you use for exporting.  In short, each file consists of
   two fields, with each field consisting of either all the even
   numbered horizontal lines, or all the odd numbered horizontal
   lines.  So for any given 'Frame' (two fields) or image, all the odd
   lines starting at line 1 are one field, and all the even lines
   starting at line 2 make up the other field.  This is the same way
   your television works.

   If you choose any mode other than frame, you will only export one
   half of the image data.  Choosing field 1 for instance would export
   your files as 752 pixels wide, but only 240 pixels tall
   because you are only exporting one field of data (every other
   line).  To export full size images,  See 'Field Double'.

  Frame, Field 1, Field 2, Field 1&2:

   Frame will cause the entire image to be exported.

   Field 1 will cause only the first field to be exported.

   Field 2 will cause only the second field to be exported.

   Field 1&2 will cause both fields to be exported, but as two
   separate files.

   For instance in our 'Boat' animation, with this button selected, we
   would be exporting 'Boat.0001' and 'Boat.0002', with each file only
   containing one field of information.


 Field Double:
   Field Double when used in combination with any of the previous
   single field modes will cause each field to be exported 'doubled'.
   Each line in the image will be doubled so that the exported image
   is the normal image height of 480 lines.  Field Double is used most
   often to remove motion artifacting from the image data.  For
   instance if you were to record some live video using the TBC-IV,
   and then step through each image one frame at a time, you would see
   some motion in each frame, this is known as 'motion artifacting'.
   The problem with using 'Field' modes in combination with
   'Field Double' is that you lose one half of the effective vertical
   resolution.  For most rotoscoping applications, this loss of
   resolution is negligible.


 Export File Format
   This allows you to choose how the PAR copies files back to the
   system drive.  The available modes are SGI, IFF, YUV (proprietary),
   TARGA, and PAR.  This is the same effective set of controls that
   you will find in the controls of the 'Export' button under the PAR
   files directory.

   There is a special new import/export mode called YUV.  This mode is
   proprietary and is not recognizable by standard YUV loaders.  YUV
   is useful for ARexx scripts which are copying files from the PAR to
   the Amiga and back to the PAR but are not going through any
   external processing.  (You cannot use it with an external image
   processing program) For instance if you had accidentally rendered
   your entire animation at too high of a block setting you can write
   a script to export each frame, and import it back into a new
   animation at a lower block value.  The YUV importer is extremely
   fast and efficient and is in fact lossless so your animation will
   not lose any quality in the export/re-import process.

   NOTE:
      There are no controls for file importing as the PAR
   automatically recognizes the type of file that it is trying to
   import or view.


IMPORT

   Another new power feature of the PAR is the new 'Import' animation
   builder controls.  Selecting the 'Import' button of the Amiga File
   directory will bring up a new set of controls.  The new controls
   allow you to control how the PAR handles the way it looks at the
   file numbers before it brings each file into the PAR.  In the past
   when you imported files, the PAR would step frame by frame through
   each of the files to be imported, and import then in order, in
   increments of '1'.  Boat.0001, Boat.0002, Boat.0003 etc.  The new
   controls allow you more control over the incrementing of frames.

  Increment:
   Increment allows you to control the number that the PAR adds to the
   previous frame number in order to calculate the next frame.  For
   instance, normally the PAR would add '1' to the previous frame so
   that the next frame would be one frame greater than the previous
   frame.  Boat.0001, Boat.0002, Boat.0003, etc..  Setting the
   'Increment' number to any number other than '1' will cause the PAR
   to add that number to the previous frame.  For instance setting the
   increment number to '2' will cause the Par to import every other
   frame.  Boat.0001, Boat.0003, Boat.0005, etc..

   This is used to control the effective playback speed of an
   animation and to make quick previews.  You could create a quick
   preview of the animation you are working on by importing only every
   other frame.  This would of course result in a your animation
   playing back twice as fast, so to restore normal 30 FPS timing,
   refer to the doumentation regarding 'Multiply'.

  Multiply:
   Multiply allows you to control the number of times each frame is
   imported.  Normally the PAR imports each frame '1' time.  Setting
   the Multiply control to any other number causes the PAR to import
   each frame 'x' number or times.  Setting it to '2' would cause the
   Boat frames to be imported as Boat.0001, Boat.0001, Boat.0002,
   Boat.0002, Boat.0003, Boat.0003, etc..  Multiply only does one true
   import per frame, and then it writes the frame 'x' number of times
   out of its local memory so there is very little penalty in terms of
   time for doing a multiple import.


CHART

    A new animation Charting function has been added.  The new button
   is labeled 'Chart' and is found where the 'Format' button used to
   be, under the 'Projects' area.  Chart allows you to get a graphical
   display of the size of each frame in the animation.  (Number of
   blocks used per frame).  This will allow you to see how efficiently
   your animation is being saved and to get some idea of how each
   frame is handled by the PAR.  If you are doing live recording, you
   can get some feeling for which frames are near the block limit, and
   if it would be possible to re-record the sequence at a higher/lower
   block level.


MAP

   A mapping function has been added that will give you a graphical
   display of how the drive is being utilized.  When you choose map,
   the program charts the space on the disk that each file is using,
   starting at the left hand side, and filling up the screen towards
   the left.  The area on the far right is the map of the still images
   on the drive.  The currently selected file on the PAR files menu
   will show up as a highlighted section.  Ideally you should have an
   unbroken 'map' from the left hand side of the screen to the last
   file.  This would indicate that your disk is optimized and being
   utilized efficiently.  Blank spaces in the map indicate areas of
   the drive that are not being utilized.  If you see a large portion
   of the map that is blank or many smaller areas, then the drive is
   fragmented and needs to be optimized.




Play -N- Grab
     In `Play N Grab' Recording, each frame is recorded whenever you
     manually trigger it, using the zero key on the keypad.  Each grabbed
     frame is recorded to the end of the animation sequence.  `Play N Grab'
     is used to do stop motion animation, where you have a camera focused
     on a set of objects, and the objects are manually manipulated between
     frames.  `Play N Grab' is unique in that it is the only interactive
     record mode that lets you use live video as a part of the animation
     preview.  The way it works is that it will play back a portion of the
     animation and then at the last frame it will switch to E/E (live video
     mode), then it will go back to the beginning of the animation sequence
     and start playing again.

     To use `Plan N Grab', you will first have to record the base portion
     of the video.  Record 30 or more frames of video so that you have some
     video to work with.  Next, set the inpoint and outpoint so that the
     video is playing back from frame 1 to frame 30.  This will limit the
     preview portion of the playback (pre recorded video) to the last 30
     frames.  When you add more frames, the preview portion will
     automatically move up by one frame for each frame of video added.  For
     instance if you have frames 1-30 the preview will play frames 1-30
     then switch to live video at what would be frame 31, when you add this
     frame to the sequence, the preview will now play back frames 2-31 and
     will switch to live video at frame 32.  The next step is to move to
     the actual recording mode. With the PAR animation that you are going
     to be working with selected in the FILES area, go to PREFS and select
     the `Play N Grab' button.  Then close the PREFS window and select LOOP
     mode and PLAY.  You should now have a looping sequence of 30 or so
     frames.  You will see the animation sequence playback and then switch
     at the last frame to live video. Make sure that you are working with
     valid Q-Factor and Block Limits.  When you are ready to add the live
     video to the preview sequence, press ZERO on the numeric keypad.  You
     will now have added one more frame of animation as part of the
     sequence.

     This is an example of using the PAR to capture some stop frame
     animation.

     1.  Hook a camera up to one of the inputs on the TBC-IV.

     2.  Place a small object in front of the camera making sure it is
     visible by the camera.

     3.  Make sure that stable live video is coming through the PAR by
     selecting the E/E button on the main PAR screen.

     4.  Record 30 frames of video using the standard method.  You should
     now have 30 frames of an unmoving object.

     5.  Set the INPOINT of the animation by selecting the vertical control
     bars on the left hand side of the PAR slider.

     6.  Open the PREFERENCES window by selecting the PREFS button from the
     main PAR screen, then select the `PLAY N GRAB' button.  Close the
     PREFERENCES window.

     7.  Set the PAR to LOOP mode by selecting the LOOP button from the vcr
     control panel.

     8.  Select the PLAY button on the vcr controls.

     9.  Now move the object slightly in front of the camera, noting the
     object's position during the live video frame.  You can see the
     difference between the pre recorded video and the objects new
     position.  When you are satisfied with the objects new position, then
     grab the video frame by pressing the ZERO key on the numeric keypad.

     10. Repeat step 9 until you finish the animation sequence.


ARexx:

 FREE
   Returns the largest freespace in blocks.  If you want to know the
   amount of space left on the drive, you can call FREE, and multiply
   the return value by 512 to obtain the number of bytes of freespace
   left on the drive.

 DOSSELECT
   This will return in standard ARexx fashion, all the files that are
   chosen in the Amiga Files directory.


Sunrize Audio Support. Play audio and video at the same time!
-------------------------------------------------------------

You can now cue the PAR from the AD516 boards SMTPE Generator. Set the time you
want the PAR board to start playing in SMPTE time code by clicking on the SMPTE
button in the VTR control area on the PAR software screen.  Set pause mode on,
then click on play.  Go to the AD516 software screen and start the SMPTE
generator.  When the time code matches the value set in the PAR software the
pause will flip off and Video will start playing.