Conference hydra::amiga_v1

>	  On another item, I also asked about getting my Deluxe Paint III disks
>	upgraded to the newer (Fat Agnus version) and was told that "Unless
>	I had a "Fat Agnus Chip installed" there was no reason to update my
>	disks". ( I read there were bug fixes, and another new option added,
>	can anyone confirm this?).

The 'fixed' version of DPIII allows you to use the Super Agnus 
chip correctly.  It also does some other new memory management 
fixes.  There is now a PAL/NTSC screen selection option on 
startup.

Randy

    I called EA for details on their Deluxe Video special for DPaint III
    owners.  If you own DPaint III, you can get Deluxe Video III for half
    price ($75 + $7 shipping & handling) until the end of February.  Here
    is how to do it...
    
    Clip the 6 digit part number from the lower left corner of the back
    cover on your DPaint III manual.  Send it, along with payment of $82
    and a note requesting the Deluxe Video III special, to:
    
    	Electronic Arts
    	Deluxe Video III special offer
    	P. O. Box 7530
    	San Mateo, Ca.  94403
    

    I got mine yesterday, considering they weren't shipping till the 20th, I'd
    say thats pretty good :').
     It looks great and comes with 2 disks worth of demos.
     The book itself is relatively the same size as the Deluxe Paint III 
    manual and looks pretty thurough.
     I'll be able to be more detailed later after I've read the book more
     and have played with the program some.
    						Ed
    

Is DV III usefull for anything if you don't have a GENLOCK and all that video 
stuff?

I guess I'm asking "what does DV II do?"

JOhn

You can animate IFF pictures and brushes.  You can create 
animated business presentations and mail them to another user to 
view.  You can create product demonstrations for retail stores.  
You can record whatever you create on videotape.

You don't need a Genlock to do any of these things.  You will 
need a composite video adapter to record this stuff on videotape, 
if you have an A500 or A2000.


By the way, is the software still key-disk copy protected?

Randy

    There is no copy protection whats so ever..........
    
    

If you have DV II you can upgrade for $56.95.
Just send in the part number from the back cover of your old 
manual, or the front cover plus your money to EA.

BTW, I always liked DV.  With the changes they have made to the 
new version, it should be quite a good product.

It looks like EA has ignored DeluxeProductions.  I have trouble 
running it on my 2000/fatter agnes and they have dropped the 
price to rock bottom to clear them out.  I guess that DVIII is 
where it's at from now on.

Randy

re .2
    	Electronic Arts
    	Deluxe Video III special offer
    	P. O. Box 7530
    	San Mateo, Ca.  94403
                        ^^^^^

I have 94404 on all my stuff from EA...

 mark

    Not sure, but 94403 *is* the number I wrote down during my phone
    conversation.

    Well, I played with it a little last night and it's ALOT more flexible
    than old DV(1.0),(by the way I picked up the 1.0 version for $10 bucks, 
    just so I could upgrade to DVIII-for a total of $67 dollars for $149 dollar
    program!).
    	When trying to move large brushes it jerks a bit, but I think if I 
     break them down into smaller brushes this will help...
    	Also there's a nice feature that I didn't know about from the ad.
     You can save your video, (or part of video) as a anim file.
     This looks to be a great option, it allow you to bounce back and forth
    between DPIII or edit it with other programs that accept Anim formats.
      It also has an interactive Video effect, allowing you to assign effects
    to keys,joystick or mouse, Interactive Video... I didn't expect that.
    								Ed
    

    I have dpaintIII.  Trying to draw with the mouse is frustrating 
    as well as ineffective for me.  What do you free-hand artist use
    to draw with when using paint programs?  Thanks!
    
    mark

    		I've been thinking of buying DVideo III, since I have
    DPaint III, it's a good offer. However, this might be overkill for what
    I might use it for , and I wanted to ask a few opinions of those who
    have used it.
    
    	I have a 1.5Meg  A1000, so the first question is how useful it
    could be with that amount of memory.
    
    	Second, I create small animations and titles for adding to my home
    videos. I don't have a genlock, nor any MIDI equipment. I find 1.5 Meg 
    with Dpaint III to be fairly limiting in terms of how long I can make
    the animations. I end up doing small animations which I then piece
    together in the final video tape. Would DVideo III allow me to piece
    together those small animations with 1.5 Meg only ? What additional
    creativity tools do DVideo III add over Dpaint III ? Does it includes
    nice fonts ?
    
    	Your answers will be much appreciated.
    
         Miguel A. Alvarez
    
    P.S. There is no AMIGA dealer near here, so it's difficult to get a 
         "hands on" look.

re:.12
>What do you free-hand artist use to draw with when using paint programs?  

I've used EASYL since it first appeared on the market. It's reliable, 
simple, has much higher resolution than the screen possibly could (some
1000 dots per inch of pad surface). Also, in a 2000, it has its own card,
and will work with the mouse plugged in. 

The only difficulty is that the pressure required on the stylus is somewhat
higher than I use for drawing with pencil, but you can get used to it. Tracing
works really well.

I would NOT recommend a light pen for this purpose. (Take this simple test:
hold a pencil against the surface of the video screen for 5 minutes. This
simulates the minimum load a light pen will put on your arm. While your arm is 
recovering, figure out how to do a tracing... :^))

    
    re. .12
    
     My son is the artist in the family and he uses paper and pencil
     ( or marker ). After he does his drawing I digitize it with 
     digiview gold and then he works with DPAINT III.
    
     This method seems to be how a lot of people get their original
     work into the Amiga.
     
      Brien
    

    re: .13
    I think Chip RAM would be your biggest problem.  DVideo III seems to
    consume a lot of chip memory, probably due to its intuition-based user
    interface, compounded by the absence of user control over where buffers
    are alloated.  "The Director", on the other hand, allocates its buffers
    from either chip or fast memory under author's control.  (Note, some
    operations can only work with buffers in chip RAM.)  Resource control
    is about the only area where I can see a clear advantage for Director
    over DVideo III.
    
    DeluxeVideo is far better in terms of ease of use, etc.  I recreated a
    simple title sequence in about 30 minutes on DVideo, which had taken
    me several (>5) hours to produce with Director.  It is incredibly easy
    to summon the guru via out-of-range coordinates, etc. in a Director
    script.  Something I have never seen with DVideo III.

I got my copy of DVIII last night.  I tried it on my 1.5 meg 
A1000.  The product is quite good, with tons of features and 
improvements over the older version.  On the other hand, memory 
use is a big problem.  

I tried to load two 640x400 pictures and and dissolve or wipe 
from one to the other.  There wasn't enough Chip ram to do it 
(even tho there was plenty of fast ram available.)  I could only 
display on picture at a time...and really couldn't do much with 
it.  This is a big disappointment.  I used to be able to do these 
types of things with DeluxeProductions without much trouble.  
DVIII won't let me.

I have a 3 meg 2000 with 1 meg chip ram...so that shouldn't be 
any problem, but I would really like to be able to use my other 
machine to do some hi-res or ham animation.

The program itself is similar to the older version, but there are 
many changes.  The interface is much more professional and 
precise to use.

So I'm on the fence over this one.  It's better, but I can't use 
it fully.

Randy

PS  Gold Disk is promoting a new product that is similar looking 
to Elan Performer.  It allows you to integrate animations, sound 
and VCR control in one package and interface.  There is an ad for 
it in the new AmigaWorld Animation special issue.  Haven't seen 
or heard anything else.  If it's like their other products, it 
will probably be pretty good.

 

    re: .17
    You may be able to PLAY some videos, even though you can't build them,
    on your 1000.  Also, enabling "Expert" mode gives you some additional
    controls to load and unload stuff for better memory management.  This
    seems to be the biggest limitation in DVideo III.