Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Other's are much more knowledgeable on which are best for what...

I just wanted to say:  When your done, UPLOAD IT!! That sounds neat!

John

     If it's Ham mode, you could use PHOTON PAINT II, this software allows
    you to animate your ham picture, as well as paint it.
     Another option would be to get some sort of digitizer, this way you
    could import a live sequence (knight riding or just a person riding a
    horse) and import it into P.P.II, then you could touch it up to look
    like a Knight.. This could save you alot of time.
    Animating HAM eats up memory though.. You might want to invest in a
    couple of extra MEGS depending on how much your system has already.
    
                                                   Ed
    

    
    
    	I have a few suggestions and a few questions.
    
    1) What quality, look, feel are you looking for ?
    
    2) how much time do you have to create this ?
    
    3) how well do you draw ?
    
    
    	Let's assume the whole sequence you want to do takes
    about 10 sec.
    
    	Top quality raytrace at 30 frames/sec needs 300 frames. On
    a standard amiga it could take about a year just to raytrace the
    pictures. I do like Sculpt-3d or 4d for raytrace.
    
    	A less quality image, is a package called Animator Aprentice by
    Hash enterprise. They also have a Knights data disk. I like how
    their system works. It is still 3d by not raytrace. If you could get
    by with 15 frames/sec.  The rendering time for 150 frames should
    be 4 days. You would need at least a month to create it. I can
    upload a sample animation.
    
    
    		Steve
    
    
    

    Nobody said it had to be 3D.  With a good, talented animator,
    any paint program will do, coupled with a simple animation program.
    But you need the animator artist who can draw.
    Tom

    Actually I am working with a free-lance animator.  I don't know
    whether to have him draw what I want and then either digitize it,
    and render, or have him draw it on the easil using Dpaint III. 
    I got the Amiga to do this project,  and I am not sure how I could
    finish the image once I have on the machine.  My time frame is about
    a month and a half.  The animation sequence will run for about 10
    sec. I will add the sound once it is on video tape using standard
    video editing hardware.  
    
    Ian "Go get em now! They aren't looking" Thomson
    

    
    PageFlipper F/X might do what you want.  You could use PhotonPaint II
    or DigiPaint III to create the HAM artwork, then use PageFlipper to do
    the comparison and compression on the original frames.  Photon Video
    (is it shipping yet?) might be able to do the entire job.
    
    The Director has produced some amazing Amiga animations.  However, it
    requires that you learn a Basic-like script language.  Director gives
    you powerful access to the Amiga hardware and has been used to create
    some of the best killer demos.
    
    Ed. 
    
    

    Why does it have to be HAM?
    The artist may not like drawing with the mouse, so you may have to
    digitize their drawings or get a drawing board interface which I know
    nothing about.
    150 frames.  hm. Director is not so hard but I don't think it
    compresses things, but then what program would while running a
    sequence.?  Deluxe paint, which might be good enough with 16 colors in
    high res /interlace, or low res/interlace with 32 colors, compresses
    pictures for storage, but a page flipper program would probably expand
    everything just before running the flip book.
    Also getting 150 frames in memory is a problem if they are expanded
    before flipping (the old juggler demo, by the way, expands the pictures
    in real time before showing each frame, so some page flipper must do
    that now too, but I don't know which one).
    Let's see. expanded :
    in deluxe paint 32 colors low res horizontally:
    5 planes * 320 across * 400 down * 150 / 8 bytes
    in ham
    6 planes * 320 across * 400 down * 150 / 8 bytes
    in deluxe paint 16 colors hi res;
    4 planes * 640 across * 400 down * 150 / 8 bytes
    
    If you digitize it you will haveto touch it up in a paint program.  In
    fact, you could just digitize the drawings and do the painting on
    the amiga, this is probably the best way.  Drawing is easier on paper
    but painting the colors is easier on the amiga.
    Tom

Don't ignore the possibility of using a graphics tablet. If the artist
does a standard line drawing, you could trace it in on a tablet quite
rapidly. After checking the results, you could color using any paint
program, like DPaint3. I wouldn't recommend that the artist try to
draw directly on the Amiga, unless they're experienced at it. Even with
a graphics tablet, it's more difficult than just tracing paper.

Low tech meets high tech.

John

    I have an Easil.  I was thinking of having the animator draw the
    frames and then using the Easil get them in DPaint III or Photon
    Paint II or Silver.  However before I colour I would animate the
    drawings so that I could show the director of the video tape, to
    enusure that it is acceptable. I am not sure how to upload and download
    stuff,  please would someone tell me what software I need and how
    to accomplish it.  Also I am a bit afraid of Viruses,  when getting
    stuff this way.  You guys have been a great help, keep the information
    coming. Thanx.
    
    Ian "If you see Buddha on the road, slap him" Thomson

    It sounds like you wouldn't need a GENlock at all. A GENlock is
    only required when the desire/need is to super-impose a video image
    and AMIGA graphics. A simple video board would suffice. I have one
    in my 2000 and they go for about $50.