Anyone used a DPS PAR for anything interesting?

[orb85750]

Has anyone here used a DPS PAR (Personal Animation Recorder) in their Amiga for anything beyond simple record/playback?  Is non-linear editing possible? semi-practical? impossible? effects? etc.?  

[wawrzon]

i have tried it (at least). wanted to have frames of a flick randomly blend in at a rate of ca 25 fps. that wasnt within reach. end of story. but maybe ill figure out something else yet. just wait another decade.

[T3000]

Made a few stop-motion and timelapse videos. It works well with 3D programs for animation rendering. To record video, it needs a TBC. The PAR can sync to an AD561 audio card for playback. What's a animation without sound...
To answer the remaining questions, VideoToasterFlyer.
With the right arexxing, the PAR can be incorporated into the VT/Flyer environment as a third video source.

[hardlink]

T3000 wrote:
With the right arexxing, the PAR can be incorporated into the VT/Flyer environment as a third video source.

Yay! I didn't know that!

My great project is to use 2 of them in tandem to record 3D video. Yes, you need 2 PAR's and 2 TBC IV's, 2 identical cameras with identical lenses, and maybe 2 machines - but I have all those  :evilgrin:

Since they can all be genlocked together, they would record 2 simultaneous video streams from a slightly different perspective. Some Arexx voodoo to combine alternate -fields- from each capture, and Poof! real 3D video. Plus, you still have the regular 2D video available too, which you don't get with the mirrors, beamsplitter, and LCD switch approach. Now for a lovely assistant to help me put all this together  :crazy:

[merlin3d]

I have one DPS Personal Animation Recorder (ISA) and one TBC IV, but not used in last years.  :-D

[AmigaPixel]

I had one in my A2000 12 years ago, I used it to create my first 3d Animation demo-reel which I sent out to about 40 studios. I rendered each frame in Lightwave 3D om my A1200/060(sold it) :cry: as each frame was rendered it was sent to the PAR card via Parnet cable and software. The PAR converted it on the fly to a PAR animation. I will upload the demo onto Youtube and post the link. :-)

[AmigaPixel]

I just remembered that I ended up keeping each frame as a sequence of files and copied them onto zip disks. I then took them over to a friend who had a Toaster/Flyer set up and did the final editing and sound effects before outputting to tape. It was exciting to be doing all of that back then. I felt like I was on the cutting edge. :-D

[trilobyte]

Has anyone here used a DPS PAR (Personal Animation Recorder) in their Amiga for anything beyond simple record/playback?  Is non-linear editing possible? semi-practical? impossible? effects? etc.?

I did use a PAR in a two-machine setup.  It went something like this:

(Slave) A2000 w/Toaster 2000, TBC IV
(Master) A2000/4000T w/PAR, TBC IV, Sunrize AD516, Bars & Pipes, MultiFace

The master machine, using Bars & Pipes, controls the Toaster in the slave machine, via a null-modem cable and the Toasty tool in B&P.  On the B&P timeline, using AREXX, it also controls the PAR in the local machine, and the TBC IV in the local machine.  Thus on the B&P timeline, a fully synchronized playback of three or more video sources could be achieved (PAR, TBC [comp/S-Vid], Toaster framestore).  Special AREXX scripts had to be designed because B&P could not talk directly to PAR / TBC (something about 'direct' vs. 'indirect' AREXX messages) -- so an intermediate AREXX port was made for each of PAR & TBC, which would listen for messages from B&P and forward them on to the DPS equipment.  With this, one could also forward these messages anywhere -- to DPS equipment over a serial port, or even DPS equipment over TCP/IP. All the while, the AD516 played back audio in sync with the B&P timeline.

Another interesting use would be to use B&P to synchronize a genlock with the PAR, and use Scala to overlay Amiga graphics onto PAR video.  'Live' compositing.  I've got plans to delve deeper into this, using a scenario like the above, except the Master machine would have a genlock, and overlay Scala animations onto the output of the slave Toaster... which of course would be mixing video from one or more PAR cards :-)

cheers,
t'byte

[AmigaPixel]

@trilobyte

 Wow! thats a complex but neat set up! I had forgotten about Bars & Pipes. I couldn't afford a Video Toaster until recently so now I get to play with it. I would be interested in updates if and when you experiment with B&P and Scala/genlock combo. It would be fun to use Scala 400 and a genlock for real time ovelays. Would I have to remove the Toaster to use a genlock?

[trilobyte]

Would I have to remove the Toaster to use a genlock?

I think not.  I think the Amiga will genlock to whatever genlock is made "active".  I could easily be wrong though, and it could even harm your computer.  But I think you can have two different devices hooked up so long as only one is "active" at a time.

-t