lindahl@arrisun3.utarl.edu (Charlie S. Lindahl) (01/14/91)
All: Hope this is the correct newsgroup for this posting; I don't see any other (better) place, so here goes: At the summer SIGGRAPH meeting in Dallas, there was a vendor who exhibited a product called (something like) the "VIDEO THING", a PC-based video frame-grabber board. According to a friend of mine who requested that I post this question, the booth associated with this hardware board had a videotape which featured a movie by Penn & Teller, the famous comedians/ magicians/slight-of-handers. I have scoured my SIGGRAPH documentation and have not found a reference. Can anyone help me find this device? Please send EMAIL directly, as I do not normally read this bboard. Thanx, -- Charlie S. Lindahl Automation and Robotics Research Institute University of Texas at Arlington Internet EMAIL: lindahl@evax.arl.utexas.edu Standard disclaimer: Ain't no opinion but my own.
rjc@geech.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) (01/14/91)
In article <LINDAHL.91Jan13212836@arrisun3.utarl.edu> lindahl@arrisun3.utarl.edu (Charlie S. Lindahl) writes: >All: > >Hope this is the correct newsgroup for this posting; I don't see any other >(better) place, so here goes: > >At the summer SIGGRAPH meeting in Dallas, there was a vendor who exhibited >a product called (something like) the "VIDEO THING", a PC-based video >frame-grabber board. According to a friend of mine who requested that I >post this question, the booth associated with this hardware board had a >videotape which featured a movie by Penn & Teller, the famous comedians/ >magicians/slight-of-handers. > >I have scoured my SIGGRAPH documentation and have not found a reference. Can >anyone help me find this device? > >Please send EMAIL directly, as I do not normally read this bboard. > >Thanx, > This spectacular device is called the Video Toaster from NewTek. Its a board that can do almost everything a $50,000 studio can do. It features 2 framebuffers, Digital Video Effects, ChromaFX, A character generator, LightWave3d modeler/ray-tracer, ToasterPaint, a production level switcher, 4 video inputs, and probably more I can't remember. All of this is done in real-time except for the tracing. All of this is included in the same package for $1595. The Hardware is not availible for the IBM (if thats what you meant by 'PC') and never will be. Its made for the Amiga2000 and its sisters (2000HD,2500) Check out the amiga groups for more info(comp.sys.amiga.*). >-- >Charlie S. Lindahl >Automation and Robotics Research Institute >University of Texas at Arlington >Internet EMAIL: lindahl@evax.arl.utexas.edu > >Standard disclaimer: Ain't no opinion but my own.
zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) (01/14/91)
In article <1991Jan14.054313.24338@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> rjc@geech.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) writes: >In article <LINDAHL.91Jan13212836@arrisun3.utarl.edu> lindahl@arrisun3.utarl.edu (Charlie S. Lindahl) writes: [stuff deleted] >>Please send EMAIL directly, as I do not normally read this bboard. >> > This spectacular device is called the Video Toaster from NewTek. Its [more stuff deleted] >LightWave3d modeler/ray-tracer, ToasterPaint, a production level switcher, [yet more stuff deleted] From what I hear, you don't get a ray tracer. The renderer apparently uses Phong shading, which can do pretty well. I would guess that you can get pretty much the same sort of pictures that a ray tracer would give you, but without reflections or refractions. The ordinary Phong system doesn't usually give you shadows, but I remember seeing them on a Toaster picture, so LightWave probably does something clever like a double visible surface algorithm to get them. The easiest way to tell the difference is that Phong shading is fast, and ray-tracing is very, very slow. Since the Toaster is for professionals, you probably don't want to make them wait the many hours that ray tracing can gobble up. The DKBTrace package has a sample picture that took my 3000 about 14 hours! > The Hardware is not availible for the IBM (if thats what you meant by 'PC') >and never will be. Its made for the Amiga2000 and its sisters (2000HD,2500) Never say never. Even non-mainstream computers like the IBM PC and compatibles may eventually catch up. Where there's a market opportunity, there's a way. Dan Zerkle zerkle@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu (916) 754-0240 Amiga... Because life is too short for boring computers.
mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) (01/17/91)
In article <1991Jan14.054313.24338@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> rjc@geech.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) writes: > This spectacular device is called the Video Toaster from NewTek. Its >a board that can do almost everything a $50,000 studio can do. It features >2 framebuffers, Digital Video Effects, ChromaFX, A character generator, >LightWave3d modeler/ray-tracer, ToasterPaint, a production level switcher, >4 video inputs, and probably more I can't remember. All of this is done in >real-time except for the tracing. All of this is included in the same >package for $1595. Correction....Lightwave is not a ray-tracer, it is a 3D scanline based renderer. Its images however are comparable to traced images except that they are created MUCH MUCH faster. A while back I did a benchmark image consisting of roughly 300 speres created with approximately 25,000 polygons (utilizing all the different surface attributes available). Rendering to full video resolution (768 x 480) took under 12 minutes on a 25MHz 68030 based Amiga. The latest release of the software is even faster. Oh, and you forgot to mention it has a real-time video frame grabber. %~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~% % ` ' Mark Thompson % % --==* RADIANT *==-- mark@westford.ccur.com % % ' Image ` ...!{decvax,uunet}!masscomp!mark % % Productions (508)392-2480 (603)424-1829 % % % ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) (01/18/91)
In article <8164@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) writes: >> This spectacular device is called the Video Toaster from NewTek. Its >[stuff deleted] >>LightWave3d modeler/ray-tracer, ToasterPaint, a production level switcher, >[yet more stuff deleted] > >I would guess that you >can get pretty much the same sort of pictures that a ray tracer would >give you, but without reflections or refractions. The ordinary Phong >system doesn't usually give you shadows, but I remember seeing them on >a Toaster picture, so LightWave probably does something clever like a >double visible surface algorithm to get them. Lightwave is an outstanding Phong renderer that made me say good riddance to ray-tracers. I'm not sure which shadowing algorithm is used but I don't believe it is a depth buffer. I think I recall mention that it used ray-casting but I am not certain. Anyway, I might mention that shadow support has been improved with latest release of the software (rev 1.0). You may now select shadowing on an object basis rather than just for the entire scene. For each object you can select any of the following: 1) receive shadow, 2) cast shadow, and 3) self shadow. This kind of control can dramitically improve shadow rendering time. %~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~% % ` ' Mark Thompson % % --==* RADIANT *==-- mark@westford.ccur.com % % ' Image ` ...!{decvax,uunet}!masscomp!mark % % Productions (508)392-2480 (603)424-1829 % % % ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~