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Info-Graphics Digest	Sun Jul 27 03:00:21 PDT 1986

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Today's Topics:

 RGB to NTSC (The List)
 SigGraph attendees
 A good video presentation system...

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Date: Sun, 20 Jul 86 14:50:05 pdt
From: Craig Bowman <cyadrin%noah.arc.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: RGB to NTSC (The List)

	Several weeks ago I posted a request for information on RGB 
to NTSC encoders and promised to post the findings if there were
enough requests.
	I received a flood of requests for the list of encoders
available. However, no information of any kind came in from anyone.

	Along similiar lines, I have seen a growing number of computer
animators and computer graphics folks wanting to transfer their latest
and greatest directly onto videotape, bypassing the more traditional
method of using film recorders for transfer to film.

	For those of you have been trying to get your hands on any of
this kind of information I will share with you with what I have found
out over the last few years.

	In my opinion the Sony BVH-2500 Delta Time video tape recorder
is currently THE machine for recording your graphics images. It is made
for still frame recording, step frame recording, and slow speed recording
with no prerolling requirements. This is a broadcast quality machine so
it's certainly not cheap. However, this unit was designed for use in
video animation. It is the right tool for the job.
	If you'd like to see this unit in operation, then you might do
what we did. Contact your nearest Sony Broadcast Rep. and get them to
bring one out for a few days of demo. Make sure they bring along a camera.
Using the old point the camera at the screen trick is good enough for
you to check out the BVH's capabilities to your own satisfaction. We had
an animated sequence put together 10 minutes after plugging the machine
into the wall.
	Lyon Lamb makes the VAS-DELTA programmable Animation Controller
for the BVH-2500. Besides the programmmable features of this unit has,
it also has an RS-232C port for control of the unit by a host computer.
This is handy if your Ray Tracing a bunch of images. You can have the
system automatically record sequences without operator intervention.
Thus your system can run overnight without an operator presence required.
	By the way, the BVH-2500 requires an external time base corrector.
If memory serves me correctly the Sony BVT-2000 is the only unit that
is guaranteed to work with the BVH-2500, (how convenient for Sony).

	Now for the crunch; getting your high res images from the graphics
screen onto the videotape with as little picture degradation as possible.
	Well low and behold, my earlier bad experiences with the COX CVP-100
signal encoder have been changed recently. The new CVP-100, (golly gee),
actually works. You supply the CVP-100 with an NTSC sync signal, (sigh! more
equipment to purchase) using an NTSC video signal generator, and run cables 
from your RGB and sync graphics outputs to the CVP-100. (Note: if your graphics 
device doesn't have an extra output for sync but runs sync on green, no problem,
the CVP-100 can be put into this mode by toggling a switch). It's important to 
be able to genlock the graphics output signal before feeding it into the 
CVP-100. This unfortunately may have not been designed into your particular 
graphics device. (Check with your device's manufacturer).
	If you can genlock your graphics signal then your almost home. A signal
which doesn't properly genlock will show up on the tape with noticable 
distortion. An example of a graphics device with a genlockable signal is the
raster display addition on an Evans and Sutherland PS-340 workstation.
	Now run the composite output from the CVP-100 into the video recorder
making sure you supply the reference video you supplied to the CVP-100 to
the BVH-2500 and it's time base corrector as well.
	The CVP-100 signal encoder is good for up to 1024 x 1024 resolution
on the source graphics device. By the way, Michael Cox Electronics, 
manufacturers of the CVP-100, make other encoders as well for standard RGB
to composite NTSC and PAL standard signals as well. So make sure you have
the correct encoder, (CVP-100). I recently went through an experience with
someone who only got the basic info, and then dragged in a bunch of equipment
for a demo test. They had the wrong COX encoder and no genlock equipment.
	We did our best to try to get what they had working, but to no avail.

	Anyway, this is the only effective configuration I'm aware of. If 
someone knows of other encoders or complete transfer systems, please 
contribute your information. I'm really just an animator, not a video engineer.


		Comments, questions, or just general disscussion are always
welcome.

				Craig Bowman.

Disclaimer: All of the information and opinions presented are not to be 
construed in any way to be those of my employer or the small moldy brown 
stuff living in the back of my refridgerator, who are really one in the 
same but lead seperate identities for tax purposes.


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Date: 21 Jul 1986 22:05-PDT
From: Andy Cromarty <Info-Graphics-Request@ADS.ARPA>
Subject: SigGraph attendees

As promised, I have been collecting the list of names of everyone
who would like it announced that they'll be at SigGraph.  Here's
the list so far.  This list is small enough to be easily manageable;
anyone else who'd like to let others know they'll be at SigGraph can have
their name and net address advertised in this space by simply sending
a note to me (at the -Request address, of course) saying, "I'll be there."

					Andy Cromarty
					Info-Graphics-Request@ADS.ARPA

	Info-Graphics member SigGraph attendees:
	----------------------------------------

Name			Net Address
----			-----------
Douglas Trainor		<trainor@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU>
William Joel		<JZEM%MARIST.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Terry Poot		<ndm20!tp%smu.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Craig W. Reynolds	<cwr@WHITE.SWW.Symbolics.COM>

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Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA
Subject: A good video presentation system...
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 86 08:03:51 -0500
From: tink@mitre-bedford.ARPA

 I'm looking for a PC based "slide system" like STORYBOARD (by IBM) or
VideoShow (by General Parametrics).  I'm hoping that there are some other
packages out there since neither of these seems to fit my needs.  What I'm
looking for are packages in the $100 - $500 hundred range that can create
a story line, including pictures (STORYBOARD has only a rudementary
editor for creating the graphics - most of its input should come from other
packages).  It would also be nice if this package included hardware that
allows the result to be displayed through a video projector.

Steve Feuchtbaum
TINK@MITRE-BEDFORD


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