Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!masscomp!calvin!mark From: mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Toaster Questions Message-ID: <61459@masscomp.ccur.com> Date: 27 Nov 90 13:34:47 GMT References: <4230@cerberus.oakhill.UUCP> Sender: news@masscomp.ccur.com Reply-To: mark@calvin.westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp. Westford MA. Lines: 78 In article <4230@cerberus.oakhill.UUCP> hunter@oakhill.UUCP (Hunter Scales) writes: > 1. I understand that the Toaster will physically fit in only the > Amiga 2000/2500 box. Since the machine does its special effects > in hardware, is there any reason to get more horsepower than a > an A2000? The additional horsepower doesn't aide the digital video effects but it will have major impact on the speed of Lightwave3D, the modeler, Toaster Paint, and most likely all disk access. If DVE's are all you want, you can probably get by without an accellerator. > 2. What is a reasonable configuration for use with the Toaster: > memory, monitors, etc. Depends on what you plan to do with it. 3D work demands an accellerator, saving images requires lots of disk space, and minimum recommended ram is 5M. I find that to use use the paint program for any sort of real work requires 7M of ram or better. Minimum disk requirements are 5M, but I recommend having at least 10M. As for monitors, you should have three but you can get by with two. If you are only using Lightwave, you could use a single 1084 but you will be doing a lot of switching on the input selector of the 1084. My configuration is a 2500/30 with 7M ram, 380M disk, and two monitors. This is very comfortable but I would like more ram. ALERT.....Something to note...........the Toaster does not like certain cables hooked up to the Amiga RGB port. It totally barfed at the active circuitry in my cable for the Mitsubishi DiamondScan. > 4. Will the Toaster perform the same functions as one of the > dedicated "color processors" such as the Azdens? I was told > that the ChromaFX functions operated on the luminance signal, is > there any chrominance processing? The current incarnation of the Toaster does chroma effects based on luma input. However, I am told that a hardware add-on is in the works for the Toaster that will add chroma processing (ie. chroma key). > 5. Is possible to do "colorization" of monochrome video ala Ted > Turner? i.e. can you save frames of BW video, "paint" them and > the replay? Yes but keep in mind that each colorized frame you create must be output one at a time, the toaster cannot playback real-time video. > 6. What software is shipped with the Toaster? Is the rendering > package included? All software is included: Toaster Paint, Switcher, digital effects, chroma effects, character generater, and Lightwave (3D modeler, renderer, and animator). > 7. For someone who *has* a Toaster, has it been reliable? Considering the complexity of the product and how new it is to the market, it is exceedingly reliable. I work on it a minimum of 6 hours a day and have come across only a few minor bugs (and this is not even the final release of the software, though it is very close). > 8. Does the Toaster use a standard graphics file format, i.e. > can I use my favorite raytracer on a fast RISC machine and > user the file with the Toaster? The Toaster supports a number of standard Amiga formats: 24 bit IFF input and output RAW rgb input (I believe this is Digi-View compatible) VideoScape objects and paths Sculpt scene files It may also accept other 3D formats such as Turbo Silver but I have not tried it. Hope this helps. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mark Thompson | | mark@westford.ccur.com | | ...!{decvax,uunet}!masscomp!mark Designing high performance graphics | | (508)392-2480 engines today for a better tomorrow. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +