Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!cn09+ From: cn09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Christopher Kalevi Nuuja) Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization Subject: Re: Video Recording Message-ID: Date: 17 May 91 17:56:29 GMT Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 32 Here's our (Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center) old and new system: OLD: 3/4 inch umatic tape <-(controlled by)-- diaquest controller (pc based board) <-(fed by)-- peritek frame buffer. : This system took about 40 sec to record a frame to tape, and between 1 second and a few minutes to render each frame. All animations are cgm based, and are mostly from our remote users. This system is about 4 years old NEW: Sony LVR <-(fed by)-- sgi 4d20. Custom software controls the LVR. The LVR can be played directly to tape. If the animation is not all in order on the disk, or if you just want to do some other editing tricks, the diaquest controller can be used to control which frames and in what order the lvr outputs to tape. Recording time is to short to measure per frame. Rendering time is a lot quicker, but I'm not sure what the average is anymore. We use cgm files, as well as P3D files. P3D is a lisp-based 3d modelling format. P3D files are animated to tape either by using the sgi gl interface, or by raytracing them and converting the resulting rasters into a cgm file. Our cgm and p3d interpreters come with the code to control the sony lvr, as well as the diaquest controller. They are available via anonymous ftp from calpe.psc.edu. Please send mail to kar@a.psc.edu requesting to ba added to either the gplot (cgm interpreter) or p3d mailing lists, so we can keep you informed on updates, and just so we know how many people are using our software. Chris Nuuja Sys Prog/Graphics App Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center nuuja@a.psc.edu