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Looking for Beta Testers
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Looking for Beta Testers // Roundtable
Post by miwtech // Jul 7, 2008, 7:36am
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miwtech
Total Posts: 10
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We are looking for people to help beta test new software called AniCrop. AniCrop was actually developed as a companion for TrueSpace but is not exclusive. For more information visit www.anicrop.com/betatest/index.htm. We are still adding a few new features but there is a link to an incomplete iteration of the AniCrop Help file to help you determine your interest to participate.
ThankYou |
Post by nowherebrain // Jul 7, 2008, 1:20pm
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nowherebrain
Total Posts: 1062
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Ummm Could we get some verification. I'm not downloading anything, although I am inerested in beta testing products related to 3D. |
Post by kena // Jul 7, 2008, 1:29pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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I cannot find anything about it myself. |
Post by jamesmc // Jul 7, 2008, 1:37pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Hmmm, looks kind of vacant at their home Website.
http://anicrop.com/ |
Post by ghost--scout // Jul 7, 2008, 2:47pm
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ghost--scout
Total Posts: 85
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I haven't downloaded and the site is kind of vacant, but I took a glance at the help document and it is good sized and contains images of panels and controls. |
Post by miwtech // Jul 7, 2008, 5:43pm
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miwtech
Total Posts: 10
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The website at AniCrop.com is just a place holder for now. We are not ready for full site design until AniCrop is closer to completion and final release. The URL we posted www.anicrop.com/betatest/index.htm was created only for recruiting CG artists interested in helping us beta test AniCrop and is not meant for public consumption.
The link to AniCrop's Help file is there for people to get a sense of what AniCrop is, to help them determine their interest in participating in beta testing. It's not much to go by but it's all we have at the moment. In fact we are still figuring out what AniCrop is ourselves.
The Help file is not up to date. We are currently adding features such as the ability to create transition animations for static images, utilizing the many included graphics filters, and applying filters incrementally over a specified number of frames in an animation. These features will be complete before beta testing commences.
Of course its hard to get a sense of the program without actually using it. TrueSpace wouldn't seem very interesting if all you had to go by were pictures of its icons with short descriptions of what they do. We certainly need to add example animations, videos ect. to demonstrate what AniCrop can do. But that is a lot of work and unfortunately we have not developed the Help file to that extent as yet. AniCrop is simple, efficient, and a genuine pleasure to use. Animations run smoothly with no compromises in image quality and most of it's features are applied to all frames within seconds so there is little wait time.
AniCrop was never conceived as a stand alone application. We use TrueSpace to produce graphics for our other programming efforts and there were post-processing operations we needed to do that were too time consuming in other graphics programs. To solve the problem we wrote a bare-bones application to save us time. It started with a single feature, but every time we needed something new we just added a new feature. Over several years the application developed itself into an incredibly handy tool, so we gave it a name and decided to develop it into a complete application.
Those concerned about the legitimacy of our offer, or our company, can check out our main home page. This site has nothing to do with CG graphics. There is one application with a demo available for download were AniCrop was first utilized, there are a few other applications were AniCrop was used more extensively but they are still in development. Our main home page is www.promptoria.com. |
Post by nowherebrain // Jul 8, 2008, 3:54pm
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nowherebrain
Total Posts: 1062
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Well post processing features were not a part of tS RT until tS 7.0. Please add some images or something. You will not get many testers unless you show a hing or two to prove your legitimacy. Aside from that, I question offers from users who have 1 post....well 2 now. |
Post by Emmanuel // Jul 9, 2008, 12:19am
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Emmanuel
Total Posts: 439
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I often try to support any tool development for trueSpace, because we never have too many tools :)
But from what I can read about AniCrop in your help page, I have the feeling that it is just a VirtualDub-like tool, and since most of tS users already have and use VirtualDub, I don't see the aim of AniCrop, especially as a standalone app : it does what any video edition program does :confused:
What I would enjoy is a custom Global Shader (for tS6 / Modeler) that would allow to apply VirtualDub filters AT RENDERING.
For example, I often use VirtualDub's temporal smoother that gives a film look to my animation.
I wish I could select that VirtualDub filter from trueSpace's Global Shader panel, and get my animation rendered and filters applied in one clic.
What do you think ? |
Post by transient // Jul 9, 2008, 1:27am
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transient
Total Posts: 977
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What I would enjoy is a custom Global Shader (for tS6 / Modeler) that would allow to apply VirtualDub filters AT RENDERING.
This would be truly awesome - especially if it worked with dribble. :cool: |
Post by Matski007 // Jul 9, 2008, 3:51am
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Matski007
Total Posts: 539
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Well I have just applied, looks like a good piece of software, nice and simple. Will come in very handy. Ill let you know if its all ok, im sure it will be though. Presumably you ought to be embracing this with great enthusiasm because very few people develop for TS! |
Post by nowherebrain // Jul 9, 2008, 2:25pm
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nowherebrain
Total Posts: 1062
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Well speak up if it is safe for others, else I will not touch it. |
Post by miwtech // Jul 9, 2008, 4:56pm
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miwtech
Total Posts: 10
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I had a look at VirtualDub. AniCrop currently has no video features, although support for exporting to avi, gif, flv, ect. is in the works. AniCrop works with bitmap images so it has a much closer relationship to programs like PhotoShop. AniCrop's 102+ graphics filters are similar to PhotoShop but AniCrop is oriented toward working with multiple images simultaneously. |
Post by Burnart // Jul 9, 2008, 5:40pm
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Burnart
Total Posts: 839
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So we are talking about a a program which compiles a list of images into an avi or whatever. It also gives you the possibility of cropping/resizing the resulting file and applying certain filter operations (gaussian blur, hue rotate, brightness/contrast)- is that right? Does it composit multiple image lists? ie merge tga alpha pics with a background image or images? Will it modify the parameters over time such as go from strong blur to no blur over the course of the anim? |
Post by Emmanuel // Jul 9, 2008, 8:44pm
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Emmanuel
Total Posts: 439
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AniCrop is oriented toward working with multiple images simultaneously.
That's the same typical workflow in VirtualDub :
1. import an image sequence (BMP for example),
2. apply filters and crop/resize the video if necessary, remove unwanted frames, etc...
3. save as image sequence or encode in AVI format using the codecs available on your system.
A tool to save point 1 and do points 2 and 3 inside trueSpace would be great though :) |
Post by miwtech // Jul 10, 2008, 8:37pm
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miwtech
Total Posts: 10
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So we are talking about a a program which compiles a list of images into an avi or whatever. It also gives you the possibility of cropping/resizing the resulting file and applying certain filter operations (gaussian blur, hue rotate, brightness/contrast)- is that right? Does it composit multiple image lists? ie merge tga alpha pics with a background image or images? Will it modify the parameters over time such as go from strong blur to no blur over the course of the anim?
So we are talking about a a program which compiles a list of images into an avi or whatever.
Yes, one would begin by loading a series of bitmap images. All the work to be done is done to the bitmap images and, once completed, can be compiled to a video file or saved in other image formats as a series of separate bitmap images.
It also gives you the possibility of cropping/resizing the resulting file and applying certain filter operations (gaussian blur, hue rotate, brightness/contrast)- is that right?
Once the bitmaps are loaded you can crop/resize the entire group of images, or crop/resize sections out of the main images and work with them separately. The 102 graphic filters can be mixed together in any way to create custom filters which can be saved to disk and later reused. These custom filters can be applied to the entire series of images as a single filter or they can be altered. Most of the filters have adjustable parameters which can be applied incrementally over whatever number and range of frames you specify. Basically you can use any number of individual filters, combined in any way, in any order, or any combination, and apply them in any way to single frames, series of frames, or the entire animation. The filter deployment strategy is open-ended, I don't think there are any limitations.
You can also load a single image, create any number of new frames with a copy of the image, and apply the filters to create an animation. Similarly you can load two (or more) images, create any number of frames for each image, and apply the filters as you will. In other words you can create transitional effects which can be saved and spliced into a longer animation, or if this is done with cropped sections of an animation, can be superimposed onto the main image or images.
Does it composit multiple image lists? ie merge tga alpha pics with a background image or images?
I'm not sure I understand this question but I will try to answer it.
First of all AniCrop does not currently support tga format, although it is on our list to revisit this issue (along with other formats not currently supported). Currently AniCrop supports importing the bitmap formats - bmp, gif, jpg, png, tif, ico, wmf, emf, exf.
The alpha pics part of your question is a little more difficult to answer. The answer is yes, no, and maybe, depending on one's point of view.
AniCrop includes a number of filters that incorporate a solid color of your choosing which can be used as an alpha channel or background color. These include various distortion filters and speckled/gradient type filters. Most of these are applied directly and a few are applied in relationship to a secondary image which you would create separately. You will be able to apply an image or series of images and superimpose them on top of another image or series of images and the solid color will render transparent. The alpha channel is per solid pixel so the question of how cleanly this would blend with the background image/images may vary and so deployment must therefore be carefully considered.
Will it modify the parameters over time such as go from strong blur to no blur over the course of the anim?
I think I already answered this question.
Of course that's why we beta test. Part of testing is to uncover bugs/errors. Part is designing the user interface to make the program intuitive and user friendly. And part is to discover any new features that contribute to the programs overall usefulness. AniCrop was originally designed as an in-house tool only, and in this respect has performed magnificently. It did exactly what we needed it to do exactly the way we wanted. Since we have decided to release it to the public it behooves us to develop AniCrop to be equally useful to others. Accomplishing this noble task requires an understanding of others needs and desires. As with all of our software we are sincerely dedicated to making AniCrop the best that it can be. |
Post by miwtech // Jul 11, 2008, 6:19pm
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miwtech
Total Posts: 10
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I often try to support any tool development for trueSpace, because we never have too many tools :)
But from what I can read about AniCrop in your help page, I have the feeling that it is just a VirtualDub-like tool, and since most of tS users already have and use VirtualDub, I don't see the aim of AniCrop, especially as a standalone app : it does what any video edition program does :confused:
What I would enjoy is a custom Global Shader (for tS6 / Modeler) that would allow to apply VirtualDub filters AT RENDERING.
For example, I often use VirtualDub's temporal smoother that gives a film look to my animation.
I wish I could select that VirtualDub filter from trueSpace's Global Shader panel, and get my animation rendered and filters applied in one clic.
What do you think ?
Sorry, I misunderstood this post when I first saw it. All the work I have done with TrueSpace has been with bitmap output. I have used TrueSpace for years and never once created a video from my animations. We have not designed any plugins for TS so I'm not in a position to comment.
I have looked at VirtualDub and can't find how to import single images to create a video except for the screen capture function but this seems like a tedious exercise. One thing I can say is that VirtualDub looks like a handy tool but it bears absolutely no resemblance to AniCrop at all. This is not a value judgment that one is better than the other. There is simply no relationship between the two, it would be like comparing apples to oranges. |
Post by miwtech // Jul 13, 2008, 7:15pm
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miwtech
Total Posts: 10
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Our roster of beta testers is just about full. We are leaving the application page at www.anicrop.com/betatest up for one more day.
Thank you to those that have signed up. We look forward to a productive and rewarding relationship. Progress is proceeding on schedule so far, however, we are currently adding some major enhancements to AniCrop's alpha channel handling architecture and this may delay the first test release a few days or so. We have also decided to add a compliment of painting and selection tools to AniCrop. Originally we had not planned on this but the advantages such tools offer are becoming too numerous to ignore any longer. It will take a while to design and decide exactly how we want to implement these new features so we are not going to let it delay AniCrop's initial test release.
To those of you that are sitting on the fence - you have about 24hrs to make up your mind. Once the web page above is closed we will not be accepting any more applications.
Thank You |
Post by notejam // Jul 29, 2008, 1:44pm
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notejam
Total Posts: 191
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Regarding making video directly from truespace7.6 screen.
Camtasia can do this. Its not an asemble a bunch of jpg or bmp files to make a movie program. Instead, it can record anything on your computer screen, or even set it to record parts of a screen, and it can allow audio too.
Can record with some different video codecs to make different types of computer video files and best of all its free.
Sorry mac people, this is an Ibm compatible program.
Here is where you can get camtasia. It can record a window on your computer screen, or you can set it to record from any portion of the screen. Its real good for making tutorials, as persons can watch a video of what you clicked on, and how you moved or edited, and so on
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http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe
Register it here to get unlock key.
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp
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Camtasia is excellent for making tutorial videos. Just plug in a microphone into your computers sound card, and you can record movies with sound of anything on your screen. But I still would like to see someone make a render plugin for truespace 7.6 that would render an animation to a video file directly, no assemble of seperate bit map files or jpegs,
Camtasia is a bit messy to use with truespace7.6 as I end up getting part of the truespace 7.6 as a leader on my video, until I manage to click on the play animation icon in 7.6. So I am not getting exactly the output I want, and have to cut off part in a video editor to get exact footage desired. The alternative is to start the animation playing, and then start camtasia recording, but its clumsy to do do it and start the recorder soon enough, and often miss part of the start of an animation when attempting to use that method.
HOw |
Post by TomG // Jul 30, 2008, 3:45am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Camtasia has some problems with tS7.6, or more specifically the TechSmith codec does (it causes various things in tS to "act weird" for me, including FPN, and tool tips). I've found that swapping to a different codec can give better results, the Lagarith codec is also lossless for example.
I have found though that lossless codecs slow my frame capture more than a lossy codec, and I've recently taken to using Windows Media 9 I think it is. This loses color depth, but gives a much better frame rate (perhaps 3 times faster) - note that this is in scenes with a lot of movement, where I am navigating around a completed 3D environment in tS (or in Virtual Earth as it happens, for my house fly through).
There I was only getting 2 or 3 fps out of the lossless codecs, a dramatic drop from 30 fps or higher in real-time. The lossy codecs seem to capture at around maybe 15 fps (just intuitive, not measured this), giving a much more accurate representation of what I see on my graphics card.
As well as Camtasia, there is also the smaller and free Camstudio. Note that these are screen capture applications and not video rendering, they don't take sequences of images to produce a final video for things you've rendered in trueSpace (I hear Virtualdub is good for that, and this product here looking for testers may have something to offer too).
HTH!
Tom |
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