Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

GRAPHICS
ablo is designed to unite the two
ends of the spectrum by bringing
video capabilities to the Picasso II
RIG graphics card. The Picasso II has a 16
pin expansion plug near the back plate of the
board and it is to here that Pablo connects.
Once you have removed the standard
back plate from the Picasso and replaced it
with the one in the Pablo box that has two
extra holes for the Composite and Y/C outputs,
it is a simple matter to screw Pablo to
the Picasso board using the supplied mounts
and screws,
Pablo certainly comes well-equipped with
connections to the outside world. In addition
to the standard RCA jack cable for composite
signals and Y/C cable, there are adaptors for
BNC and SCART connections.
There are also live disks containing updated
system software for Picasso allowing for
the new video connection, and a copy of the
excellent MainActor animabon software along
with some example animations.
The software installation uses
Commodore's Installer and is painless, but
there are two problems with it.
Firstly. it doesn't check what revision of the
system software you are currently using,
overwriting the newer versions I had downloaded
the previous evening.
Also, while installing MainActor there are
points when it wants the next disk but it
doesn't tell you what it wants, merely puts up
a "Proceed/Abort Install" message leaving
you guessing what it is waiting for,
Informed Picasso users will no doubt be
aware of the PicassoMode software available
for Picasso. It allows the customisation of
screenmodes to the user's desires,
To use it, rather than having the standard
38kHz or 57kHz tooltype. you put CUSTOM
in the village.library icon. This then makes
Picasso look for a file in the directory
DEVS:Village corresponding to settings you
have made in PicassoMode. Pablo comes
or
Pablo, Picasso
and their ally.
Main Actor
produce some
effective
results
Amiga Computing
OCTOBER 1994
In order for Pablo to create a signal that can be viewed on a television screen or recorded
to videotape, it has to be at the correct horizontal scan rate and vertical refresh rate,
For a PAL signal, these settings have to be around 15kHz and 50Hz respectively.
Unlike Opalvision, however, Pablo's output cannot be genlocked unless you have a TBC
or Time-Base Corrector.
This is because Pablo's output doesn't really count as "computer video out" but as a
separate video signal, just like that from a video camera or recorder, and it thus-needs to
have the stabilising influence of a TBC to make sure it syncs with other video equipment.
In the past there has always been a gap between graphics cards intended for video
work and ones to aid productivity. Video cards worked only with graphics programs written
especially to take advantage of their 24-bit abilities, but they were about as much
use to Workbench-based programs as a bicycle is to a fish,
On the other hand, the productivity cards, or RIG cards as people like to call them,
only worked at high scan rates unsuitable for video work.
pft-
-
4
-
rF'i
of
with various monitor modes for PicassoMode rushed out, especially as the blurb o-
that allow you to use a combination of video Pablo's box distinctly states that Pablo car
resolutions with monitor resolutions, for be used in resolutions up to 768 x 576.
instance, 158,38kHz.
And as this is the case. I can't recommerel
Then all non-Amiga resolutions, like 1024 x Pablo for video professionals at the momert
768. are routed to your monitor, but ones like In fact, unless this essential problem is
640 x 512 are sent out of Pablo's video outputs.
This brings up a serious failing in Pablo. Immediately corrected, I don't see VillaTronic seling very many Pablo boards.
It doesn't come with any overscan settings. The bright spark on the horizon is
In fact the highest resolution it goes up to for MainActor, which comes free with Pablo.
video is actually 640 x 512 and it is not possi- was fully reviewed in last month's issue ot
ble to create a 768 x 576 screenmode with Amiga Computing, but if you missed that
PicassoMode,
issue (where were you?) stand by for the low
OVER SCAN
down.
MainActor is a piece of software for the
I have spoken to Blittersoll. the UK distrib- creation of animations. Its use isn't solely
utor for Picasso, about this and they say that restricted to Picasso as it can be used to
Village Tronic are rewriting the screen drivers make normal ANIM-type animations, along
to deal with overscan.
with foreign formats like FLCs and FL's.
This strikes me as a product that has been It can also be used as a conversion tool to
[entre of attention
allow you to take animations created on a
PC and transfer them to a native Amiga format
or vice versa.
MainActor does have a special format