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Digital Cameras
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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by fraggard on Thu Jul 14th at 2:59pm 2005

Digital Zoom is a marketing gimmick. It does nothing useful. It's probably better taking a regular photograph and zooming into it using Photoshop or somesuch.




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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by DrGlass on Thu Jul 14th at 4:12pm 2005

3MP is fine for texture work and small prints, unless you do large prints 8x11+ you will never use the 5MP. Infact, most people dont use max image size (thus they dont use max MP) to save space. My 3.2 MP camera prints great 8x11 or even 9x12 photo's.

For texture work your not going to use over 1024x1024 unless it is some kind of rare super big texture.

Reno, I would get a nice 3MP canon powershot off e-bay. I have the S30 but you should look for a later generation. Camera's hold up really well and if the seller has a good score you'll be safe.

also, frag is right about digital zoom, there is no need to use it.

just dont waist your money on mega pixels your never going to use. If you need 5+ MP you might as well get a digital SLR at 8MP for a few extra $$$ and have something that will last you a long time.





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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Jul 14th at 4:23pm 2005

I do in fact use my digital zoom.. I have noticed that on a few occasions my picture was blurry, prolly due to my jiggling at the moment of taking it. I zoom in to check its clarity and delete it if its bad. I travel a lot, and take quite a few pictures. I do not want to get home and find out that I missed the picture of a lifetime because it was blurry.

Digital zoom has that much use at least.





The best things in life, aren't things.



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jul 14th at 4:37pm 2005

I'm still not happy about buying things like that over ebay though DrGlass - I'd far rather spend a bit more and have the peace of mind of a warranty to back me up. I've had plenty of things screw up on me in the past - games consoles, mp3 players, etc... - and being able to send them back freely for repair or placement is a nice thing for both unfortunate occasions and just peace of mind. It's not really that it is ebay that is my problem, more that it isn't going to be new. I'll keep ebay for my rare/cheap games and whatnot <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">

Even if you do think that the 4th megapixel is pointless, ?175 isn't exactly that much more than what you'd be paying for a decent 3 megapixel camera. I'm not really buying it for the sake of its 4 megapixels (though I'm not complaining, its nice to keep up with the standards), but due to the fact it gets good write ups and is apparently a bargain at that price.




Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by fishy on Thu Jul 14th at 5:33pm 2005

a nice camera and a bargain it may be, but i think if you're using it mainly for reference pictures and textures it could be a little bit over the top.


i eat paint



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jul 14th at 6:08pm 2005

A fair point to be sure, but I think its probably worth getting something capable of doing a bit more. I've never gotten into photography in the past (never really bothered taking photos ever), so you never know, maybe I'll end up loving it and so having a good camera will be a benefit <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif"> On the other hand, maybe I will just use it for texture and reference use, and never touch the more advanced features. In the end though, I guess I'd prefer to spend a little more cash and get something that CAN do things I may one day want to do. Its not like I could get a reasonable camera for that much less anyway. It's still made out to be a great point and shoot camera - it doesn't HAVE to be complex to use, but the options are there if you want them.




Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Jul 14th at 6:08pm 2005

? quoting fishy
and textures it could be a little bit over the top.

Besides that, how many of us now has stated that as soon as we get a quality camera, we would make some textures?

There have been damned few, and.. I have found it extremely difficult to take a picture thats worthy of a texture so far. You think someone could make a tutorial on photographing texture material? Simply pointing and clicking doesn't seem to cut it. :/





The best things in life, aren't things.



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jul 14th at 6:17pm 2005

2D art is one of the areas I'm still completely unskilled in, but its something I'd really like to get some amount of ability at. I'm not planning on becoming a great texture artist, but being able to do some fairly competent basics would be useful. I can create games entirely from scratch now and that's a great feeling, but I still have to steal textures, and being able to do everything 100% myself (well...maybe not the sound effects) would be even better.




Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Jul 14th at 6:22pm 2005

So it seems that I am not alone. Taking pictures destined for textures is hard. :/



The best things in life, aren't things.



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Myrk- on Thu Jul 14th at 7:33pm 2005

You should make a simple mod next reno, something nice and easy.


-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jul 14th at 7:55pm 2005

You might think thats nice and easy, but from my limited looks into the HL2 code it looks far more tricky to make any worthwhile modification than it is to make a (limited and simplistic) 3D game <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif"> I should almost certainly do some HL2 coding and I was planning on it, but not right at the minute. I've gotta think about my honours project first and foremost <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">




Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Jul 14th at 7:57pm 2005

Then make a pong game with killer graphics. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/heee.gif">

/runs





The best things in life, aren't things.



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Forceflow on Thu Jul 14th at 8:37pm 2005

Yeh, check my portfolio at http://forceflow.deviantart.com



:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by fishy on Fri Jul 15th at 12:20am 2005

the hardest part of making textures from photo's is dealing with the barrel distortion. there's a good tut here that links to, and explains how to use, a free photoshop plugin that can straighten out your pics for you*.

(*standard disclaimer applies)




i eat paint



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Orpheus on Fri Jul 15th at 12:24am 2005

? quoting fishy
the hardest part of making textures from photo's is dealing with the barrel distortion. there's a good tut here that links to, and explains how to use, a free photoshop plugin that can straighten out your pics for you*.

(*standard disclaimer applies)

Coolness. Sadly its a photoshop based tutorial. Anyone familiar enough to say if it can be converted to PSP?





The best things in life, aren't things.



Quote
 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by fishy on Fri Jul 15th at 12:34am 2005

the tut doesn't look to be specific to PS. it says in it somewhere to open PS, or whatever plugin host you prefer. so i assume it would work with PSP.

[edit] another link to another tut, which has an actual working link to the plugin.




i eat paint



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by SnarkSephiroth on Fri Jul 15th at 9:02am 2005

Hey Reno forget all those 5-6 MP cameras. Go for Canon's 16 MP camera. Its not out yet (at least I don't think). Anyways I'm not serious about you getting this camera. I don't really know the increase in quality a 16 MP camera would have against say a 5-6 MP camera. Heres a link though :

http://digitalcameras.engadget.com/entry/1234000380043330/

Also, an interesting note. I found out (not sure where though) that the human eye is equal to just over 6 TeraPixels. Now imagine if we developed a camera that was that powerful.....



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Crono on Fri Jul 15th at 7:33pm 2005

? quote:
Also, an interesting note. I found out (not sure where though) that the
human eye is equal to just over 6 TeraPixels. Now imagine if we
developed a camera that was that powerful.....


Posted that awhile ago after I started the light section in my physics class some months ago. You have to remember it's equal to a 6 Terapixel CCD camera. (Yes, there's a difference)

And there's a huge difference between 6 and 16 megapixels. But, 6 is a very good size for a personal camera, even if you print something out it'll be good quality. A 16MP camera would allow you to print something close to a poster size out with no quality loss. (Then again, that means you can take pictures and compress them down so they look really sharp.)


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by satchmo on Fri Jul 15th at 9:55pm 2005

What's thre framerates limitation of the human eye? I guess I could've googled for the answer myself.




"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge



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 Re: Digital Cameras
Posted by Crono on Sat Jul 16th at 12:06am 2005

? quote:
What's the frame rates limitation of the human eye? I guess I could've googled for the answer myself.


We don't really know. Some people say 150 or something as such, but it's not built that way so. Even saying the "resolution" is 6 terapixels isn't exact, since the human eye is completely organic.

To be honest, we know very little about the eye past basic functionality.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.




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