An interesting piece of hardware.

[Fabrice]

Hi David,

Sorry for this late reply, I was very busy with the new release, and I know that such questions deserve a long and detailled answer.

So it seems to me that the Simplicity Cam 5e will only capture to 4:3 aspect ratio , otherwise the image will be stretched/distorted to fit inside 16:9 aspect ratio, yes ?

Yes, you are right. So you have to create a project using the Recordex webcam resolution, stabilize it, and then crop it.
Well, I wouldn't have given a better explanation than the one Zig, our best TVP teacher , provided.

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But there is also some possible tweakings with the « passe-partout » (or all the possible names we discussed for this new TVPaint 10 option).
It could allow to have a project using the webcam best resolution (2592 x 1944 pixels for the Recordex), and to view an image in 1920 x 1080 pixels with the TVPaint camera tool.
Then, after the grabbing process, you can use the option Camera > Render Camera to a new Project to crop the whole thing.

My picture was created while being in a train, so the I had to use my laptop webcam (720 x 1080 pixels), and the TVPaint camera tool was set to 640 x 640 pixels, with a passe-partout of 50%.
(I should have used 100% to view only the interesting part of the image in 640 x 640, but I wanted you to get the idea)

About the Recordex webcam :
My concern is : what is the resolution of this « webcam captor » :
Is it also 2592 x 1944 pixels or is it less because there is an internal interpolation ?
Maybe should we ask to Jason Ulmer.


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I will try Don Perro 's camera as well. It seems more adapted for stop-motion.
If it works also on Mac and Linux, we will recommand it too.

[D.T. Nethery]

I will try Don Perro 's camera as well. It seems more adapted for stop-motion.
If it works also on Mac and Linux, we will recommand it too.

That camera (Logitech HD PRO C-910 ) is one that we tested at AAU . It works well with TVPaint . It does not have a tripod socket, so will have to be secured to the tripod in another way . It is possible to drill a hole in the plastic base of the C-910 to screw it on to a tripod head , or it can be wrapped around a tripod head with with elastic cords (even rubber bands will work in a pinch)

I have also heard recently from Liquid Digital , the makers of Agent V5 webcam that they will be introducing a new model , the Agent V6 , in January 2012 which will have an improved tripod adapter for securing the Agent V6 to a tripod.

I also found out that they do supply a replacement metal tripod socket for the Agent V5 on request, for a small fee. (the standard tripod socket with the Agent V5 is plastic and unfortunately the threads of the plastic socket are prone to getting worn down). That problem will be fixed with the new tripod adapter design for the Agent V6.

[D.T. Nethery]

A few more thoughts on using the Simplicity Cam 5e for pencil testing.

The Simplicity Cam 5e comes as a free-standing unit. The base is weighted , which is fine for capturing documents or still artwork, but for animation it needs to be locked-down.

In playing around with it I have found that 2" High Tension Spring Steel Clamps work well for this purpose. The ones I used are called Iron Bridge Husky 2 in. Spring Clamps purchased from Home Depot (a chain of hardware stores in the U.S.) for $3.19 each. Any similar sort of high-tension spring clamp could be used. In the attached photos I used two of them, but could use three for added stability .

The set up with the clamps looks low-tech and it is , but it works. I might use some molding to add a three-sided "brace" around the base for added stability , but I don't know if it really needs it or not . That might be overkill.

See this link for the full 'tutorial' on how to lock-down the Simplicity Cam 5e to a board or table-top , using these 2" Spring Steel Clamps . (although the attached photos are pretty much self-explanatory. )

The tutorial also discusses adding a peg bar and side-lamps :

Tutorial: How To Lock-down Simplicity Cam 5e


I find that using the freeware app CamTwist helps control the camera (brightness/contrast, zoom-in/zoom-out) on the Mac.

http://camtwiststudio.com/







Needs side lamps added for better illumination on the shooting stage, for higher quality image capture.

This kind of lighting arrangement:

[ematecki]

The same concept as the recordex...

EN: http://plustek.com/oeu/products/mobile- ... fice-c500/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FR: http://plustek-store.com/scanners-porta ... tatif.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Elodie]

Hmm, interesting !

[D.T. Nethery]

The same concept as the recordex...

EN: http://plustek.com/oeu/products/mobile- ... fice-c500/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FR: http://plustek-store.com/scanners-porta ... tatif.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reading the specs it seems that the Mobile Office C500 document camera has limitation of Maximum paper size of 216 x 297 mm (8.5" x 11.69") so you are limited to scanning "10 Field" animation paper , rather than being able to capture full "12 Field" (10.5" x 12.5" ) .

Record-X Simplicity Cam 5E and it's replacement Simplicity Cam 5i+ will capture 12.5" x 16.5", which will capture full 12 Field and most of a full "16 Field" (full 16 Field paper is 13.5" x 16.5" / scannable area of 16 Field excluding peg holes area is 12" x 16" ). Most people don't work on 16 Field , so it's not a big issue , but 12 Field is still the industry standard paper size , although many people (especially students) are using "10 Field" (common office copier size of 8.5" x 11" ) because scanners for that size are generally less expensive.




I think I mentioned it in one of my previous posts , but with the Simplicity Cam 5e I was able to adjust the capture resolution to full 2K 2048 x 1536 using CamTwist for Mac. The RecordX software that comes with the Simplicity Cam called "X-Sight HD" will also allow the capture resolution to be set at 2K 2048 x 1536. At that size with good lighting (supplemental side lights ) you can get really sharp looking pencil tests when capturing drawings .

Previously the XSight HD software was only for Windows, but they now have a beta version for Mac which I've tested and it works fairly well (UPDATE: XSightHD software for Mac and Windows is fully functional , no longer in beta for Mac as at the time of this original post) , but I still prefer CamTwist . (no more: use XSightHD for capture ; see updated post below) . Unfortunately CamTwist does not work on Mac OS 10.8. *UPDATE: CamTwist Studio now works with Mac OS 10.8 , 10.9. 10.10 . http://camtwiststudio.com/download/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Fabrice]

The same concept as the recordex...

EN: http://plustek.com/oeu/products/mobile- ... fice-c500/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FR: http://plustek-store.com/scanners-porta ... tatif.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

any idea of the price ?

[ematecki]

The same concept as the recordex...

EN: http://plustek.com/oeu/products/mobile- ... fice-c500/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FR: http://plustek-store.com/scanners-porta ... tatif.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

any idea of the price ?

189.03 € in France.

[Fabrice]

not bad !

[D.T. Nethery]

Some updated information on using the Recordex Simplicity Cam for line tests:

http://animation-studio-stuff.blogspot. ... pture.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The version of the Recordex Simplicity Cam referred to in this topic (model 5e) is no longer available , but they have similar models available.

http://www.recordexusa.com/simplicitycam.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Recently in working with this camera again I found some ways to improve the overall image capture quality , so I'll share the process in this document:

Improving Image Capture Quality with Recordex Simplicity Cam

The main thing is to use Recordex's proprietary software XSightHD to capture the images , then import the captured images into TVPaint. (rather than capture directly to TVPaint via the Video Input with the Simplicity Cam selected as the video input device ; for some reason this does not allow the Simplicity Cam to display it's FULL RESOLUTION , so the image captures made this way are of much lower resolution . However , if images are captured at full screen resolution in the XSightHD software from Recordex then the image quality of the frame captures is much better. It is simple to then just drag -and-drop the captured images to TVPaint)

Images captured via Recordex's proprietary software XSightHD in full-screen mode -



Import image captures to TVPaint -










.

[Fabrice]

thanks for the input David.

[schwarzgrau]

We got a simplicity cam at my school. I only used it to show some sketches on a projector, since I don't do line tests. It seems very stable to me and I was surprised by the image quality (but maybe I'm just not up to date about webcam image quality).