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This section has text and photographs derived from some of the v2.5 media, so there may be some differences between the version you have and the screen shots or other material. Please read all the instructions is the other parts of this HTML documentation before trying to build this cine film recorder. This description of the cine film recorder is intended only for use in testing DANCAD3D.EXE (tm).

See also Section: 3.80.0.0 and Section: 9.75.61.0 for information about DANCINEL.EXE (tm) to display 2048x1536x32 high resolution Digital Cinema like image frame files on the monitor in your cine film recorder and have DANCINEL.EXE (tm) automatically operate the cine film camera and filter wheels.

The cine film recorder needs to be built inside of a box so that no light from the room it is in will reflect off the monitor. To get good sharpness of the image the brightness setting on the monitor should be turned down to a dim setting. Having the monitor brightness turned down might also help reduce the change in image size with image brightness changes due to poor regulation in the monitor high voltage power supply. Since the camera lens will be stopped down to f/5.6 or f/8 the exposure time using slow (low EI) speed film might be 7 to 15 seconds. Exposure times longer than one second are usually needed to reduce video "roll bar" in the film image.

The cine film recorder needs to be built so that there is a vent that will allow you to pass through the required wires, and also let the hot air out of the box. The vent should be built as a light trap so that the inside of the box will be dark. To make a light trap have side that has two walls spaced with a hole at the top of one and the bottom of the other, paint the inside of the trap, and box, black with low flammability paint. You may need to put a vent at both ends of the box with exhaust fans, especially when using a color monitor, to keep the heat in the box low enough to prevent the monitor and other electronics from catching on fire and setting the box on fire, which in turn could burn down your house or apartment building.

Under the camera, in the platform, is a hole through which a hold down bolt is tightened to keep the camera pointing at the monitor even after rough handling during loading of the film. The monitor is held in place with blocks to keep it from accidentally moving as well. Be sure that the monitor screen is adjusted to be vertical. Be careful not to block any of the air vents on the monitor, or impede air flow, so that it does not over heat.

The macro SIGNAL command might be used to control the cine film recorder's camera by sending tone signals to the computer's speaker. The length of time the tone is on controls the time the camera's shutter is open, and therefore the exposure time. Normally you would use a 32000Hz signal for 5 to 20 seconds. An amplifier in the computer controlled motor or solenoid increases the signal strength so that a relay can be switched without loading the computer's speaker output.

When you put an audio connector on your computer for the speaker output tap, be sure that you do not ground the signal side to the computer's case or you will not get any signal. You may damage your computer's mother board if you do not properly install a high impedance tap resistor capacitor network to isolate your circuitry from overloading your computer's speaker audio output pins on your mother board. See also the schematics for the cine film recorder amplifier electronics. The amplifier that you use between your single frame motor and the computer's speaker output should have a high impedance or "Hi-Z" input.

Two washers can be used to mount an audio connector in one of the computer's 9 pin connector knock out holes. Shielded wire should be used to the speaker signal tap R/C network since the inside of your computer may have RFI and EMI sources.

Since the computer's monitor is going to be inside a closed dark box, you cannot know what frame you are on unless you peek inside. Rather than darken the room and remove the side of the box, you can drill a hole on the end behind the camera that you can look through to see the monitor. Complex animation's can take days or weeks to photograph, so peeking inside lets you know that the computer has not crashed or how far along things have gone.

To get the highest contrast in the final image the inside of the box should not reflect light back onto the monitor screen. When you purchase a monitor for use in a film recorder, check that the image size is stable by turning the brightness up and down and seeing if the image gets bigger or smaller. You want a monitor that keeps the image the same size for every frame displayed and at all brightness settings.

BOLEX (tm) made a right angle prism viewer that fits into the camera gate. Such a viewer can be used to align a test pattern on the computer monitor. You can use the [P]review command in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) to display a test pattern for aligning the camera. To make a test pattern draw a cross with the center at x=0 y=0 in the workspace.

Although DANCAD3D (tm) animations made with the ANIMATE command can be sent from a compatible video board's composite video jack to a video tape recorder, you might get smoother motion by recording the displayed frames one at a time onto cine film. Motion picture, or cine, film can be used in any "gauge" 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm, 16mm, Super 16, 35mm Academy, full, or 'scope, 65/70mm, or any other format, to make animated movies. 16mm is probably best for home use since it is sharper than 8mm, and easier to project than 35mm.

For convenience you would probably point the cine camera into a Hercules (tm) compatible video monitor since the image on the video screen requires no operator intervention (as apposed to printing out the drawings and later filming the printout on an animation stand.) To prevent ambient light from spoiling the recording of the image on the computer monitor you will need to build a light tight box to put the automated cine (movie) camera and computer monitor in. For my computer animations made with DANCAD3D (tm) I made a simple plywood box about 2' by 2' by 4' that had removable sides for easy access to the camera. I drilled a small "peek-a-boo" hole at the camera end of the box so that I could see what was displayed on the computer monitor (the hole was covered with black tape normally to prevent stray light from reflecting off the computer screen.) The inside of the camera box should be panted black to maximize the contrast of the displayed image. At the monitor end of the box, in my box, was an inner wall was spaced from the back to form a light trap, and to act as a vent for heat, as well as, for access through which to pass the many cables for the AC, video, and audio signal.

An alternative to filming off the computer screen would be to film the print out of a dot matrix printer as it comes out of the printer in an arrangement where the printout feeds across the copy stand easel and the copy stand strobe lights are triggered automatically when DANCAD3D (tm)'s SIGNAL command opens the camera shutter. You can also of course photograph the printout of a laser printer or plotter on your cine film animation stand just like you would photograph animation cells. Although high resolution motion picture film stock like Eastman-Kodak (tm) 5360/7360 is capable of resolving the thin lines that can be produced by your laser printer you will not be able to transfer film that has only thin lines in the drawing to video tape, since the NTSC or PAL video cannot, generally, resolve such thin lines well. If you are using print-out to produce a video tape be sure to thicken the lines in your drawing to more than 0.3 percent of the frame height, or about 0.2 inch (5mm) wide on a letter size print-out. If you are going to project the film in a cine film projector and the projector has a high resolution lens then you might be able to use the photographed laser printer output that uses very thin lines for high quality cine film computer animation. For wide screen movies you can use 8 1/2" by 14" laser printer print out in landscape orientation to get an aspect ratio of 1:1.85 from the printable area of 7.30" by 13.5" with a vertical resolution of 2190 scan lines. If you use the full 8.00" by 13.5" printable area on legal paper (aspect ratio 1:1.68) the vertical (landscape printout) resolution would be 2400 scan lines at 300 dpi, about five times what NTSC broadcast quality video uses. To print out in landscape orientation use 90 degrees of rotation on the Z axis when you use the JET or DOT macro commands.

Many 8mm and Super 8mm movie cameras have a cable release hole that can be fitted with a cable release. You could sit patiently watching the monitor and press the cable release, but its is better to build an electronic control. If your movie camera does not have a time exposure mode set the speed control as slow as it will go to avoid video "roll bar" effects. For my computer animations I made with DANCAD3D (tm) I used a BOLEX (tm) 16mm camera. A used BOLEX (tm) 16mm camera might be able to be fond at a flea market or on-line auction for about $100. If you look in your news paper's want ads you might be able to find a BOLEX (tm) or Bell & Howell Filmo (tm). The Bell & Howell (tm) Eyemo (tm) was a 35mm version of the Filmo (tm) and can be found from time to time. For serious high quality cine recording you would need a pin registered camera like a Mitchell (tm), Oxberry (tm), or Acme (tm). In the Mitchell (tm)after the pull down claws position the film two pins enter the film to hold the film in precise alignment. In the Oxberry (tm) and Acme (tm) the registration pins are fixed to the exposure aperture and the film is lifted on and off the pins by a special mechanism. Since the registration pins in the Oxberry (tm) and Acme (tm) do not move they are the most precise cameras available and when in good condition might achieve repeatable positioning of 0.0001". Repeatable positioning is important if you want to do double exposures to get color or diffusion effects. Interesting pictorial effects might be able to be achieved by putting "cross hair" or other diffusion filters (and color filters if you use color film) over the camera lens and over exposing the image of the computer monitor display (this type of effect was used in early computer generated animation.) I should add that in pin registered cameras one of the two registration pins is full fitting of the perforation, i.e. the "big pin", and the other pin is narrow and only touches the top and bottom of the perforation. To accurately superimpose (copy) cine film, a special pin registered printer must be used and you need to keep track of which holes in the film were on the full fitting registration pin side of the camera. Also the some cameras and printers put the registration pins above or below the frame, and so the film might need to be printed from "tails" or some other "flip" to get the "big pin" in the same hole that was used for the big pin when the film was exposed before.

It might be possible to retrofit an old cine (movie) projector to work as a camera by installing a single frame motor on the shutter shaft and enclosing the unit in a light proof box. To make 35mm films you might be able to find an old Simplex (tm) projector head at one of your local movie theaters. 35mm projectors use a Geneva 16 tooth (on each side) intermittent motion drive sprocket. Since you are building a stop motion camera you could even just drive a cine film drive sprocket from a worm gear and have a cam to activate a micro switch to stop the electric motor after four teeth rotated (1/4 turn on a 16 tooth sprocket) past a fixed point. Movie projectors have a shutter with several blades, and sometimes the shutter is located behind the film, so you might need to modify the type or position of the shutter. To make an electronic capping shutter you can use a solenoid to rock a pivoted arm with a flag big enough to cover the camera lens. When you hook up the mechanical and electronic system for your camera the timing must be set so that the shutter is closed when the film is moving and the film is positioned when the shutter is open.

To make my computer animated films I have used two arrangements, the first used a washing machine solenoid to push a cable release that was hooked up to the standard BOLEX (tm) single frame button. Since the BOLEX (tm) allows for single frame time exposures that last as long as the single frame button is held down I simply used the duration parameter to the SIGNAL macro command to hold the control relay down and the single frame button in. Since the duration of the SIGNAL coming out of the computer speaker connections controlled the exposure it would be possible to do fades and other effects. The BOLEX (tm) automatically closes its shutter and advances the film to the next frame when the single frame button is released. No motor drive was required to operate the BOLEX (tm) in this way since the BOLEX (tm) H-16's internal spring drive is capable of running the camera for about 20 feet of film. When I have made longer animations using the spring driven BOLEX (tm) I simply looked in the "peek-a-boo" hole to see when the screen was being re-drawn and the camera shutter was closed, and then pressed [Ctrl] & [NumLock] to pause the computer. With the computer stopped I was able to open the side of the film recorder plywood box and wind up the camera every 6 hours or so. With an exposure rate of one frame every 2 minutes you can estimate how long it will be until the spring will be running down, i.e. 10 feet equals about 400 frames, 400 frames at one half frame per minute equals 800 minutes or about 12 hours. In order to be able to wind the camera in the middle of an animation without seeing a jump in the finished projection the camera needs to be very firmly mounted in the plywood box. In my plywood box I had two built up shelves so the camera lens and the center of the monitor screen were on the center line of the box, i.e. 1 foot from the bottom and sides. This arrangement worked well and the small amplifier, relay, solenoid, cable release device only cost about $50 to build. The solenoid used was a very powerful 120v 60Hz AC washing machine solenoid I picked up at an appliance repair parts house for about $20. A 6 foot video monitor extension cable was used to feed the video from a Hercules (tm) compatible video board to the 12 inch screen amber monitor in the plywood film recorder box. The cable release and the single frame cable release adapter used were standard parts that are available from better camera stores that still carry BOLEX (tm) equipment. The Kern Switar 25mm f1.4 lens I used was set at apertures f2.0 through f5.6 during the making of various animations, at f5.6 the exposure was about 90 seconds but the corner resolution was better. Be careful in buying lenses for the BOLEX (tm) because they make two series, the ones for the prism reflex models are marked RX near the screw threads on the mount, RX lenses should not be used on the non reflex models of the BOLEX (tm) H-16 since they should be corrected for the glass prism used in the reflex cameras, and the RX lenses must be used if you use one of the reflex through the lens view finder models. The smallest apertures you should use are: f4.0 for 8mm, f5.6 for 16mm, and f8.0 for 35mm film, since diffraction will limit the resolution at smaller apertures, the larger the "f" number the smaller the optical aperture and the less light admitted, stops larger than f2.8, e.g. f2.0 and f1.4, suffer from poor resolution due to un-corrected aberrations, stops smaller than f8, e.g. f11, f16, and f22, suffer poor resolution due to diffraction effects, so try to use an aperture of around f5.6.

Although the solenoid cable release device worked well it had two draw backs, first that the "clang", "buzz", and "boom" of the solenoid every minute or two made sleeping difficult since I needed to run the animation software when I was not doing other things on the computer. The other problem is that the single frame button on the BOLEX (tm) is not very sturdy and eventually the rivet that holds it on started to get lose. The older BOLEX (tm) cameras (and Bell & Howell Filmo & Eyemo cameras) have an 8 frame per turn shaft used normally for back winding the film to do double exposures, or for the attachment of an electric drive motor. Newer BOLEX (tm) cameras have a one turn per frame shaft on the side of the camera for attaching animation motors. Since I had an older model BOLEX (tm) that I was using for my cine film recorder, I built an animation drive motor that could turn the BOLEX (tm) 8 frame per turn shaft 1/16 turn then stop to open the camera shutter, wait, then turn another 1/16 turn to close the shutter and advance the film to the next frame. Using an animation motor eliminated the need to wind the camera, and also got rid of the disturbing noise from the solenoid. To build the animation motor I used a 1 RPM gear reduction 120V 60Hz AC timing motor (the AC motor was used so the exposure would be consistent) and attached a shaft that had a flexible coupling and a fitting to engage the pin on the BOLEX (tm) 8 frame shaft. To have the motor start and stop I fitted a 8 tooth cam around the motor drive shaft that would open a micro switch when the shutter was open, and close when the camera shutter closed. With the solenoid exposure control was simply a matter of setting the macro SIGNAL command to "beep" at 32000 Hz for a given time. I decided to use this same method of exposure control on the animation motor, which meant that when the signal started at the computers loud speaker the motor would need to start turning, when the camera shutter opened the micro switch would open to stop the motor, the motor would stay stopped until the signal from the computer stopped, then the relay would fall and the motor would turn to close the camera shutter and advance the film until the micro switch stopped the camera with the shutter closed waiting for the next signal. After the SIGNAL command the DELAY macro command was needed to have the computer wait about 3 seconds for the camera shutter to close before doing anything on the computer screen. The electrical connections of the sort used to build this type of automated animation motor are shown in SECTION: 5.1.2.1 and SECTION: 5.1.3.1. The macro RUN_IN.MAC was used to run the film in after the camera was loaded since the spring motor could not be used while the camera was attached to the electric motor. The BOLEX (tm) has footage and frame counters that allow you to double check if your macro exposed the proper number of frames.