I used to collect "Making Of" books and illustrated movie guides just so that I'd have good reference material. Then along came the web and Google image search and the pool of reference material increased significantly.

Now I find myself going one step further in my search for the complete reference pictures in that I'm buying (often used) dvds on eBay or Amazon just so that I can get screen caps on my computer. I bought "The Black Hole" to get caps for the MPC Maximillian I was refurbishing. I just purchased "Destination Moon" to see if I'm missing any detail on an old Lunar Models Luna I'm re-doing.

Anyone else going this route?

Jim

Yep, bought Fantastic Voyage and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea last Night for that very purpose. My computer is too old to do screengrabs (or I'm not smart enough to figure it out), but I usually throw the movie on when I'm building anything from a specific movie. The snowless pause on DVD's is a godsend after years of ruining VHS tapes rewinding and pausing over and over again.

I wouldn't purchase a DVD just for model reference, but I do use them as my primary reference.

I discovered DESTINATION MOON is a problem. Apparently, they used two completely different models for the in-flight shots and the moon-based ones. The main hatch is on opposite sides of the ship. Either that, or they somehow rotated the fins 180 degrees while landing.

The snowless pause on DVD's is a godsend after years of ruining VHS tapes rewinding and pausing over and over again.Yes, it's a vast technological improvement, and not just for those of us who use movies as reference material for building models. Back when VHS tape was the state of the art, video store workers always knew which parts of a tape had been repeatedly freeze-framed by the degraded picture quality. I think you know which movies I'm talking about -- "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is one example that comes to mind . . . :devil:

^ Body Double... um, National Lampoon's Vacation...

Back to topic - Yes, I also use Jim's method for modelling. I'm converting an SDF-1 "Storm Attacker Construction" model and converting it to an SDF-1 "Cruiser Mode." That requires sculpting a new part and I needed screen grabs from my brother in-law's Robotech DVDs to figure out that it looks like from various angles. I'm also using the screen grabs as painting guides. It's working out great!

The one thing I dislike about my Mac is its inability to capture DVD images.

:mad:

There are some pretty good, easy-to-use screen capture softwares for Macs--you might have to pay for them (30 bucks I think) but they're out there.

Um YES YOU CAN!! Being a Mac Computer geek....

Anyway, first get a good application to rip the video from your DVD's. You don't need to do the sound for still shots anyway.
THEN, use a Movie editor like Final Cut Express to import the video for playback. Advance til you get the exact frame you want, expand the viewer by drag n pull from a corner to make it as big as you want. Then use Apple-Shift-4 to get the select and copy curser. Go to the upper lefthand corner of whatever you wanna make a screen cap of, press n Hold, drag to teh bottom Right and release. Done! You get a cap with the name Picture n.

I got THIS that way.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/J2-ND2.jpg

Um YES YOU CAN!! Being a Mac Computer geek....

Anyway, first get a good application to rip the video from your DVD's. You don't need to do the sound for still shots anyway.
THEN, use a Movie editor like Final Cut Express to import the video for playback. Advance til you get the exact frame you want, expand the viewer by drag n pull from a corner to make it as big as you want. Then use Apple-Shift-4 to get the select and copy curser. Go to the upper lefthand corner of whatever you wanna make a screen cap of, press n Hold, drag to teh bottom Right and release. Done! You get a cap with the name Picture n.

Now I remember why I like PCs. I just click on the screen grab icon while playing the DVD on my PC. :p

Jim

Yep, I do this too. As a matter of fact I just picked up Fright Night for $7.00. I'm painting the 10" bust of Amy from Killer Kits.;)

Bob

I've bought a number of movies for similar reasons, as well.

I also, buy DVDs for model research. I have a huge collection of screen grabs, on my PC. Sometimes I will print the shot, so I don't have to have the PC on.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

get a good application to rip the video from your DVD's.

Which rip app do you use, if you don't mind my asking?

There are some pretty good, easy-to-use screen capture softwares for Macs--you might have to pay for them (30 bucks I think) but they're out there.

I don't suppose you remember a specific program... (PM if you'd prefer).

I've been facing the unhappy prsopect of having to pick up the DVD of the Lost in Space movie for references. At least it's cheap, but just the principle of buying the thing of my own free will is painful.

I've been facing the unhappy prospect of having to pick up the DVD of the Lost in Space movie for references. At least it's cheap, but just the principle of buying the thing of my own free will is painful.

Understandable.

The one thing I dislike about my Mac is its inability to capture DVD images.

:mad:

Carson -

Download VLC player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html
Play your DVD through this player, pause and take screen shots as you normally would (apple key + shift + 4). Works great for me.

The one thing I dislike about my Mac is its inability to capture DVD images.

:mad:

Not true Carson.
DVD Snap is a universal shareware screencap app that "takes screenshots of any movie running on your Apple DVD Player. DVD Snap's features include manual single shots as well as automatic sequential, time-dependent shots, e.g. every 1 - 60s. Launch multiple screenshots in iPhoto of your favourite movie to generate slideshows."
http://www.tool-forcesw.com/shareware_dvdsnap.html

And the donate-ware DVD Capture is "a helper application for the Apple DVD Player. The captures can be saved to a file or placed on the clipboard. An AppleScript is provided for the DVD Player script menu that launches DVD Capture. Select "File" or "Clipboard" to assign a location for the capture."
Hasn't been updated for a while though - it's only PPC native.
http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/software/DVDCapture.sit.bin

Hope that helps.

after years of dealing with color zeroxs of publicity shots to try to sculpt licensed products by (no matter how much i begged for better reference shots), power dvd was a godsend.

Yep, bought Fantastic Voyage and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea last Night for that very purpose. My computer is too old to do screengrabs ... \

Here ya go:
http://www.inpayne.com/seaview/seaviewpics.html
:)

(this also serves to answer the original question)

I've been facing the unhappy prsopect of having to pick up the DVD of the Lost in Space movie for references. At least it's cheap, but just the principle of buying the thing of my own free will is painful.
I hate paying good money for a movie that I don't really want to watch again but I usually find what I'm looking for at a good price on Amazon under Used and sometimes on eBay.

Jim

THANKS FOR THE TIPS, GUYS.

They are greatly appreciated.

If you want to do frame grabs on a Mac, get a copy of As Scene on TV (http://b-l-a-c-k-o-p.com/AsSceneOnTV.html). It works fine on my G4 running OSX 10.4.

Rattrap: Thanks for the link. I downloaded the above software, but was unable to open it in conjunction with my Mac's DVD player. When I tried I got this warning:

"Only one process is allowed to use DVD Playback Services at a time. Please check to see if another DVD-related application is running."

Forgive me for hi-jacking the thread with my own technical issues, but As Scene On TV seems like a cool program, and I'd love to be able to run it.