This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (524 messages)
3DS can't find TGA files
Message #60525
With DOS 5 and up, you can make IFLs easily by doing a DIR command such as "dir name*.tga /o:n /l /b > nametgas.ifl". Voila! That's all that's needed unless you want to have some of them appear for more than one frame (in which case you would use DOS…
#Sequential files
Message #60524
To expound on what Ralph said, be sure to add "/o:n" to the DIR command he provided unless you are 100% sure your files are in the directory in the exact order you want them to be recorded! "/o:n" will sort the resulting .IFL in Order by file Name.
3DS
Message #60523
You can make IFLs out of a series of numbered files even easier if you have DOS 5 or later. One command is all it takes: DIR ____*.___ /O:N /B /L > ________.IFL Ta-daaaaaaaaaaa!! 🙂
3rd Dimension Readers!
Message #59289
Add us to your 3rd Dimension mailing list, please! M&M Communications Concepts 509 Linden Street Shreveport, LA 71101-4833
That's nice to know, Alan. The Viper is as fast in DOS as an ET4000. Now, I can get an ET4000 card for about thirty bucks. How much is the Viper VLB, hmmmmmMMMMMMM!?!?!?!?!? ;> My point is that if you DON'T NEED WINDOWS, or don't plan on using it a…
Judy, yes, you have to reboot your computer. Then you press a few keys and you have a whole 'nother configuration. No "copy config.cd config.sys | copy autoexec.cd autoexec.bat" stuff. And the resulting menus are very easy for novice users to actually use. You don't have to hand-hold the novices…
The difference between having CHOICE and Menu-Config built in is that it doesn't take up more conventional or high RAM like external routines could. Using the magic of QEMM 7, most of our machines have 634K or more of available CONVENTIONAL RAM, with the HMA _available_ (DOS=LOW!), WITH having LANtastic…
I repeats: we've been using DoubleSpace for months (we were a DOS 6 beta tester, so we've been using it since before DOS 6 was released) on a network of six PCs doing lots of disk access and have had NO corruption of data to date that was traceable to…
I DID try all of that. My boss doesn't like big CompuServe bills, so I spent HOURS trying EVERYTHING _before_ I posted here. I've had Boxed Object selected from the very beginning (I do know the difference), and had Initial Velocity set to 100, Falloff set to 0, Deceleration set…
#Now DISINT.AXP fails!
Message #56251
HELP!!! Now DISINTEGRATE isn't working right, either!! Oh, it goes through all the motions, just like VARY.SXP did, but no go. I've used it many a time successfully. But now, it won't move the particles. No matter what my settings are for Initial Velocity, Velocity Falloff, Deceleration, Gravity, Blast Center…
Ahhh! Okay! That does make sense!
Hmmm … you just did.
You can say THAT again, Dave!
Sorry, Rick. I use CIM, and hit [Reply] after reading your message, so it got addressed to you. I was, in fact, talking to the same person you were talking to.
I, too, have the Kurta XGT. I'd like it a lot better if they used the full power of the stylus. The stylus is physically capable of sensing tilt and bearing and proximity as well as pressure (255 levels), but the ROMs in the tablet only return the pressure information…
Now now, James. The Matrox MGA is not even in the same ballpark as the S3, Weitek, etc. The MGA is a full-fledged graphics CO-PROCESSOR. In effect, it's a whole 'nother computer plugged into your PC that is JUST FOR graphics. The S3, Weitek, etc. are "fixed-function" Windows accellerators. All…
I never said I have anything against Windows. What I said was that unless you run BOTH Windows AND 3DS2, often, on the SAME MACHINE, you're better off using a Tseng ET4000 on a local bus on the 3DS2 machine, and leave the Windows accellerator chips for the Windows machine.…
DOS 6's most important improvements, IMHO, have nothing to do with DoubleSpace or (gag!) MEMMAKER. Those are, after all, simply utilities. The most important improvements are built-into the DOS itself. Most notably, the multiple configuration ability of CONFIG.SYS, plus the ability of AUTOEXEC.BAT to react to the configuration chosen in…
Ah, okay, I guess that makes sense. So the BXPs are loaded at startup time and automatically activate if a file of their given extension is to be loaded or saved? That doesn't quite jibe with the 3DSr3 demonstration I saw at your SIGGRAPH booth, though. I clearly remember the…
Well, you've already spent $3,000 on 3DS. Go ahead and spend the extra $80 ($50 mail order) to get QEMM 7.1. It's WELL worth it! For example, imagine a system with a Hercules Graphite, LANtastic client software, mouse, VESA, Delete Sentry, anti-virus, ANSI.SYS, and lots of other stuff, plus FILES=75,…
We do have graphics drivers, SCSI controllers, sound cards, CD-ROM, and LANtastic network all on the same machines. Using QEMM 7 with DOS 6's multi config, we can have 634K of free DOS conventional RAM even with all those drivers and SmartDrive loaded. We've never once had a problem with…
I'll do that! Thanks!
I know about cheating Windows drivers. One common method of cheating is to incorporate the text "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" pre-cached into the driver code at the sizes WinBench uses, so that it won't have to call TrueType to build those fonts from scratch. I…
I'll have to ask my boss if he's willing to give away what he considers one of our "secret weapons." 🙂 It's pretty nice, if I do say so myself. For instance, I can use JOIN between a white and a black FLiC to make an Iris Open transition, then…
I dunno. I think BIPAKS sounds better that BIPKAS. How about SKIPAB? BASKIP? PASKIB? (Hmmm — almost sounds like Pascal!) SPIBAK? SPAKIB? PSIBAK? PSIKAB? Lotsa possibilities here! 🙂 I must say I think it was rather short-sighted of you to provide no UI capability to BXPs. I suppose it's possible…
3DS2 and EMM386
Message #55792
DOS 6's EMM386 should support 3DS even with the NOEMS switch, so long as there is not also a NOVCPI switch in use. All earlier versions of EMM386 won't provide VCPI. For QEMM, if you must have VCPI with no Page Frame, use "FRAME=NONE FEMS".
Abekas/Resolution/ASDG
Message #55791
James, you have at least one "fact" incorrect in your Functional Comparison: the highest 32-bit resolutions supported by the ATVista are 1512×486 in NTSC and 1480×578 in PAL. Other resolutions include 1008×486 and 756×486 in NTSC, and 986×578 in PAL. In terms of resolution at least, the ATVista appears to…
Abekas/Resolution/ASDG
Message #55790
Bailey, I don't know about PhotoShop, but I do know that for certain things, HRQFX3 beats the socks off PhotoStyler. Among other things, it has full Alpha support which is usable for masking and effects keying, etc. It has a separate Draw mode whose objects (including kerned text, with fonts…
MCIAAP.DRV won't install
Message #55789
Christopher, the problem is in your MPLAYER.INI file. First, be sure your [Options] section contains this line: Animation1=61 Now, change the line in your [Devices] section to: Animation1=286, FLI/FLC Player
flic to gif
Message #55788
Easiest way is to use ANICONV which comes with Animator Pro. If you don't have that, another way is to use Video Post. Simply start 3DSr2.01, go to the Keyframer with nothing loaded, do Render/Setup/Configure to set the NULL device,the desired output resolution and file format of GIF and Compressed.…
How can I do that good?
Message #55787
Release 3 will do true metallic shading. In the mean time, the way to get close to that is to lock Diffuse and Ambient to make sure they are the same, and use the same Hue for Specular as well. Set a moderate Shininess for a brushed metal look. For…
FLC Play via OLE or API?
Message #55786
The easiest way would be to use the MCIAAP.DRV MCI driver, via MCI calls. I don't know FoxPro's language, but assuming it can call MCIs, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I can do it in Multimedia Toolbook with ease. Basically, you would open the FLC as a…
Fli -> Mac
Message #55785
If Debabelizer can't handle .FLCs directly, you can use ANICONV to chop them up into a series of numbered GIFs, which Debabelizer could re-assemble into a QuickTime movie, as David said. Key is to use ANICONV first.
AniPro VTR control POCO
Message #55784
FLITAPE will record a FLiC one frame at a time, and provides some control such as head, tail, looping, very limited scaling, etc. POCO is built-into Animator Pro. It's a C-like language, and you can get a manual for it from Autodesk. The only POCO program I've written so far…
.AVI CONVERTION TO .FLI
Message #55783
I do believe that once CVTAVI has produced a series of numbered .TGAs, you can use ANICONV (comes with Animator Pro) to convert them to a .FLC.
AAWIN v 1.10 Crappin'
Message #55782
PMJI: As I understand it, you can run Windows in STANDARD mode inside of 3DS2, but it's not recommended to try to run it in 386 Enhanced mode. In other words, add "USER-PROG#=Std. Windows,C:\WINDOWS\WIN.EXE /S" in your 3DS.SET file. The reason 3DSr2 won't run under Windows 3.1 is that Windows…
Forgot to ask…
Message #55781
"IPAS3"? Since "IPAS" stands for .IXP, .PXP, .AXP, and .SXP, and since Release 3 adds .BXP (bitmap import/export filters) and .KXP (Keyframer external procedures — YAY!!!), why not a new acronym that includes all of those? I suggest "BIPAKS" (pronounced "bypacks"). Can .BXPs import bitmaps from ANY source? Could, for…
transcoders
Message #55780
Video resolution is NOT 640×480. True analog video has no pixels, so there is no horizontal pixel resolution. The vertical pixel resolution is about 486 for NTSC and 578 for PAL, but that's because of the discrete scan lines inherent in the raster-scanning method rather than actual pixels per se.…
3ds hardware lock
Message #55778
I can't speak for Stacker or SuperStor, but I've had no problems with 3D Studio under DoubleSpace once I remembered to keep a non-Doubled partition for the swap files. Works fine, and the extra space comes in real handy! Note: when rendering to Targas, even compressed ones, DoubleSpace will help.…
OS/2?
Message #55777
DOS programs under Windows, Windows NT, and OS/2 must either not use 386/486/586 (I refuse to say "Pentium" — urgh!)-specific features (such as Virtual Mode or Flat Memory Mode), OR access them only through DPMI (DOS Protected Mode Interface) instead of VCPI (Virtual Control Program Interface). 3D Studio requires a…
SIGGRAPH
Message #55776
How about Betacam-SP copies of the 3DSr3 demo tape? Will those be available? Where, when, and how much?
IPAs
Message #55775
I've said it before and I'll say it again: with the exception of the awful EMM386.EXE, DOS 6.0 works FINE with 3DSr2.01a — even DoubleSpace! A serious 3DS user should have QEMM386 v7 anyway — nothing else even comes close in my book. 3DS can do its own memory management,…
486-33 or 486-66
Message #55774
I use DOS 6 with QEMM 7 and have no problems, even WITH compression! DoubleSpace is quite reliable so long as you follow common sense, such as: * Always do a "SMARTDRV /C" before powering off or rebooting. To date, most cases of corrupted DoubleSpace volumes have been traced to…
Diamond Viper
Message #55773
Benchmarks in a recent comparative review show that the Hercules Graphite 1MB ISA board — ISA, mind you!!! Not EISA or VLB!! — is actually FASTER than any other company's fixed-function VESA VL-Bus board, including the Diamond Viper VLB, Metheus 928 VLB, #9 GXE VLB, or ATI Ultra Pro VLB!!…
VARY.SXP bug!? — HELP!!
Message #55675
We're trying to use VARY.SXP as an Opacity map on two seperate objects that overlap, permitting one to fade in over the other, and the other to fade out behind it shortly thereafter. A similar project we just did the same thing on worked fine, but on this project, it's…
Output size
Message #49957
Actually, printers that don't do continuous tone (such as ink-jets, thermal-transfer, solid-ink, etc.) use a dithering pattern to simulate more colors. This cuts down the usable resolution. In effect, they only have ten possible colors at the full resolution (white [no ink], cyan, magenta, yellow, orangeish-red [M+Y], green [C+Y], indigo-blue…
#Output size
Message #49956
Actually, printers that don't do continuous tone (such as ink-jets, thermal-transfer, solid-ink, etc.) use a dithering pattern to simulate more colors. This cuts down the usable resolution. In effect, they only have ten possible colors at the full resolution (white [no ink], cyan, magenta, yellow, orangeish-red [M+Y], green [C+Y], indigo-blue…
#Best Memory Config
Message #49955
Main consideration with DOS 6 is DoubleSpace. You can use a DoubleSpace drive for any 3DS2 purpose EXCEPT the Phar Lap swapfile. That MUST be on an UNCOMPRESSED drive! Some people, including me, have encountered problems with EMM386.EXE with NOEMS (to give more UMB space) but VCPI left enabled (needed…
#3D Stuio + Pentium???
Message #49954
The important thing to keep in mind about 3DS and the Pentium is that the general-computing magazines are talking mainly about INTEGER speeds, since that's what's important for general-purpose computing. 3DS renders, however, are largely FLOATING-POINT bound. The Pentium is only about twice as fast as a 486DX at the…
Multilayer support
Message #49953
This Altamira Composer, except for its multilayer abilities, sounds a lot like Hi-Res QFX 3. What are the differences? Fractal Designs Painter 2.0 is, quite frankly, unbeatable in my book, especially with the forthcoming /X2 multilayer extensions. Its cloning tools allow you to, among other things, convert a scanned photo…
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