This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (126 messages)
Hi Scott, Sorry about the delay, but I had a little luck with your model. It's not the best of solutions, but it works. First of all, I'm still not sure why the last two letters lost their reflections. The only thing I have encountered that comes close to this…
Hi Alec, I downloaded your file and tried it out. I do get the mapping icon to appear by using Surfaces/Mapping/Acquire. From the top viewport you saved, I tried selecting several objects that had mapping, and the icon appeared. It wasn't near some of the objects, but shifted to a…
Hello, Hansen As Gary mentioned, more detail would help us figure out what might be happening in your scene. You might also download a Troubleshooting Reflection Maps document that we put together. It's not in our forum yet, but you can have faxed back to you by calling our Fax…
Hi James, Opacity maps are the way to go, as mentioned by the other members up here. There is a document about opacity map concepts relating to building simple trees that might help you in your spider web animation. It's in the 3D Studio library, called 3DTREE.ZIP. I hope this…
I'm glad to hear you're able to transfer your models successfully, Ben. It sounds like there's some miscommunication on how to accomplish AutoSurf transfers. What were the main things someone needs to remember to get their models acorss to 3DS? As for the memory usage, it's true that EVERY version…
#Bug in R4 Install
Message #138549
Hi Chuck, That's my interpretation as well. Copies from a read-only medium will also be read-only on your hard drive. However, I'm baffled because I copied several files from my CD to my C:drive and they didn't copy as read-only. They were set to Archive. Both of my systems are…
Thanks Thomas, I'll look into this issue some more. I just looked at my disks and both of them are listed as read-only (R) on the CD. When I copied the file to my C: drive, the BROWSE_I.PXP had an (A) attribute. It's my impression that if the file is…
Hi Ben, I hope you had a good holiday. I think more of the AutoSurf issues are handled in the Go Acad forum. I'll have to see if much is discussed about transfers from Surf to Studio over there. As for linking through majordomo@autodesk.com, I'm unsure. I don't get much…
Hi Dave, You're correct about Pixelpop. Not much emphasis was placed on that utility, but from personal use and testing of it, I found that it had much to be desired. For instance, if you were using a VESA compliant driver, screen captures were apt to be garbled. It works…
Hi Buzz, Our Animator Pro product ships with a screen capture utility called Pixelpop which will capture whatever you have displayed on your screen. However, it gets kinda finicky when using VESA compliant drivers. My favorite, recently, is HiJaak for Windows (it also has a Dos capture function) from Inset…
Hi RJ, I left you a phone message regarding the file you uploaded. I can't seem to unzip it. I'm using the latest PKUNZIP but I'm getting CRC errors. Could you please upload another copy for me to look at? Thanks, and have a happy holiday. Bob
Hi Thomas, There was one version of the Texture Universe that, I believe, was passed out the NAB show last year as a prelease version. It could be that you have one of those, but I checked the file on both disks and their attributes were correct. The final shipping…
Yes. The Consumer editions have a 661 prefix. This is the same prefix you will see on the Educational version of 3DS. The same lock restraints also hold. The locks that ship with both the consumer and educational versions are only good for that version. Your next question is; "If…
Hi Jason, In what way does the texture disappear? Is your camera stationary and on certain frames the material just blinks off?, or does it occur while your camera is moving? If your camera is stationary, I think we'll need more information about the model or a sample of your…
Do you already have 3D Studio for creating .3DS files, or do you have AutoCAD and get .3DS files sent to you? If you have 3DS and wish to save/export a .DXF file, you can do it from the 'File' dropmenu. File/Save – then click on the [*.DXF] button. You'll…
I agree with you on the need to get tighter links between our products. One important hint to keep in mind for you. Make sure your AutoSurf models are backup before you convert them to polymeshes. When the model is converted to a polymesh and exported to 3DS, you'll lost…
Hi Ben, I'm not very familiar with AutoSURF, unfortunately. I think what you'll need to do is make sure the AutoSURF model is converted to a polymesh before trying to do your export to 3DS. Let me see if I can track down some methods to accomplish this task, Bob
Hi Ben, I can't say that I've ever received that sort of error. It was: TEXTVERT Mismatch:fuselage Verts:29664 Tverts:0 ? Did this occur when you were importing the model to 3DS or while trying to attach the wings to the fuselage? I do most of my modeling in 3DS, but…
Hi Thomas, I checked out your installation problem regarding the BROWSE_I.PXP. I copied the file from my Texture Universe CD and checked the 'attrib' setting of the file. It is set to 'A', which I would expect. I then added a read-only attribute to my BROWSE_I.PXP by: attrib +r c:\3ds3\process\browse_i.pxp…
Hi Ben, The 'No RAM for attach' message does pertain to the 64k limit. From my experiences, however, I've found it much more beneficial to keep elements of a model individual and link them hierarchically. Primarily for personal tastes and modification purposes that I may want to make later. However,…
Hi Paul, I've received that error in the past when I start working with hi-resolution texture maps. Varying resolutions of the maps will require different amounts of memory to be used for rendering. The resolution you are rendering at can also be a factor. You mentioned that you've done successful…
Hi Andrew, I was playing around with your findings and have come up with mixed results. I started with a simple Lsphere using the default value of 16 sides. Rendering it produced smooth enough image. I then pulled off several faces and replaced them with new faces I built via…
Hi Steve, Sorry about the delay. I've tried everything I know of to solve your problem, but the car you're camera is in still shakes. I've pulled the continuity on all the objects except the blue car to zero and linked the camera02_target a dummy that paces with the blue…
Hi Millard, If you're outputting the .DXF from 3DS by object, each object will get its own layer. No information about the materials applied to the model in 3DS will get translated. Therefore, 3DS will process the output in the order that the model was created. Even if an object…
Hi Chuck, Unfortunately, Autodesk decided to remove the patch modeler because we felt it did not fully meet our product standards. At this time, it is undecided as to what will happen in the future with the patch modeler. Please stay tuned for further information as it becomes available. I'm…
Hi Brandon, There is a new World Creating Toolkit CD with r4. However, I haven't had a chance to see what has been added to the disk. I'll see if I can get a list of additions and post it later. Bob
Hi Anthony, I don't know of any .FLC player that will play on a 286-based system. Our AAPLAY, that plays .FLI files, will work on your system, but the ANIPLAY, .FLC player, requires a 386 or higher. I'm sorry I can't be greater help, Bob
Okay. I would first try the 600x??? resolution. If it later proves to be too grainy or chunky looking, you should then try the 1024×768. Since you don't have a corner to reference, I think you'll have start by sizing the mapping icon to encompass the entire model. Then render…
Ahh! Thanks for the additional data, Terry. I forgot about that. Bob
Liquid Speed install err
Message #130412
Hi Oral, I ran into the same problem yesterday. You might not be using the actual Master Disk. The disk MUST be an original, not backup copy. My Liquid Speed package had one disk that was version 1.0.0. This disk was serialized by Vibrant at the factory. Later on, I…
Hmmm Yeah, 18mb is awfully big. The bitmaps I've worked with usually don't exceed 1.5mb. To create your bitmap, are you loading the model into AutoCAD, looking at it from a plan view and doing something like a screen capture? If you have control over the resolution of the capture,…
Hi Todd, I think you'd better off going with the texture mapping due to the sheer size of your model. Moving vertices, one by one, can be a major pain. When creating the texture map, remember that a high resolution map will generate a cleaner image. The trade off, however,…
Hi Alan, I've seen that come up with models that I created using the old AutoCAD AME extension. You might try exploding the meshes in AutoCAD, then writing the .DXF. Another thing you can try, since you have R12 is to write a filmroll (.FLM) instead. Load your model into…
Hi Robert, The first thing to do is make sure you have enough hard drive space to store the files you'll be rendering. I take it you're rendering a .3DS file called MOVEBALL, yes? Okay. If you're using the /i switch and specifying a file extention, you don't need the…
Hi David, You've come to the right place. The files you're in search of are in the Utilities library section on this forum. In particular, MCIAAP.ZIP and AAPLAY.ZIP. Have fun, Bob
Hi Mark, I found that ALT_TABbing from AAPro or 3DS can be kinda risky. Definitely save all your work if you need to ALT_TAB out. My office system has no problem flipping from 3DS, but AAPro trashes on me. My home machine trashes for both programs. However, for 3DS trashing…
Hi Brian, I'm glad Brian R. and Jeff in Customer Service were able to get you operational with the latest AAPro rev. As an added tip that might streamline your animation process further, try using the Poco routine NUMPIC. You state "I'm creating animations with my own software and PixelPop'n…
Hi Thomas, Are you talking about the smoothness of playback speed or the smoothness/quality of the animations themselves? You last response prompts me to ask this question. If it's the image quality, then the .FLIs are only 320×200 resolution. That was the file format for the original Autodesk Animator (renamed…
Hi Phil, That's true. Once the model is in 3DS, there will probably be some further massaging needed. When I've done this, the first thing I do is make a selection set of the entire model, then Surface/Normals/Object Unify. Even this process has become outdated for me since Gary Yost…
Hi Brent, "Write error on File" occurs when you're trying to do a save of a file and you've run out of storage space. When the error occurs, [F10] to the Dos shell and check your hard drive space. I suspect you might be low in that drive. If you…
Hi Merlin, You should have no problem bringing a .DXF from AutoCAD12. The DXFOUT of R12 and R10 are pretty much the same. R12 will have more data of course, but 3DS is primarily interested in either 2D lines on a single plane or 3D faces. If the AutoCAD model…
Hi Doug. Try calling our Dealer Referral line at 800) 964-6432. The representative on that line will be able to give a few local Autodesk Multimedia Dealers who can give you a demo of our products. Bob
If you don't want to wait for Matrox to get back to you, try their BBS number: 514) 685-6008 You can scroll through and see if they've got any newer drivers for you board. Bob
Hi Paul, 1. Does anyone know if there is a mouse driver that will allow a KURTA digitizer to work as a mouse driver in Animator Pro? >> I ran some tests with various digitizers and found that your best bet would be to emulate a Summagraphic digitizer. There should…
.FLI file format
Message #121502
Hi Steve, You can also get an idea about the structure of .FLI and .FLC files by downloading the following files; FLILIB.ZIP Autodesk Animator library ~ Discusses the structure of .FLI files FLCSPC.ZIP Software Dev. Kits library ~ Discusses the structure of .FLC files As mentioned by the other respondants,…
Hi Richard, Depending on how detailed you want the tree to be, there are two options that come to mind. The Yost Groups 'Silicon Garden' IPAS package is one of them. It allows you to make very complex trees that are good for close-ups, or forests of trees that are…
Hi Soula, The error appears once you type 'ANI' to start the program? or when you try to select a high resolution driver? If I read correctly, it sounds like you're not even getting into the program at it's 320×200 default configuration. If so, I'd have to suspect some other…
The system does not appear to be unloading the Metashel as Josh suggests. This is a failure we have yet to figure out. You can try typing "Metashel /k" upon exiting Chaos to try releasing the Metashel. This line appears at the end of the CHAOS.BAT file but sometimes it…
Hi Brian, You might try contacting Vibrant Graphics or Panacea to see if one of their drivers would help you out. Vibrant Graphics 800-937-1711 or Panacea 800-729-7420 Bob P. – Product Support Autodesk, Inc.
Hi Jack, Your brochures are on their way. Thanks for taking an interest in our products. Bob P. – Product Support Autodesk, Inc.
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