CompuServe Messages

You know I am really beginning to hate this program! I have been using 3D Studio since release 1.0 came out, including teaching for the local ATC, and established it as an MTC. I was present at the first annual MTC managers meeting, and though I am no longer with the ATC, I still teach, and do 3D Studio work for my employer. I have never had as much problem with the program as I have in the last couple of months! I have two simple animations to complete by the end of the week, and I CANNOT! I have tried everything possible to get a good 256 color output from the program to no avail. My recent tries were still .gifs from the animation as a check before final rendering. Besides the problems I have had before, I now have complete blockage of pixels in my still frames. I do not feel that it should be necessary to render to .tga and convert to .gifs, just to get a simple animation made! I used DTA to convert a group of .gifs to a .fli(640×480), and the output came out a hell of a lot better, but with simple problems in ANI pro. I keep getting the x's at the end of the 256 palette, and compressing to one palette ruins the resolution. WHY? Even my still .gifs exhibit poor quality. TGA seems to be the only good solution. Please give me a hand. There is no local help, and by the way, I will not simply disapear. If I had the time, and it was available, I would use another program. WHAT GIVES? -Kevin