#WI arrived
Dan,
Thanks for the reports – this kind of detail is very useful, and although I'm
truly sorry you've run into these things, it gives us a chance to show you how
fast we can respond…
> Some Help buttons in dialogues give me Invalid Keyword errors from help.
I think most, or all, of this has already been fixed. Call us: (800) 852-6442
and they'll fix you right up.
> Section 4. Getting Started | The Basics help section errors near the end with
Unable to locate
> AVIFILE.DLL. This locked the machine up tight once, but I haven't been able
to reproduce the
> lockup.
This is an error within the help system, unfortunately – we have notified them
and they say they are working on it. It doesn't happen with most systems,
thankfully. When they fix it, we will take responsibility and make the update
available to our customers.
> Section 5.3, Invert Alpha tool jumps to Key to Alpha help.
> Soften Alpha tool jumps to Harden Alpha help.
I'll pass these along, thanks.
> If I load a sequence of 640 x 480 24 bit TGAs into the Timeline and go to
save as 8 bit AVI, I get
> a 24 bit AVI. If I select FLI, and go back to AVI, it says 24 bit. Then if I
select 256 colors again, I
> get an 8 bit AVI. I think. None of my DOS AVI players will play it. Nor will
my DOS FLC players play
> the FLC. Diagnostics say "Magic number for frame 0 of 38 is not $f1fa, but
$0000"
Hm. Works here… both ways. The AVI's in the lib where made using this version
(R3). Maybe something else is wrong here… Let's see what tech support says (I
should note here that I'm mostly familiar with what the program does, but other
than what I'm told online, I'm not in the direct tech support path… I hand
off all new technical bug reports to the tech people each morning, with the
appropriate level of scowling… 🙂
> Is there a way to tell a FLC (or an AVI, for that matter) to ping pong?
Not that I know of – it's a limitation of the players. Our filmstrip can pong,
but no player (other than ours) can… again, that I know of. You can generate
your effect in reverse, of course, but that does result in twice the frames,
which (I guess?) you wouldn't want.
> Z sometimes gives + zoom and sometimes gives – zoom. This is my erratic
typing style doing me wrong,
> since you seem to be checking the shift key when the z is released instead of
when it's pressed. I >expect actions on the downstroke.
Well, this is pretty much a user issue… others will expect it on the
upstroke, right?
> Area selections, Area tool rectangle didn't work when I selected Area |
Rectangle From Corner. I was
> adding to an area with ^click. The rectangle would draw, and then it would
just disappear when I let
> go. Deselecting and reselecting Rectangle From Corner seems to have cleared
that up. Nope, when I
> restart the program, Rectangle From Corner doesn't work.
I'll pass this along as well… I take it you were in the second working
method, select and then click the icon to trigger the effect?
> Can I save an alpha channel as an 8 bit file?
No. I take it this would be useful to you? Can you give me an example?
> Or copy an alpha channel from one image to another?
Again, no. Can you give me an outline of usage I can take into a design meeting
so it'll be in the next upgrade?
> I don't understand the Size Windows menu at all. Need more docs, perhaps.
Um, enter values, the windows change size. ?
—————————–
On all of these issues (except the help system one which is out of our hands,
unfortunately), we will address them within a day or so and get the fix right
to you. On a couple of these, like the AVI generation issue, tech support may
need to interact with you a bit. I'll pass the description along, of course,
but there may be more data needed. So if you will please give us a call in a
day or so, they'll have had time to fix everything that we can duplicate and
they'll know just what to ask you.
In addition to the things you've mentioned, we have identified some other items
and fixed those already, everything that is reported is fixed immediately. We
do work a bit fast for our own good sometimes, but that works for us when we're
fixing things up, too.
Ben Williams
for Black Belt Systems