#PROBLEM
13 messages in this thread
Alec, I can't help you much without knowing how much hard disk space you
had free, what palette mode you were in, etc. My guess is that you were in
High Palette mode and ran out of disk space. It doesn't recover very
elegantly from that. High PMode makes a tga temp file for EACH FRAME. It
can use hundreds of megabytes for long flics.
Note that this flic is unusable and you're going to have to re-render. Try
Medium mode (or better yet, use Custom).
– G
Yes, the problem related to the disk. I used Norton Utilities to find many
lost clusters and I also found that the fli in question was "cross linked"
(something liked that) with another file. I had to truncate the file and
when I tried to play it, I got the "file truncated" message.
I don't know wh occured as I had about 20 meg left when I started
rendering. The flic is in low palette and gouraud but it has 270 frames. I
rendered it again and it is very jerky in playback. I'm going to clean up
my HD and try it again.
Thanks, Alec Jason
Hard disk problems…. yech. Good luck.
– G
Alec, the best thing to do is to render using "custom" palette mode.
To create the custom palette;
1. Render your sequence as a flic using low palette, no anti-alias
at every 10th or even 20th frame just to get a good sampling
of colors.
2. Run this flic through AA or AAPRO, and use the one-palette
command to generate a single palette for all the frames in
the sample flic.
3. Save the palette to a file.
4. Start up 3DS again, and render the sequence using custom
palette mode, specifying the name of the palette you just
created.
The results are far superior to the low palette mode, and less memory
intensive than the medium and high palette modes.
-Jeff
P.S. Maybe Gary and the folks at Yost will include a set of commands in
an upcoming release to do this automatically, instead of having to
exit out to AAPRO to generate a palette.
Jeff, very kind of you to help out. I've made note of your suggested
method. I don't have Animator yet. I've only had 3DS for three weeks or
so. I'm going to have to do something to keep the file size as small as
possible. The one I'm working on now is over 5 megs.
Thanks for your assistance.
Alec Jason
Alec,
Do you mean your 3DS dealer didn't tell you Animator or Animator PRO is a
requirement for 3DS <G>?!?!?!?
You really should consider purchasing AAPRO. 3DS and AAPRO are made for
each other! From creating texture maps, decals, etc. to checking playback
and yes, optimizing color palettes. Go for it….it'll be worth it!
-Jeff
Jeff,
If AAPro is required for 3DS, why doesn't 3DS come bundled with AAPro? Or
if AD is really on the ball, 2.0 will include all the functions of AAPro.
Seems fair and logical to me <G> !
I actually do not have a dealer. I bought an unopened 3DS from a user who
had too many. I do plan to get AAPro but I have had my hands and brain
full lean learning 3DS by doing a big project which I just finished. I'll
hit AAPro soon. Thanks for the recommendation.
Alec Jason
Alec:
IT IS NOT REQUIRED… it is intelligent, on your part, to have a program
that will do what AniPro does… you can buy others that will sorta do the
same thing. It's your choice. You can still use 3DS to do whatever it is
that you want and you can get texture maps and the like from people like
ImageCels. You can use a diaquest controller and put your animations out to
tape… and you will never need to see any program that does what AniPro
does…
C#
Craig,
Okay, okay, okay. I was kidding around. I plan to get AApro. I promise.
Thanks for your recommendation.
Alec Jason
Yup….you caught me….it isn't *really* required, but sure is useful. I
was funning you! Actually, I think the intent on integration is there…
the packages just don't come in the same box! The ability already exists
to add external programs like AutoCAD, Autosketch, AAPRO as modules like
SHAPER, LOFTER, etc. Only problem is that Phar-Lap has some grief allowing
AAPRO to run under 3DS's shell.
I'd like to see the Autodesk/Yost folks come up with a "24/32 bit version"
of AAPRO. What a combination that would be! As if Gary doesn't have
enough to do already <G>!
-Jeff
Jeff:
They do have one already… plus it does some pretty neat stuff in 3D <g>.
C#
I was considering more of the paint abilities than the animation
abilities….you know….the things you use AAPRO for now in combination
with 3DS, except in 24/32 bit color.
-Jeff
Jeff:
I know… I was being a bit tongue in cheek… however, I would guess that
animating 24 bit color would be something like doing an animation in 3DS…
lots o' bits. All you have to do is make a movie with 3DS and then map it
onto a plane <g>.
C#