#ASL 2.0?
8 messages in this thread
Hi Brian,
I have been working the process of creating distribution disks for days now.
Not too productive.
I have tried everything possible to figure out what the problem is. My last
e-mail to you was the file size. That isn't the problem because I have tried
animations 7meg and that compress, split and reassemble normal. It seems to be
just this particular animation file. It leaves out 1374878meg of the original
file. This is why I'm receiving the INVALID FILE FORMAT message.
It's hard for me to believe that you are my only link for this product.
Autodesk has to be close to a billion dollar company and when you call the main
number they tell you to contact your local dealer. That's funny. They have no
support for 3DS, do you think they will know what Visual Basic and ASL 2.0 are?
Your prompt response is appreciated.
Thank you much…
-Paul
NPD Corp.
Thanks for your good comments – I've forwarded them to the ASL Product Manager.
<< It seems to be just this particular animation file. It leaves out 1374878meg
of the original file. This is why I'm receiving the INVALID FILE FORMAT
message.>>
Yes, I understand. I was under the impression that when you were developing the
application (before you compressed the file) it was working fine. Then you
create a setup routine which compresses the file, and the install decompresses
the file. When the file is decompressed, it is missing part of it. Is this a
correct understanding of the problem? If my understanding is correct, then the
problem seems to be in the installation wizard. If my understanding is
incorrect, please fill in the missing peices for me.
<<It's hard for me to believe that you are my only link for this product.
Autodesk has to be close to a billion dollar company and when you call the main
number they tell you to contact your local dealer. That's funny. They have no
support for 3DS, do you think they will know what Visual Basic and ASL 2.0
are?>>
3D Studio is supported through a wide range of Autodesk dealers. 3D Studio has
incredible support available here on Compuserve. I am not aware of any other
program of this caliber in the world where you can post a message to the
author/creator of the software and get an answer on a daily basis. I am
confused by your statement that there is not support avaialble. Your asking
questions, and I am answering them.
For the ASL, you are correct, dealers do not support that product. That product
is supported here on Compuserve. No, I am not the only person in the company
who knows what Visual Basic or the ASL are. I am the person who replied to your
question. You seem to feel I am not able to help you. If you will tell me how
I have fallen short of your expectation, I will attempt to rectify the problem.
If I can not, then I will find someone who can.
-Brian
Brian,
<<3D Studio is supported through a wide range of Autodesk dealers. 3D Studio
has incredible support available here on Compuserve. I am not aware of any
other program of this caliber in the world where you can post a message to the
author/creator of the software and get an answer on a daily basis. I am
confused by your statement that there is not support avaialble. Your asking
questions, and I am answering them.>>
<<For the ASL, you are correct, dealers do not support that product. That
product is supported here on Compuserve. No, I am not the only person in the
company who knows what Visual Basic or the ASL are. I am the person who replied
to your question. You seem to feel I am not able to help you. If you will tell
me how I have fallen short of your expectation, I will attempt to rectify the
problem. If I can not, then I will find someone who can.>>
I'm sorry you took this personally. My comments were absolutely NOT against you
or Jonas or any member of the forum. I have had nothing but excellent results,
I couldn't survive without it. Yourself and Jonas reply to my questions quickly
and with expertise. My comments were intended to be directed toward the
Autodesk dealer who sold me 3DS. If your not aware, the dealers will sell you
anything but when it comes to support it's very limited (of course not all
dealers).
About ASL, I have called several dealers and they've never heard of the
product. What's really funny, when I called Autodesk they said they have never
heard of the product. I know it's not widely used so to support a product that
doesn't have a market wouldn't be business smart. Although when a developer has
a deadline for a job, do you feel it's right to put the operation on hold until
my only link for support send's me an e-mail the next day? Take it from my
point of view, I know absolutely nobody that uses this product, you work with
several. Where does one go?
There isn't much to ASL it either works or it doesn't. I have used several
third party VBX's and ASL is no different. I'm sure my problem is in the setup
wizard or with the animation file itself, I just had questions on ASL that's
all.
Once again Brian my comments were directed at my dealer where Autodesk told me
to call NOT against you. Please don't take it personally.
Thank you much…
-Paul
P.S. Nice job with Planet Studio.
Paul,
Thanks for your reply and clarification.
<< My comments were intended to be directed toward the Autodesk dealer who sold
me 3DS. If your not aware, the dealers will sell you anything but when it comes
to support it's very limited (of course not all dealers).>>
This is something that of course concerns us. If you have had this happen to
you, please report it to Jonas, myself, or write a letter to Autodesk. All
these reports go on file, and if a dealership gets repeated complaints, they
can have their authorizations revoked. We want our dealers to provide competent
support and deliver what they promise. I think you will find that there are
many dealers that do live up to this, especially the ones who frequent
CompuServe and take other proactive roles.
<<About ASL, I have called several dealers and they've never heard of the
product.>>
That's not too surprising, based on the fact that it is primarily sold from
Autodesk directly. Also, while we expect all our dealers to competently know
the software, we don't expect them all to be able to support developers as
well. That is very specialized knowledge, and that is also one of the reasons
this forum exists.
<<What's really funny, when I called Autodesk they said they have never heard
of the product.>>
That is more surprising, and definitely not the norm. You might have just run
across someone who was new or didn't look up the product in the database
properly. I assure you, the ASL is in the list of products.
<<Although when a developer has a deadline for a job, do you feel it's right to
put the operation on hold until my only link for support send's me an e-mail
the next day? Take it from my point of view, I know absolutely nobody that uses
this product, you work with several. Where does one go?>>
There are other options. You could fax a technical support question to us.
There is e-mail and snail mail. If you wanted to participate in the registered
developers program you would have access to direct telephone support. If we
are not talking about just developers support, there are direct support
contracts that you can purchase. Point is, there are options.
<<P.S. Nice job with Planet Studio.>>
Thanks. I am always looking for ideas for new questions of full articles. If
you have any ideas, send them my way.
-Brian
Brian,
Thanks for your response.
After spending hours on the phone with several Microsoft engineers about the
setup wizard, which by the way was not the first time, I have solved the
problem to my dilema. It was far from ASL or the animation file.
What I did was pretty simple if I would have thought out the process in
advance. I included a file of about 600k in size along with the required
program files when configuring the Setup Wizard. This somehow prompted me for a
fifth disk which loaded the complete animation file. All works as planned and
it only took me a week. <g>
When Microsoft does their follow up to help me solve this problem I'll tell
them to put this in their Knowlegde Base if it's not already there.
<<This is something that of course concerns us. If you have had this happen to
you, please report it to Jonas, myself, or write a letter to Autodesk. All
these reports go on file, and if a dealership gets repeated complaints, they
can have their authorizations revoked. We want our dealers to provide competent
support and deliver what they promise. I think you will find that there are
many dealers that do live up to this, especially the ones who frequent
CompuServe and take other proactive roles.>>
Not to cause trouble I have changed dealers. I now purchase products from
Digimation. It's an outstanding company and they back they're products 100%.
Thanks again and I'm sorry if there was any misunderstanding.
-Paul
Paul,
Glad that you are up and installing finally.
-brian
Brian,
<<Glad that you are up and installing finally>>
Thanks for your help…
-Paul