CompuServe Thread

#VP and Penello

9 messages in this thread
#167382From: EDWARD HARVEYApr 29, 1995 5:59 PM
Im using Penello to brush a series of images ( 1200 ) so I have two entries in VP, first the images ( imag*.tga ) and then the Penello entry. What Ive run into is after rendering about 450 finished files (outp*.tga ) the rendering stops and I get CANNOT OPEN OUTP0450.tga . I cant understand why it would be trying to open the output image instead of the source image. Ive got plenty of free disk space. When I click on continue and render the subsequent images there is no problem until the same thing hapens 4 or 500 images later. Any ideas? Thanks Ed
#167470From: mike dawsonApr 30, 1995 12:45 PM
Edward, Are you rendering to a root directory? c:\, d:\, e:\ …. ? If so, you should probably change that to a sub directory. The reason being is that DOS imposes a file limit on the root directory. It can only have 256 or 512 entries, (I forget which for sure, but your numbers would indicate the 512 limit) as an absolute maximum. That includes sub directory entries also. Sub directories have no such limit, other than remaining available physical hard drive space. That's my tip for the day! mdawson
#167480From: EDWARD HARVEYApr 30, 1995 1:32 PM
Thats got to be it. Thanks a lot! Ed
#167530From: Jeffrey LererApr 30, 1995 7:18 PM
Ed, route your files to a sub-directory, not a root directory. DOS limitation will cut you off at 512. Now it's my turn. A question: I just can't understand why pennello did not include some sort of friskate which would allow the user to define a hot/safe boundry. Without it I have to go through too many queue entries and file stream control. Am I missing something there? Jeffrey
#167567From: EDWARD HARVEYMay 1, 1995 1:50 AM
<< DOS limitation will cut you off at 512. Now it's my turn. A question: I just can't understand why pennello did not include some sort of friskate which would allow the user to define a hot/safe boundry. Without it I have to go through too many queue entries and file stream control. Am I missing something there? Thanks, youre right about the file limit. If you mean by hot/safe boundry the ability to apply brushes to only a part of the image you are right, it would be a great feature. Im doing a lot of brushing one set of images then using alpha to overlay another previously brushed layer.One thing I figured out may help. Since the brush stroke color is based on the color of one pixel under the center of the brush stroke, it works just as well in most cases to use low res (376×240 or even 188×120 ) source files and then use source scale to render full size output. This saves lots of time rendering the source files and for images that will be moderately to heavily brushed I cant tell the difference. Ed
#167572From: Jeffrey LererMay 1, 1995 5:54 AM
Ed, it would seem that a polygonal bounding box or lasso hot/safe area would not be that complex a piece of code. Could it be they were holding off for the {UPGRADE}! Frankly, I see that feature as indispensible… and irritates me. In the meantime, I have been setting up FLC stand-ins. You're right about the scale source. My guess is, now that Xaos got a sobbering look at price structure, they will see that the 3-DS user-base is growing quickly and adjust accordingly. [they ought to take a look at Painter 3.0 for a few feature tips. It's a little odd – the Fractal people have a somewhat sloppy program that needs lots of code refination, but really understand a paint interface. Whereas the Xaos programmers are top top shelf, but could use some on-sight real artist's input. Just like life I guess. Jeffrey
#167769From: Paul LempkeMay 2, 1995 12:29 AM
Fractal Design has John Derry on staff. He is a fine artist and has years of experience with paint program interfaces. He worked for Time Arts as a demo artist -etc. during the heyday of Lumena. Those folks have the longest pedigree of paint programming experience on the planet. They aren't just guessing about what artists' need. -Paul
#167797From: Jeffrey LererMay 2, 1995 5:35 AM
Paul, you'll get no argument from me about FDesign's understanding of what an artist needs. I well remember the days of Lumena, which I think was $5000. I come from a fine arts background, specifically painting, and when Painter 2.0 came out I nearly fainted. 3.0 demonstrates the fact that they know how to make a computer a true ART STUDIO TOOL. However, <sigh> a number of code issues keep arising. A few of the more high end programmers I know can really get to spinning their wheels when talking about PAINTER's bizarre tendency to eat itself, produce GPFs and demonstrate some all too obvious bugs. I'm not a programmer, but can clearly recognize Bugville. When I was about to upgrade to 3.0, a fella that I team with said "wait just a bit, it's very buggy". In the end, yes, Painter is perhaps the most innovative piece of 2D imaging software out there. Question: Can this degree of image manipulation power also have cleaner code? Hey, while I'm at it – now that X-tools are bundled with 3.0, I hear they are working on a 3D-paint interface. WOW! watch out models, is it real modeling or is it PAINTER <LOL> Jeffrey
#168044From: Paul LempkeMay 3, 1995 1:28 PM
Jeffrey, I have to agree about the fragile code in Painter and I hope they can strengthen it. At least it runs well enough to be a success and show that programmers don't have to keep remaking the programs of the last decade. -Paul