#abnormal termination?
7 messages in this thread
Hey, guys! Before I start my usual cycle of bitch, moan and complain, <G> I
wanted to tell you what an awesome program Imagine is–the more I use it, the
more amazed I become! I love it so much I've been recommending it on other
online services. Never thought I'd become a walking software advertisement!
However…<G> I've been doing a little space scene, with a spacecraft in the
foreground and nebulous cloud in the background, all inside a really big sphere
set up to look like a starfield (as suggested by Greg Tsadilas). Only thing
is, sometimes when I try to change the view in the perspective window (angle or
zoom) the screen goes black and I get message saying something like, "Abnormal
Program Termination–remember what you were doing and call Impulse."
Now, I want you to understand that I'm not angry or anxious or anything–in
fact I'm not particularly worried at all. I've used Imagine for what must be
hundreds of hours now and this "Abnormal Program Termination" thing has only
happened to me twice, both times on the same project using the same objects.
But Imagine told me to call, and I always do what Imagine says! <VBG>
Bernie
Bernie,
Yeah I think this could happen, I have used the sphere thing in the
past and I think Imagine gets pissed (oops) off when objects get real big or
when you try and put lots of stuff in a small space. It has to do with memory
and we have always fought this matter. We are looking into this and hope that
we can do two things in the future, make Imagine faster and less sensistive to
small places.
If you get a file where it happens all the time, zip it up and send me
the darn thing on disk, I would love to see it for myself. Oh yeah tell me of
your hardware this will help me in understanding what is going on.
Finally, (long winded sorry) Bitching is cool, just make sure that you
bitch with a purpose and have a great attitude, remember we are from Minnesota
and our brains are just now thawing out so it takes us a while to come to our
senses.
Mike
If Imagine freaks when objects get really big or really small then my
problem could be due to either one–my spaceship object, which is really
detailed (lots of points and faces) was a little too big for my tastes so I
scaled it down some…maybe a little too much. I could be trying to pack too
much detail (information) into too small a space.
On the other hand, the starfield sphere could be a tad too big…I dunno.
But come to think of it, I didn't have any problems until after I scaled my
space ship way down. I'll look into it and let you know. If this is the
problem then it's a relatively minor one…after all, if an object is kind of
big and you don't want to re-model it, you can always just move the camera back
a little…
My computer is a 486DX2/66 with a SCSI-2 HD, an ATI graphics ultra pro video
card (VESA compatible) and 8 meg of memory, running DOS 6.2, no EMM386.
Which reminds me, I was thinking of adding another 4 or 8 meg of memory and
was wondering, is there any advantage, as far as Imagine is concerned, to
having more memory, other than being able to render more complex frames and
play back longer animations? For instance, are rendering times affected? And
what is the "right" amount of memory? Obviously, the more the better–but I'm
on a budget and don't want to spend $300 on memory I'll never need. I plan on
expanding my memory to at least 12 meg…but am not sure if there will be
significant advantages in having more than that.
Thanks for everything and, again: Awesome program, guys!
Bernie
>> is there any advantage, as far as Imagine is concerned, to having
>> more memory,
Hi Bernie,
I have 20 mb and sometimes that's still not enough when using complex objects.
If I have large objects and bursh maps and redering anims I often use a RAM
drive and put the large objects and brush maps there, so they can be loaded
faster. Ok it's not really a big difference, but if you have enough RAM why
not use it 🙂
-David
Bernie,
There are no increases in speed, but I think that you have found
another problem, when you want to do really cool things you need mucho memory,
I have 16 megs and have done some neat things, but I think with 8 megs, I would
indeed be hosed.
I would suggest that you buy at least another 8 megs, 4 would help but
8 would be much better.
Mike
Hey Mike–
I think I figured it out. The two times my computer crashed I had loaded my
objects, scaled the space ship object way down, and then adjusted the view in
the perspective window…apparently, Imagine doesn't like complex objects to be
scaled down too much. I tried doing it the same way but left the space ship
regular size…no problems at all. I did about two dozen qrenders, adjusting
the view in the perspective window as well as changing the actual positions of
the objects, and everything works fine.
Thanks for all the support–I don't like to bug you guys too much because I
know you're busy, but it's reassuring to know that there's nothing wrong with
Imagine or with my computer.
Did I mention that Imagine is an awesome program? I did? Oh, well.
Bernie
Bernie
Glad you figured it out, if you need more help, just holler, that is
what we are here for.
Mike