#PAR-Razor fast previews
14 messages in this thread
Problems have developedon my new PAR-Razor with fast previews.
It worked once. Now only the first sequence in the editing composition
window shows via PAR. When the preview is rendering, each frame jerks on the
screen but no change. The preview only plays via the
player and not via "par". Also if PAR is "off", ani files will appear to be
loaded into Media. If a PAR image is showing then no ani.s appear.
AND the proper lines seem to be in the proper place.
The problems started when adding a SCSI ext hard drive to the set-up.
It orginally conflicted with the PAR drive. We got it to appear
as e: drive and the par as f: drive. But it was difficult. Since these
problems, now the external hard drive (Future Domain SCSI adaptor)
doesnt show at all and now there are PAR problems….
It all worked briefly separately, or in certain combinations, now
problems…
Anything obvious went wrong….?
Thanks,
Chris/Technofilm
Christie, From all of what you have described , it looks like you might have a
few problems unrelated to each other.
>> When the preview is rendering, each frame jerks on the screen but no change
<< –This problem sounds like the compression level is set to 0 in the preview
settings in Razor Pro.
As for your SCSI problems, your description is not very clear, but if your PAR
drive jumped a drive letter all of your existing RP project files from the PAR
will have to be reassigned to the new drive letter. For future reference you
might want to use the DOS substitute command to move your PAR up a few drives
to allow for hard drives, CD's, network drives, etc.
-Mike
Thanks, Mike
That sounds like a very likely fix. When I do render the final from
Razor it connects and outputs via PAR just fine.
The external hard drive seems to work when it is getting its own power
supply–no power intensive exabyte drives on, etc. (Working on US NTSC
equipment-of necessity- with step down transformers obviously causes
another quirky problem–we tranfer our base regularly from the US to UK and
back as needed…
I will try those fixes.
Thanks for the speedy reply,
Chris/Technofilm
Dear Mike,
Just checked the In:Sync settings. I was on Microsoft 1 compression.
I have changed to Get from Final settings which are for PAR.
This still isnt working for previews–I get the following error messages:
"Specified final output settings are not supported by this file format. Unable
to write file:c:\RAZOR\PREVIEW.AVI" and ""AVEDITOR caused
general protection fault AVIRZF.RZF"
Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Chris/Technofilm
Christie, Here are some settings to try.
Preview Settings:
Set Image size = 25% of Final
Set Compressor Options = Microsoft Video 1
The "Same as Final Output Settings" is NOT selected
Final Output Settings:
Set File Name = Select your PAR drive and type in a unique file name (THIS IS
IMPORTANT!!).
Set File Type = DPS Inc. Animation (*.ani)
Set Compressor Options = PAR ANI (with a block limit not to exceed 240).
To make it easy for the rest of the PAR ANI selections you should use the
"Load all settings from file" option. Give these settings a try, if this
doesn't work, like Eron said, the problem is going to get a little more
complicated.
-Mike
Mike,
The problem may be that I havent seen Razor-PAR comb work except for
mine and I am expecting something wrong. I just assumed (WITHOUT
THINKING) that all my previews would play on my huge "PAR" screen.
Not just the final output. As if I want to take the time to render full screen
tests. I can get the 25%-50% etc previews to play fine on my computer
screen–great. Just not on the "PAR" screen–only for the final output when I
sp[ecified the correct PAR info.
Is this how the setup should work? Things got confused when I
had that ext hard drive "pushing my files around"
Thanks for the instant replies!
Chris/Technofilm
Christie, The preview will be video card dependant, the speed of the playback
will work different depending which resolution, amount of colors (custom
palate) and also amount of compression. IN:SYNC has tested the VideoLogic 928
and I have the Viper PRO Video, both of these cards have an accelerator chip on
the board that is compatible with the Intel/Microsoft DCI (Display Control
Interface) specification.
These cards accelerate both graphics and video playback. The VideoLogic 928
uses a S3 928 chipset and so far Vibrant is not supporting the card directly,
therefore it does not work well with 3DS. The Diamond Viper PRO Video is
supported by Vibrant and works well with 3DS. You still will not be able to
play 640 x 480 24 bit video at a full 30 FPS, but the card does work well at
320 x 200 for the Previewer in Razor Pro.
One other note on previewing your animation in RP, if you double click a clip
or wave file in the Media Library you will be able to see it on your PAR
Monitor. Also, I do a lot of "Make Final (Selected Area)" previews to be able
to play back a test segment and you write over the existing file each test you
do. It looks like you are back to work again. Good Luck!
-Mike
Almost, Mike. I should have paid more attention to all those PAR backup
messages. I have Colorado Lite QIC 80 on this PC–I usually use my
Exabyte Drvive but I had trouble in the 2 seconds I spent set it up. Can I
get the QIC 80 to work if I get the proper Colorado (network) upgrade of the
software?
Any other tricks to back -up PAR? Other options? (I"m a real fan now of
Razor/PAR even more so with the speedy replies..)
Thanks, Chris
Oh, do you have a dealer in NYC showing the Perception board with the
new RAZOR? I may be in NYC nexdt week and wanted to check it out since I am
missing the PC show..
Thabks,
Chris/Technofilm
>> Any other tricks to back -up PAR? <<
Christie, It may look like I'm part of IN:SYNC's tech support, but I'm not
-just up here helping out. You need to contact DPS for dealer information on
the Perception hardware.
As for the backup, I currently use ExaByte 8105 directly to and from the PAR
drive. If you have the PAR version 1.5 or later you should be able to backup
directly from your PAR drive. In the days before version 1.5 the best way to do
a backup was to put the PAR into it's native mode using PARDRV /P command and
then use the DOS copy command and copy your ANI's to your local hard drive.
From there you would backup the ANI's to tape and to restore you would do the
reverse.
-Mike
You could have fooled me–you've been a great help. Ive got the latest PAR
but my current backup software doesnt see extra or network drives and it
doesnt see the PAR drive. I will try to setup my Exabyte but for now
I will just transfer the files to another drive and backup (which works when
my extra external hard drive is connected–all very strange.)
Thanks for the instant reply and super help.
Chris/Technofilm
Christie,
If you still can't get this problem solved let me know. I am in charge of
technical support for in:sync. I think so far Mike has given you some great
advice, but the preview problem may need more attention.
Regards,
Eron
Eron, I see you finally made your way over to Asoft<G>, welcome to the forum.
I'm just trying to keep the pressure off you guys at IN:SYNC so you can keep
moving on the NT software.
-Mike
Thanks Eron,
The hard drive, external, just seems to be step-down transformer sensitive.
I am getting the final render playback via PAR from Razor. I will double
check the compression but I think the settings are fine. As long as I can
get the final, I can keep working. I will see how it goes.
I will try Mike moving the drive suggestion or just keep the external off
while doing Razor, which it will be most of the time anyway (glorified
sneaker-netting 1gig style animation from Mips and Amigas…to the PAR…
30 seconds completed…39min30sec to go..)
Any obvious tips on the previews would help…
Thanks for your rapid response.
Chris/Technofilm
I tried Mike's suggestion. I changed the preview compression from
Microsoft 1 to same as final being PAR. No luck, error messages:
Specified final output settings are not supported by this new file format,
unable to wrrite file: c:\RAZOR\PREVIEW.AVI" and "AVEDITOR
caused General Protection Fault: AVIRZF.RZF.
Any suggestions,
Thanks,
Chris/Technofilm