#Memory / Sound issues
12 messages in this thread
In the old Animation Player for Windows it was possible to play the music off a
CD while the animation was being played. This was very useful due to the
processing and disk overhead of high quality wave files.
Why has this feature been eliminated in the new Animator Studio – or have I
missed something ? Please put this feature back in !
There is little value being able to play animations through memory using the
script routine, if there is going to be a delay as each file is loaded before
it is played. How could one in effect, create the LOADFLIC and FREEFLIC
commands that are part of the DOS script language that enable FLICS to be
loaded into memory from the very beginning ? Has anyone solved this problem. I
popped this question last year and someone told me to use visual basic but not
how!
And no, I do not want to create a large RAM disk which I see as being the only
other solution.
Finally, is some sort of "patch" going to be available shortly, as the program
is anything but stable.
Your comments would be appreciated.
Thank you
>> In the old Animation Player for Windows it was possible to play the music
off a CD while the animation was being played. This was very useful due to the
processing and disk overhead of high quality wave files. Why has this feature
been eliminated in the new Animator Studio – or have I missed something ?
Please put this feature back in ! There is little value being able to play
animations through memory using the script routine, if there is going to be a
delay as each file is loaded before it is played. How could one in effect,
create the LOADFLIC and FREEFLIC commands that are part of the DOS script
language that enable FLICS to be loaded into memory from the very beginning ?
Has anyone solved this problem. I popped this question last year and someone
told me to use visual basic but not how! And no, I do not want to create a
large RAM disk which I see as being the only other solution. <<
i know exactly what you're talking about on this. 😉 yeah, the previous player
didn't have a delay as the flics could all be preloaded with loadflic in the
script before being played, so there was no delay if you had enough RAM. the
current AStudio scriptor does allow you to load flics into ram using
Movie/Settings/Load into memory… problem is… while it's loading, the sound
stops, even when sound settings have been designated from one flic to another
(starting with and ending with options).
i have been unable to get the scriptor to avoid this unless i (as you suggest)
have the flics preloaded on a ramdisk (normal playback, no "load into memory"
options used), or using a very fast harddisk/system (pentium with damn fast
drive).
ideally, AniPro's scheme worked best.. preload everything, play music in
background at all times, including loads and frees.
here's some things i've done in meantime… use AVIs (instead of FLC/WAV) for
coordinated no-chop playback even though there are pauses between "load into
memory", used Windows media player in background with sound file and played
flics with scriptor <hey, no chop but seems to defeat purpose of scriptor>,
continue using old player with script ability, and forward info to Mark
Gerhard. Mark does a lot of presentations… i'm sure this stuff is on his mind
a lot. 🙂
just got back from Art Teco Multimedia conference in Sausalito… there is a
patch schedule soon… Mark may know if this issue is being resolved as he
mentioned several things about Scriptor module being updated.
-dave
<<just got back from Art Teco Multimedia conference in Sausalito…>>
Oh yeah, where were you? We you just "lurking". Hmph, didn't even say hi!<g>
Jh
>> Oh yeah, where were you? We you just "lurking". Hmph, didn't even say hi!<g>
<<
YOU WERE THERE????? %$#$#@! <g>
the only people besides Mark that i saw there from AMMEDIA forum were some of
the users, MarkG and KathyC. ah geese, Jeremy… this is a major bummer!
yeah, i attended the whole day and the party. some "interesting" news for IPAS
developers on the 3DS NT. 🙁
very nice presentation by Westwood Studios on Game development using 3DS, and
Mark's presentation on Astudio went very smoothly too. where were you hiding
out? Brian's Cyberspace presentation was very informative too.
-dave
What type of "interesting" news did you hear concerning writing IPAS routines
for r5?
LAM
>> What type of "interesting" news did you hear concerning writing IPAS
routines for r5? <<
well, none of what i'm about to say is non-disclosure anymore since Gary and co
made this public…
3DS NT will not be R5 for one thing as the NT product is a brand new product
really. the "interesting news" is that the IPAS development must be done in
Microsoft C++. what this means is that if developers want to develop IPAS in
future, they will need to (deep breath) write it twice and compile twice…
once in MetaW or Watcom and once in Msoft C++. this is a major hassle for folks
providing solutions for "3D Studio"… but we now have to look at the product
as two separate products really.
since most folks i know who use 3DS use it with plugins… not sure how long it
will be before the popular IPAS developers will have NT versions out of their
vital functions. most notable to me though was the potential for not seeing
keyscripting in NT as this was and continues to be _THE_ most significant
benefit to us in R4 currently.
as loyal and hyped on 3DS as i am, this was hard to swallow as we do intense
IPAS development on my end. 🙁
Tim Forcade's presentation (and book) on IPAS (due out yesterday <g>) was
excellent, btw.
-dave
Funny, I was at Westwood's presentation with BobB and even at the party(can't
miss 'em). You missed out on the introduction to Animator Studio(taught by me).
I figured you show since you might need a little brushing up on the
software<BG>.
Oh well, looks like SIGGRAPH. 🙂 See you then…
Jh
>> Funny, I was at Westwood's presentation with BobB and even at the
party(can't miss 'em). <<
oh maaaan! i was sitting there with MarkG through that!
>> You missed out on the introduction to Animator Studio(taught by me). I
figured you show since you might need a little brushing up on the software<BG>.
<<
doggone it, and i was so interested in knowing what this "paint over time"
thing is all about! <ducking for cover>
>> Oh well, looks like SIGGRAPH. 🙂 See you then… <<
i'll be manning Autodesk booth… if we miss each other there, we better get
ahold of LaForge and have a talk about realities out of phase. 'course i gotta
admit, walking through walls has almost become second nature now. <g>
-dave
Thanks for your detailed response
Cyrus
"Finally, is some sort of "patch" going to be available shortly, as the program
is anything but stable."
We are working on an update to Animator Studio. Probably the update will deal
with the core program animator itself. I believe there is a plan to then
concentrate on the scriptor or player after that.
Dave's comments seem pretty thorough, and I've passed them ont to QA as a form
of bug.
Thanks, Cyrus.
It is good that (you) Autodesk make the efforts to deal with these kinds of
user problems.
Given that this is the first Windows version, it is an excellent product. I
shall use it extensively.
I just want to keep the CNTRL-ALT DEL keystrokes to a minimum !
Thanks for your support.
Cyrus
From QA on your CD request:
This is a WISHLIST item. There may be some reason it's not possible
using the VfW or MCI calls now. I don't know enough about how the old
Player worked, but we'll add it to the Wishlist.
Thanks, Cyrus.