#SV quirks
8 messages in this thread
Have I missed a bug-fix or something? I don't see any other
messages about some of the problems I've been having with Turbo Silver SV.
(I KNOW other people have experienced similar problems!) Maybe everyone
else thinks it's just them…
Problem 1: The CAMERA occasionally gets LOST. My A2000 just spent
the night grinding away on a blank screen. The camera simply decided to
stop TRACKing the axis I had set it to and started tracking a light source
instead! Very frustrating! I've had this happen before. Then the problem
went away. Now, it's baaack! The problem only happens when using TRACK.
What usually happens is that, upon exiting the Object Editor, the camera
finds another axis to track. No rendering needed. Just go back into the
Editor and the camera has changed! Come to think of it, this happened to me
under 3.0 on a 30 frame animation. I had to FREE the camera and set it
manually for each frame!
Problem 2: EXTRUDING along a PATH works fine in 3.0…It doesn't
work real consistently in 3.0SV. Extrusions in 3.0SV almost always end up
with weird twists and flat spots. Some strangenesses seem HIGHLY dependent
upon positioning of the path axis relative to the cross-section axis. I've
had to use 3.0 for my PATH EXTRUSIONS, save the extruded objects, then load
them in to 3.0SV for the rest om my work.
Has anyone else out there in CompuServeLand had problems like
these? Are there any SOLUTIONS for them (short of putting out $150 for
Imagine which I can only imagine about?!)
Robert Fisher
OK, OK! After looking into the file format specs something clicked.
The camera tracks objects by their NAME (this is not obvious when all you
have to do is CLICK on the object you want to track!). If the name is NOT
UNIQUE, then the next time the camera has to find the thing it's supposed
to be looking at (like when you ENTER the Object Editor or RENDER a
picture) it picks the FIRST thing it finds with that name. (Which may or
may not be the object you want to track…depending on the order in which
you created your objects.)
BUT, there's STILL a problem with the PATH EXTRUSION!
Robert Fisher
Now aren't you having fun? I spent most of last weekend trying to get
shadows in an image (simple lamp light source with one other solid object)
without first looking DEAPLY at the docs. On Monday night, I asked some
fellow Turbo Silver experimenters and they said to select SHADED for the
lamp attribute! They said it in a way that I figured they had gone through
the same things and didn't even have an accelerator like I do!
Still messing around with that image though. I'm getting a strange shadow
I can't figure out where it's coming from.
Can't wait for Imagine! I'm not an artist but with products like these, I
can try!
Well…the manual DOES say to read it and re-read it! Boy, is there a lot
to read!
Make sure that your tracking object has a unique name. If you're tracking
an object named AXIS, your camera could point to another object (perhaps a
light) also named AXIS. Regarding extrusions, remember that they always
occur along the Y axis. Weird bumps, etc. may result because your object
has to turn itself over in order to extrude along the axis you've
designated. –Rick
Rick,
I can take a cross section and extrude it along a path and have it
come out just fine in 3.0. I can take that same cross-section and path and
the extrusion in 3.0SV will more than likely be munged up. I've even had
3.0SV screw up extrusion along a STRAIGHT line! I can upload a few
interesting examples if you like.
Robert
Hi Ho:
At Long Last Some one who understands my problem. Yes the Extruath
problem is a real pain I am using 3.0 and was runing into the same problem.
Now however I believe that the problem, (Dare I say it?) is the confusing
nature of the manual, but every time I mention it some one tells me, "The
manual isn't realy that bad. Read the artical in last months AmigaWorld on
the Mobius Strip Use it as a re ferance it seems to explain things pretty
well.
Good luck
B.H.
I learned a few things from that article. Extrusion IS tricky to catch onto
at first. But, there IS a real difference between 3.0 and 3.0SV! You can
take an object and a path, save them to disk and load them into BOTH
versions of Turbo Silver, position them in the same way, align them the
same way, stare at them while holding your lips the SAME WAY, extrude them
in exactly the same way, and STILL find yourself cursing at what 3.0SV does
to your object of extrusion!!! (While 3.0 quietly does it right!) Upgrade
to 3.0SV sometime and I'll wager that you'll see weirder extrusions than
you ever dreamed possible…just when you thought you knew how to extrude,
too. Other than the problem with the Extrude function, however, 3.0SV is
much nicer to work with than 3.0. But I'm glad I didn't reformat the older
disk!