#Anim. Studio File Probs
15 messages in this thread
I am trying to open GIF, and TIF files with Animator Studio. I get an error
like "Unsupported file format".
What is going on?
Thanks,
Randy
>> I am trying to open GIF, and TIF files with Animator Studio. I get an error
like "Unsupported file format". What is going on? <<
PMFJI, Randy. 🙂
GIF is not supported in AStudio. All supported formats are listed on page 42
and page 49 of AStudio manual. as for TIF, there are several flavors of TIF
files (compressed, uncompressed, LZU, etc). can you tell us what program
generated the TIF and what flavor it is?
-dave
I called tech support and we have been trying to resolve the problem. They
asked me to install it on a different computer and give it a try. All worked
fine. I am in the process of reinstalling Windows and see if that fixes the
problem.
Randy
>> I called tech support and we have been trying to resolve the problem. They
asked me to install it on a different computer and give it a try. All worked
fine. I am in the process of reinstalling Windows and see if that fixes the
problem. <<
great. this often cuts the potential problem causes in half… if it works on
one system and not another, we can verify differences in hardware and
configuration. we'd be greatful if you'd post us with the problem cause when
you find it… helps others. good luck, and glad to hear it is running on other
machine.
-dave
> >> I called tech support and we have been trying to resolve the
> problem. They asked me to install it on a different computer and give
> it a try. All worked fine. I am in the process of reinstalling
> Windows and see if that fixes the problem. <<
> great. this often cuts the potential problem causes in half… if it
> works on one system and not another, we can verify differences in
> hardware and configuration. we'd be greatful if you'd post us with the
> problem cause when you find it… helps others. good luck, and glad to
> hear it is running on other machine.
I reinstalled Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on the computer. No luck, I still
get the "Animator Error: Unsupported file type". This was while trying to open
the Ferry.TIF file that comes in the Tutorial directory.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Randy
okay. bear with me here, Randy… i'm a little confused…
>> > problem. They asked me to install it on a different computer and give >
it a try. All worked fine. I am in the process of reinstalling > Windows and
see if that fixes the problem. <<
>> I reinstalled Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on the computer. No luck, I still
get the "Animator Error: Unsupported file type". This was while trying to open
the Ferry.TIF file that comes in the Tutorial directory. <<
so the GIFs and the TIFs loaded okay on one system but not this one, right?
what differences do we have between these systems? let's start with the actual
manufacturers of the PC and the graphics cards.
-dave
> so the GIFs and the TIFs loaded okay on one system but not this one,
> right? what differences do we have between these systems? let's start
> with the actual manufacturers of the PC and the graphics cards.
What is also strange is the fact that it loads BMP's successfully! I saw some
IExxxx.DLL files in the SYSTEM directory. They appear to be DLL's used for the
different file types (i.e. xxx is PCX, BMP, GIF, TIF…).
I am currently, as I am writing this, reinstalling Animator Studio on the
computer. I went through and deleted the ANIMATOR directory and have tried
tracing down the files it installs in the WINDOWS and SYSTEM directories and
deleted them also.
Let me check if the install is complete…
So it seems that what I was suspecting was the problem. Reinstalling WITHOUT
deleting the Animator files was not sufficient. I had to go through and delete
as many of the Animator files as I could find before reinstalling. This did
fix the problem. Sure was a pain. Can't wait until we are able to use the
Uninstall capabilities of NT and Windows 95.
Thanks for your patience and time.
Randy
>> What is also strange is the fact that it loads BMP's successfully! I saw
some IExxxx.DLL files in the SYSTEM directory. They appear to be DLL's used
for the different file types (i.e. xxx is PCX, BMP, GIF, TIF…). <<
yes.
>> I am currently, as I am writing this, reinstalling Animator Studio on the
computer. I went through and deleted the ANIMATOR directory and have tried
tracing down the files it installs in the WINDOWS and SYSTEM directories and
deleted them also. <<
i have had several people ask me if there is a guide to _all_ files installed
by AStudio for this same type of analysis… it is a common challenge for users
when they install an application to know "what's been added" to the system.
about 1.5 years ago, we wrote a Windows application which would memorize the
WINDOWS and WINDOWS\SYSTEM contents before an install and then report any
additional files which had appeared in those directories after an install. a
later version also reported files which had existed which had been altered (INI
files for example). still an easy way though is to ZIP up the entire WINDOWS
and subdirectory contents to a safety file (provided there's enough HD space)
and then wipe the whole thing if problems start and restore (leaving ZIP
instact for later unzipping) completely (using -d parameter of PKUNZIP) until
problems are resolved.
i mean, <laughing> how many people can honestly go into their WINDOWS and
SYSTEM directories and explain what every file does in there? <ggg> some
applications are kind enough to provide de-installers to clean out these system
directories…. those that don't… well… all users know is that the WINDOWS
directory keeps getting "bigger". <gg>
>> So it seems that what I was suspecting was the problem. Reinstalling
WITHOUT deleting the Animator files was not sufficient. I had to go through
and delete as many of the Animator files as I could find before reinstalling.
This did fix the problem. Sure was a pain. Can't wait until we are able to
use the Uninstall capabilities of NT and Windows 95. <<
me too. maybe we'll get some level of functionality like this in the 3.1 and
WFWG 3.11 versions too. imho, every Windows app ought to have a de-installer,
or at least a guide to ALL files being installed and their locations and the
modifications made to any existing files. imho.
-dave
>> me too. maybe we'll get some level of functionality like this in the 3.1 and
WFWG 3.11 versions too. imho, every Windows app ought to have a de-installer,
or at least a guide to ALL files being installed and their locations and the
modifications made to any existing files. imho. <<
One problem I could see with uninstallers is trying to decide which files to
uninstall. For example, what if my app installs or updates CTRL3D.DLL (I think
that is what it is called). Does it now uninstall the DLL? Does it notice
that it was there before and then leave it there? Do I install it in the same
directory as the App? Do I want multiple copies of all of the DLL's laying
around taking up disk space? Fun stuff. Still, it has to be better than what
we have now.
Do you all have any idea when the NT version of Animator Studio will be out?
We all run NT 3.51, including the artist, and it's like going back to hammer
and chisel working with WFW 3.11 <g>.
Thanks,
Randy
>> One problem I could see with uninstallers is trying to decide which files to
uninstall. For example, what if my app installs or updates CTRL3D.DLL (I think
that is what it is called). Does it now uninstall the DLL? Does it notice
that it was there before and then leave it there? Do I install it in the same
directory as the App? Do I want multiple copies of all of the DLL's laying
around taking up disk space? Fun stuff. Still, it has to be better than what
we have now. <<
yup. these are important issues too, especially when more than one app uses (or
installs) the same file. ideally, the installer would record in a
system-dedicated install record keeping file the counts of a file needed, so
upon a de-install, the count would be reduced and the file would be left if the
count were not to 0. something along that line…. yeah, i know, another
standard between developers… <ggg>
>> Do you all have any idea when the NT version of Animator Studio will be out?
We all run NT 3.51, including the artist, and it's like going back to hammer
and chisel working with WFW 3.11 <g>. <<
word has it that September will be release of NT and Win95 versions. However,
several folks here have reported that on NT 3.51 they have managed to get it
working by changing the icon properties from FLASH.EXE to ANIMATOR.EXE. giver a
shot, see if she works.
-dave
"word has it that September will be release of NT and Win95 versions."
Well, at this point I have not heard any Official Autodesk "word" on the NT
upgrade. I know that Mark has posted email saying that everyone who is
registered will get an update for free that addresses the Flipper error
situations. I don't believe this will address the NT/WIN95 stuff.
Look for an announcement from Brent/Mark posted in the forum on this.
>> word has it that September will be release of NT and Win95 versions.
However, several folks here have reported that on NT 3.51 they have managed to
get it working by changing the icon properties from FLASH.EXE to ANIMATOR.EXE.
giver a shot, see if she works. <<
Strange. I do this and Animator Studio comes up fine. (Surprise!) It won't
open TIF or GIF files!
I will check in the NT system directories for AS files and see if I can replace
them.
Another thing we encountered has to do with B&W images.
1. We have a series of lines drawing that were created for an animated
character.
2. The files were number something like man1, man2, man3, and man4.
3. AS opened the files fine and created a movie without any problems.
4. The images were then cleaned up so that the lines are black and everything
else is white.
5. Now we save the movie into a FLC file (we are using this in order to have
256 color images).
6. During the save we get messages indicating that Alpha Channel info will be
lost. That is OK by us. Now we get to the save dialog. There is an option
for Dithering the image. This is NOT selected (we don't want it dithered).
Movie is now saved.
7. Now we close out the file and reload it. ONE OF THE IMAGES HAS DITHERED
LINES!
Why does this happen?
Thanks,
Randy
Hi Randy,
A comment on Dave's response re: WIN95/NT release.
There hasn't been any Official Autodesk word on the NT upgrade. Mark Gerhard
(the product manager) posted email saying that everyone who is registered will
get an update for free that addresses the Flipper error situations. I don't
believe this will address the NT/WIN95 however.
sidenote: there is support in the Animator module for GIF import and GIF series
import (couldn't remember which module you said you were loading them into,
assumed Scriptor), but not in all of the AStudio modules: the Scriptor(i
believe it does handle BMP, DIB and a few others though for still image), the
Player, and i've run into strange GIF bugs in the Soundlab.
-dave