#Disney Animator
8 messages in this thread
I recently purchased an Amiga 3000 computer with the new operating system.
I am new to Amiga, having been previously a devote IBM clone fan. I was
disappointed to find that the new Walt Disney Animation Studio software
package does not work on the new operating system that comes with the 3000
machine. It does work with the old system. Anybody else have similiar
disappointments with this machine?
Steven –
When you purchased you A3000 did the dealer not tell you that the 2.0
operating system was in a Beta stage and that – due to it's improvements
and changes, some software would not work on the new operating system.
Be patient! From what I have heard (I do not own a 3000 and have not
seen the new 2.0 system) most of the software that is not working now will
be upgrade in the near future. Most software manufactures are now waiting
for the new system to be burned into ROM before committing to releasing
upgrades that work under the new system.
Your disappointment should not be with the computer, but with the
software that is not working on it. In most cases it is the fault of the
software publisher – They broke the rules when writing the software and now
that software does not work. Call or write to the Walt Disney people and
ask them if they plan on upgrade their software to work with 2.0 – By ALL
MEANS send in your registration card, so that they know you are out there
and you will probably notified when the upgrade is available.
Right now the last thing that I want for you ("…a devote IBM clone
fan.") is for you to be unhappy with the Amiga. You have bought into a
computer system that can really shine and surpass what you are used to
doing with a computer. The Amiga 3000 is an ideal platform for computing.
Give it a chance.
– Roy Pahnke – Crazy Mountain Software
Casper, Wyomin' – 1-800-76 AMIGA
It appears the particular problem with TAS will be fixed in the final rev
of 2.0 by Commodore-Amiga. It involves a 'feature' added in 2.0 which
ended up breaking alot of animation programs, and C= is now considering
either removing the feature, or making it program selectable.
-Mike
It took me a bit to realize your references to TAS meant the Disney
package. But, your acronym is more accurate than DAS since I believe the
full title is "Disney Presents The Animation Studio".
Oh sorry – I TAS is an abbreviated form of DP:TAS, which is how Leo Schwab
prefers to refer to it. Guess I should've made that clearer!
-Mike
I'm sure you will find folks with a similar problem. It is caused by folks
not following the "rules" when they are programming. By breaking the
rules, I mean doing things like bypassing the operating system or talking
to a specific hardware address or things on that order. Many, many, many
of the programs on the market have done this, and it is difficult – nay,
impossable for Commodore to significantly upgrade the machine and still
keep all the "lawless" programs fully functional. They had to make a
choice — Either accept some incompatability, or don't improve the machine.
I'm glad they did what they did, and even though a goodly portion of my
software may not run right, I fully intend to purchase an A3000. Software
written to take advantage of it's improved abilities will be along soon.
Cliff
Actually, the majority of software works pretty well under 2.0, except for
some minor cosmetic problems (people have a tendency to write one pixel
into the window borders, for example). I now use 2.0 exclusively, except
when I use dpaint III (which is broken under 2.0), and in that case it's
fairly trivial to switch into 1.3 mode. I must say that it is getting more
and more painful to switch into 1.3 just fer dpaint though – you really do
miss the 2.0 features after using them for awhile!!
-Mike
The problem with the Animation Studio is due to a 'feature' in 2.0.
Unfortunately the C= engineers did not realize that this feature (copper
list clipping, if you're interested inthe details 😎 would end up breaking
legitimate code, such as what TAS has. C= is at this moment considering
ways to rectify this problem, and if they don't the author of TAS has
indicated that he'll come out with a patch to fix the problem.
Since 2.0 was just released, and the current version on the 3000 is
acknowledged to have some problems, I would expect to have some problems.
Fortunately though, there are not many at all – I use my 3000 under 2.0 on
a regular basis, and drop into 1.3 only to use Deluxe Paint III (it has a
problem with fills under 2.0).
BTW, as I implied above, you can easily switch between 2.0 and 1.3 of
the OS on the 3000. When you turn on your machine, simply hold down both
mouse buttons and a little screen will pop up giving you a choice to boot
into 1.3 or 2.0. This thoughtful feature provided by C= has made current
2.0 compatability problems much easier to bear.
-Mike