RAZORPRO PAL PROBLEMS
16 messages in this thread
Hi
Last week i received RazorPro, We are based in Holland so we work with PAL.
I have the following BIG problems when i tried to install the software.
A. When I try to access the PAR-drive, i got the message …………. "cannot
locate DPS_PAR PAL . HEX…………….."
(even when i put this file in all directories the message persists)
B. When i try to type in the Software Serial Number. It doesn't accept it
(I tried this hundred of times, and wasn't drunk)
C. I thought RAZORPRO came with a special hardwarechip for the PAR
board.
( Mine didn't !)
Can somebody give me any suggestions, after a week of trying i still cann't
use even the smallest part of the RAZORPRO software.
THANX
Theo
>>RazorPro blues…
Hi Theo,
C> The chip for the PAR was an extra item ($100 US). Mine came in a separate
brown envelope along with a special chip puller.
B> This may not help, but… When I installed the RazorPro I didn't have any
problem with the serial number, but I'm afraid I don't remember exactly what I
did. I do remember that I had just called the In:Sync bulletin board and had a
problem entering my S/N there. I finally tried it without entering the "ARA" at
the beginning of the number. Could this be related? Sorry I can't remember
more – old brain cells…
A> I haven't a clue, unless this is related to the missing chip. Did you
install the special DPS driver in Windows?
JKJ
Thanx JKJ,
I found out that the chip for RAZORPRO is integrated on the PAL-version
of the board .
The rest i will check again with the IN:SYNC people.
CIAO FOR NOW
Theo
Good luck, Theo, in getting your RazorPro pro-ing. <g>
As a word of encourgement: Last night I used the RazorPro for the first time
with the PAR and the results were spectacular! I had some initial problems
getting everything configured right, and had to spend some time climbing the
RazorPro learning curve.
I took four captured video clips and did some crossfades and wipe transitions,
added a little text, and output the whole thing back to the PAR. I think the
text module is still a little flaky and I had some other strange things happen,
some of which were probably my fault. The PARxPAR->PAR rendering is slow, but
I couldn't tell the difference between the Hi-8 source video and the final
composited video output, even though the result was JPEG compressed twice. The
cross fades were clean and the soft-edge wipe transition looked very
professional.
When they get the bugs out and get some decent manuals, I think this combo will
be great, especially when combined with rotoscoping thru 3DS. Based on what
I've seen so far, I cannnot recommend the current (beta) version to anyone
needing to do production work, but even now it sure is a lot of fun.
Hope you get yours working soon.
JKJ
BTW, their animation player (Razor Player) was an unexpected bonus. It is a
good way to play anything from the PAR from within Windows. The controls for
dragging forwards and reverse thru a video clip are more responsive then those
in the PAR.EXE. You also have complete keyboard control of ANI playback,
including single-frame stepping forward and backwards. I'd like to get my
hands on the calls to their DLL and try writing a custom controller.
John,
We have put a new version of the text effect on the BBS as well
as a new text effect stamp. This allows you to date stamp/time
stamp/SMPTE stamp your final output so that you can see at a
glance when you created your final output and what the frame
numbers of the final output is.
The new version of the text effect allows you to use true type
fonts as well as other Windows system fonts and third party
fonts.
Have you tried the text effect in combination with the orient
effect and the scale effect which allows you to scale the x and
y scales of the text independently ?
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Hi Jamie,
>>text effect…
I have a file TITLES.VFX (32400, 12/31/94). Is there a later version? If so,
could you tell me what file I need to download, or will it be obvious? (When
you mention "new version of xxx" in a message, would it be possible to
reference the size or date or something so people will know if they need to
download it?)
I didn't see any independent x-y scaling (which probably means I have an older
version). Are the "orient" and "scale" effects you mention part of the text
effect or are they independent effect files? I did try using the scale along
with the x-y moves to make some text start small in the upper right corner and
zoom to fill the middle of the screen.
I had a couple of problems with moving the text. First, as the three character
text moved down the path over about 90 frames, the third character disappeared
for a single frame along about frame 25 or so. Second, I had adjusted the ends
of the graphs to hold the size and positions constant for a couple of seconds
while I did a horizontal wipe. Part way thru this hold, the entire text
disappeared then reappeared.
I really like the ability to control things like the text with the graphs. One
problem, however, is that the graphs are so small in the vertical direction
(especially when running at 1024×768), that they are difficult to adjust. My
wishlist would include a zoom option that would temporarily zoom (a portion of)
a single graph for easier editing. A more general wish would be resolution
independent dialogs that scale up at higher screen resolutions, but I realize
how much work that is.
Also, I had reoccuring problems with extra control points on the plot. I would
adjust a text position graph, run some previews, and when I returned to the
text dialog their would be extra bogus control points at the right end of the
graphs. This happened several times. I only played with the text for a half
hour or so, and I may well have been doing something wrong. I anxiously await
documentation on this and other effects. I'll also check the BBS for a newer
version.
Another problem I had was after using the program a while (doing a bunch of
effect editing and previewing) all the thumbnails and transitions in the edit
window suddenly disappeared. They were still there somewhere because the
preview still worked. By scrolling up and down, clicking blind, and I can't
remember what else, some of them came back, but it was as if they were all
moved way down in the edit stack.
I also had several crashes, but I'm afraid I can't remember what I was doing at
the time. (I was playing late at night, trying all kinds of unreasonable
things. <g>) The next time I use it, I'll be sure to document anything odd in
case you are interested.
I hope I don't sound negative here. I realize this is all under development
and it looks like things are proceeding rapidly. As I mentioned earlier, I
just got it to play with knowing it was beta and expect to see problems.
As I mentioned in a message to Theo, I got some great results the first time I
tried using it with the PAR. (I noted the comment that you only
uncompress/recompress the composited portions of the image – that explains the
excellent image quality) I am really excited about this 3DS/PAR/RazorPro
combination. It will let us "little guys" do some of that "big guy" stuff!
JKJ
PS: Thanks for the Windows PAR viewer!
PPS: Don Landis [71673,3612] asked about "3D wipes ike page turns and other
Toaster like effects" in message #147964 – do you have these or plans for them?
PPPS: In talking today with a friend who uses Alias with SGI, he said there is
a lot of talk in his circle about the PAR and RazorPro – evidently SGI users
are adding PC's to their networks to get this capability. His question: "When
are they going to make this stuff work on an Indego2?" <g>
John,
We have a new titles effect (titles.vfx) dated 1/13/95. Its on
the BBS.
The x/y scale effect is called scale.vfx dated 1/17/95. Its a
separate effect which can be applied to images as well as text.
The orient is a separate effect so that you can alter the
orientation of a clip independently of its x/y scale.
There was a bug with the beta version of the titles effect which
you have and so we have amended it. The new version doesn't
exhibit the problem you wrote about.
Thanks for your suggestions about the dialog boxes. We are working
on a solution, but Im not sure on a schedule at present.
The problem with things disappearing is very odd. Sounds like you
may have your memory configured incorrectly. How much physical
RAM do you have and how much virtual memory do you have ?
The latest version of RAZOR PRO is extremely solid and I haven't
heard of anyone being able to crash it. If you're not runnung the
latest version (1.0a) please download it from the BBS or call
your dealer about getting the latest release.
You can do 3D effects and transitions using the Orient effect.
Notice how you can position, scale and rotate the clip in 3D not
2D.
I'm glad you're having fun with RAZOR PRO. As far as I can tell
you're using the old version, so do upgrade there're lots of
new features like snapping, FLC, FLI support, better memory handling
and PRJ file support (allowing you to output PAR ANIs with WAVs
simultaneously) as well as some bug fixes.
Later.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Jamie,
Thanks for the great reply. I'll get the new files as soon as the BBS is not
busy. <!> It must be very popular.
>>disappearing things, configuration, ram…
I have 36 megs in that machine and plenty of swap space. I could very well
have some config problem, as the machine is loaded to the hilt – including one
thing I've never been quite happy about: a Qlogic SCSI controller with which I
have to run Corel SCSI drivers to get it to work properly with CD-ROM, optical
disk, etc. I think the Qlogic drivers are buggy (and that's why they bundle
Corel with it!) I also may have been doing something over the network
(Lantastic 5.0) at the time this popped up. It hasn't happened again, but I
will definately pay attention to the circumstances if it does.
>>using the old version?…
The About displays "1.0a Beta". Is that the same as 1.0a? My AVEDIT.EXE is
727056 dated 1/2/95.
Thank you for your support here.
JKJ
PS: I had a guy that used to work in video production over here today – his jaw
was hanging open when I showed him some clips I had thrown together with some
PAR/3DS rotoscoping. He kept shaking his head, mumbling something about
spending $100K and weeks on some effect a few years ago…
PPS: While waiting to get on the BBS (it's been busy for way over two hours
now), I tried to make video clips disappear. On my system, I can make clips
disappear with the following steps:
-Load RP.
-Drag a clip (I used PONDDUCK) to the top track, starting at frame 1.
-Now click on PONDUCK and drag it straight up off the top of the
window and drop it (over the buttons). It disappears, but can
still be previewed.
There seems to be another set of (hidden) tracks above the first track. I can
drag a second clip to track 1, then drag and drop it over the buttons and it
will push the hidden clip down into track 1. In fact, if I move the entire
RazorPro window down on the Windows screen, I can drop multiple clips into
multiple hidden tracks. This also seems to be the case with audio tracks.
Unless this is caused by a config problem, my lame video board, or an older
version of the software as you hinted, the drag/drop code may not be checking
the window client area boundaries properly, in which case the track data
structure code may be stomping on something.
Can you duplicate this?
John,
You have a beta of 1.0a – the released version is 1.0a.
If you have 36 MB RAM then your swap file in Windows needs to
be less than 36 MB. Otherwise what happens is that all your
RAM gets used up by the swap file manager.
The BBS is very busy – but its free right now – (Mon 3:30 pm)
The clips disppearing is a wierd feature our programmers came
up with 🙂 Well actually this is the first time I've seen this
and it is a bug we'll have to fix.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Thanks for your review on the Razor Pro. I think I'll hold off for now until
they get it "ready for production environment" BTW are there any 3D wipes?
Like page turns and other Toaster like effects for video transitions?
I didn't see any 3D transitions. You can make your own custom 2D transitions,
but you probably already knew that.
ThanX JKJ,
Yes, i can use now the RAZORplayer and it is cool.
Still suffering from the SSN which is still not excepted by the system, but i
must
tell you that Jamie is the most helpfull guy and…. quick response also.
And when you have you ears on the ground and a guy like Jamie doing the
helpdesk, it must become a wonderfull product !
CIAO FOR NOW and
THANX
Theo
Theo,
Glad to see that the serial number problem was resolved.
Have a good weekend !
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Jamie,
Yes, the SSN-problem is solved.
Maybe you can shine your light on the following problems ?
I can not acces my slave-PAR-drive…
When i try to play a ANI-files from the PAR which are > 10000 frames or so
WINDOWS hangs.
Thanx in advance
Theo
Theo,
I thought we had already communicated with you by email. If you
need technical support call us on (301) 831 5008, fax
us on (301) 983 9674 or email me on 71754,2541.
Please check that the following lines are in your AUTOEXEC.BAT:
C:\DPS_PAR\PARINIT /P=C:\DPS_PAR\ /WIN=C:\WINDOWS
C:\DPS_PAR\PARDRV
Please check that the date on the PARINIT.EXE in your C:\DPS_PAR
directory is 8/11/94 or later.
The serial number has to be typed in CAPITALS. If you are having
difficulty email me.
The PAL version of the PAR has the upgrade chip prebuilt on the
board.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Hi Jamie,
Thanx for your reply.
I'm pretty sure that the lines are correct in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
And i'm 100% sure that I typed the SSN-number correct and in capitals.
I will check everything again tonight to make sure.
CIAO FOR NOW
Theo