I've been having a problem ever since Leopard came out with A:M sometimes not being able to access the Finder through Save As... or Open dialogue boxes.

In most cases, I can just switch to another app and then back to A:M and the greyed-out options are now accessible. However, when it happens during a Save As... with the Render Settings, clicking on anything causes the alert sound and I can't do anything and have to Force Quit.

Until now!

When it happens, the Application menu is still accessible. Go to it and select "Hide Animation Master." Then come back to A:M from your doc and you can continue!

Make an A:M report of that and perhaps your discovery will provide some clue for fixing the situation.

Ive had that same problem, I would have to force quit the program on when I clicked save-as in the rendermenu... I just started going to the camera options and change the file name there.

Thanks for the fix!!
Photoman

Hi here's what i do

CLEARING OUT THE GRAY TYPED BOXES
to clear the grayed out boxes just click on your desktop and back
and you can now type

RENDER TO CAMERA IN PROPERTIES WINDOW
use render to camera and you should be good to go
i have no problem using that very solid!
to do that go to your Hash preferences / options/ rendering the camera
you can also get there by
Tools / option / rendering / rendering the camera


ONE MORE NOTE JUST INCASE
you will get a better performance if you put your projects on a different disk
then where the app is

j

Good info all around. Thank you gents!

What does Render to Camera in Properties window or render the camera mean? No such option exists.... (that I can see)

Cheers

Perhaps he means "Use Camera Settings" in the Render Settings Tab?

yes in the options tab
i use render/ use settings / camera

but so you know i have no problems saving in any setting or saving projects, mdls, ect ...
and search works as well
all in all everything works as it should

2 minor things
1 every now and then i have to click onto the desktop and back
in order to type in a field box

and sometimes after changing some render settings say quicktime to tga the
render to file will not open the render tab
at that point i do have re open the project
it's very very very minor rarely happens

j

Yes, I have noticed switching from a project in Windows to the same project in OSX I lose render settings. I always lose render settings after a crash. In Windows, the render settings are always maintained for a saved project.

Cheers

You know, we should have our own thread to discuss AM issues in OSX. For example, is it possible to resize the AM Application? In OSX it automatically goes to full screen and I have no means of adjusting it. I can resize the internal windows (ie modelling, chor etc) but not the application window. So, the option of clicking on the desktop only works if you have multiple displays or multiple desktops setup!

Cheers

You know, we should have our own thread to discuss AM issues in OSX
agreed!
at least will know who can do what

i can see my desktop
here's a screen shot i have 22 inch mon

Ahhh - resizing the individual windows - but then one needs to have this window smaller all the time so one has access to the desktop - just in case...... It's a work around I guess!

Cheers

no you can go full size
when you have to just go down to your dock it will pop up assuming yours does and click the finder or the ( divider path in the dock )
that should do it

That file dialogue box lockup happened again to me last night. No amount of clicking on the desktop or a finder window solved it. I had to kill AM.

Cheers

i feel your pain, been there

just for the heck of it go to your utilities
check your drive and do a permissions repair ( as a rule i do a repair once a month, or when i feel things are funky on all apps )
dosen't hurt

here are my specs, and apologies if i'm being redundant
G5 PRO 2x2 GHz Duel Core intel Xeon
5 gigs ram 667 MHz

Animation Master 15.0i

j

There are two different workarounds. If it's a single dialogue box (like an "Open" or "Save As"), then clicking to another app and back works. (I use the keyboard shortcut command-tab to quickly select another app and the again to re-select A:M). If however, it's two dialogue boxes on top of each other (for example clicking to select where to save a render from the render dialogue box), you have to follow the instructions in the first post: use the menu to select "Hide" A:M.) Then select A:M in the dock to bring it back. Works every time.

Ahhh - missed that subtlty. 'Select menu to hide AM' - what is this? (I've only had my OSX for 3 years and theres still a lot I don't know)

Cheers

When you have two dialogue boxes (like when choosing where to save a render), if you click anywhere, you will cause the finder to switch to the first render box and you'll be stuck. Instead, go up to the menu and select "Hide Animation Master" from the Animation Master menu. Then go to the dock and re-select A:M and you'll find the dialogue box now active. (See first post in this thread.)

Ahhh - AM menu, I was thinking in the OSX menu - LOL

Cheers

Thank you for addressing this! This has been a huge issue for me when I do a Save As. I get stuck in the greyed out boxes making me have to force quit and I lose any progress I have made.

Actually, just using the Mac OS built in Expose will go to desktop quite nicely (by default show desktop is mapped to the F11 key and the simultaneous press of the two sides of the mouse)

Speaking of Mac OS X issues, anyone have trouble with the update j+ on Snow Leopard with the items in the Library. Their titles are very messed up for me....

H VadVaro, welcome to the forums! On the first issue, hiding the app to activate greyed-out Save and Open windows, etc., you can just hit Cmd-H to hide the app, then Cmd-Tab to select and unhide the app. Quick and easy.

As for the names in the library, that's an ongoing bug that has something to do with system fonts or something. It's a mess but the library still functions fine. Or you can just use the Open command and navigate to the library contents in the finder. Not as elegant as clear access to the libraries, but works just fine.