I load a image as a rotoscope and a white image appears in the modeling window and that's it! The image appears ok in the image section but not in the modeling window, any ideas?
Make sure you are working in millions of colors, and not thousands. Also make sure that you have the latest video card drivers from your video card manufacturer.
Is Hash planning on adding G4 velocity engine support in AM?
Ken Baer replies :
We can't at the moment because of the compiler we use. But it's something we might do after we rewrite the Mac version for a different compiler. That won't be till late next year probably.
I'm getting really noticeable color banding or bad dithering when I view my rendered image - why ?
This is probably due to your viewing software - it's probably reducing the colors and/or simulating them with dithering. Try viewing your image using some other software.
It is also possible that it is due to your display being set to a lower color setting perhaps 256 colors or 32k or 64k - see if you can find a 24-bit or 32-bit color setting for your display (16.7 million colors).
What's the deal with 32-bit and 24-bit color settings for my display ?
Many video cards have the option of using a 24-bit or a 32-bit display driver. The 24-bit driver uses 3 bytes (8 bits per byte) to display color (one byte each for red, green, and blue).
The 32-bit drivers do the same, but leave every fourth byte in video memory unused. The upside is that the computer can use full 32-bit instructions to read and write information in video memory, leading to faster video card operation. The downside is that more video memory is used to display the same information.
Some video card drivers may be better tested and debugged at one color depth than at another, or possibly some drivers may be unstable if they run out of video memory. If you find your video card works stably at one color depth, and gives display artefacts and errors (and potentially even crashes) at another, use the most stable one. Some video cards seem to work most stably using the 16-bit (64k colors) setting. Test at the highest bit setting first, and work your way down.
Some people confuse the 32-bit video card driver with 32-bit graphics file formats, which can use the fourth byte for such things as an alpha channel (sometimes also known as a mask). The video card driver doesn't use the fourth byte for alpha purposes, unless, as Martin Weber joked, "you need transparency to see the guts of your monitor ;-)". When software shows masking and alpha effects on the screen, it is doing the calculations in software, then converting the final result to a single 24-bit value per pixel to pass to the video card.
It is possible that some software can "cheat" and use the fourth byte in video memory for other purposes.
Your monitor is analog and doesn't really care about the 24/32-bit issue. The video card (hardware and software) is digital and the 24/32 bit issue does affect it.
Does Animation:Master run on Linux / BeOS / BSD-unix / Atari-OS / Workbench / Newton / Solaris / NeXT / MsDos / Irix / PalmOS / WindowsCE / Windows3.1 / My Timex Digital Ironman Watch?
No. Animation:Master runs on Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and MacOS 9.2.
What video card should I buy to take advantage of A:M?
Many video cards do work well though with Animation Master. To get a good feel for what people are using in the A:M community the best place to ask is the Animaster mailing list. Signing up can be done via the Hash web site.
Will buying a super-duper 3D video card speed up A:M rendering ?
Only for shaded mode operations and realtime rendering . Not for final quality rendering, which uses the CPU (yes,
and the FPU subsystem) and normal memory.
Whats the difference between Direct3D HAL and REF Emulation ?
Direct3D HAL (hardware acceleration layer) uses your super-duper 3D video
card hardware to speed up shaded mode and realtime rendering on PCs. It is
limited by the card memory and the quality of the manufacturer's drivers. REF
Emulation uses the CPU, software, and normal system RAM. It is usually MUCH slower, but much less problematic.
How do I get HAL to work nicely? Using HAL I get a scrambled/blank/error window.
The usual problem is running out of video card memory (A:M uses triple buffering). Have a minimal number of working windows open at one time, and don't use the maximise button - drag the edges/corner to resize them larger. As an example, on my 2MB video card, I can use HAL in a single window about the size of a postage stamp - anything larger won't work.
Does A:M use MMX or the special 3D feature only found on video card X or the special 3D feature only found on the CPU from manufacturer Z ?
Not directly. A:M uses common features that will be found
on 100% of the systems available (assuming you're not trying to use a 386).
However, if your DirectX drivers support this feature, then yes, A:M uses
DirectX which may take advantage of that feature (for shade mode and realtime
rendering, not final quality rendering).
So how do I use hardware to speed up final quality rendering ?
A fast CPU. The amount of RAM is only relevant if your machine runs out of
memory and starts using virtual memory (which will really slow things down).
Video cards are irrelevant. The influence of RAM speed and hard disk speed is
minimal.
Which CPU from which manufacturer should I get ?
Whichever has the fastest CPU and especially the fastest FPU performance.
Fast FPU performance has a significant influence. Overclocked Celerons apparently work
acceptably if you know how to do it, know the risks, and have adequate
cooling.
How much RAM do I need ?
Depends what size image you wish to render.
This is the equation
for memory needed to render:
60(bytes) x width x height + textures/image maps + data
thus:
- Lo res 320 x 240 = 4.4MB
- TGA 512 x 486 = 14.2MB
- D1 720 x 480 = 19.8MB
- HDTV 1280 x 720 = 52.7MB
- Panavision 2048 x 871 = 102.1MB
- Print Res 2400 x 3600 = 494.4MB
NOT INCLUDING textures/image maps or data....
[Nor, presumably, memory used by the OS and running programs]
I'm on a Mac - I've got heaps of memory and I've allotted most of it to A:M but I still get Out of Memory errors - what's wrong ?
Believe it or not, you've probably allotted too much memory to A:M. You
probably haven't left enough memory for the OS and particularly for the OpenGL
subsystem, which can use a significant amount of memory. Reduce the amount of
memory allotted to A:M (paraphrased from an answer by Ken Baer)
Why isn't this program more stable ?
Hoo boy - this has led to some emotional times on both the mailing list and other forums. Here's my summary (possibly biased) :
It's quite possible that it's your system, not A:M. Hear me out before you protest.
There are a number of users who have testified on the mailing list that A:M runs with excellent stability on their system. This is particularly so for those where the owner has some knowledge about their system and has taken time to configure it and deal with possible software and hardware problems and conflicts.
The average off-the-shelf home or work computer is likely to have a number of hidden conflicts or weaknesses in its configuration, which may show up as random unexplained problems or may not show up until software starts putting stress on the system (e.g. working on a 700-page Word document, running 20 different resource-hungry programs at once, or running a program such as A:M that makes heavy use of a number of system resources).
Tony Lower-Basch put it nicely :
Hash is not a Jeep. Hash is a Formula One race car, low to the ground and somewhat rigid in the interest of blazing performance. A Formula One car cannot drive over pot-holes: it needs a nice even pavement surface, or it's totalled. That doesn't mean that the car is broken: it means that it shows up problems in your road surface that don't appear with other vehicles.
Mac users have the advantage here - their hardware tends to be more uniform, so their problems tend more towards software conflicts and configuration problems.
PC users have a hodgepodge of hardware sources, hardware drivers of various quality from a range of manufacturers, and an OS which has not yet fully matured. (Hey, I use a PC myself - this is not an attack from the "opposition", our Mac brethren).
PC users : Note that A:M makes use of DirectX (immediate mode, not the retained mode used by most games and polygonal 3D programs). This relies on not only Microsoft's DirectX software, but individual video card drivers.
Mac and PC users : Note that A:M also makes use of MFC - Microsoft Foundation Classes - for the program interface. Different versions of the support files for this system exist. They are not 100% compatible, with each other or A:M. Use the Hash-supplied versions only.
Just because Hash Inc has kept the price of A:M low (3 cheers for Hash!) doesn't mean that the software itself isn't a high-end program that puts considerable strain on your system. If Hash didn't have a unique marketing viewpoint it would have cost you several thousand dollars to buy this program, judging by it's competitors.
So pretend A:M cost you several thousand dollars, and recognise that you should really be running A:M alone on a machine that cost you more than your car (when it was new), made to a detailed specification that is proven to work at the Hash offices.
Given that, below are some guesses on how you can make it run stably on your el cheapo home computer with wildly different hardware and configuration to that used by Hash, with all those other programs you've installed that have done who-knows-what to your configuration, Windows file versions, etc.
Note that you do most of this at your own risk - I'm assuming you have some idea of what you're doing, how to undo it, and that it won't do irreparable damage to your system. If it does, too bad, I'm taking no responsibility. Personally I recommend you only let your PC configuration be modified by advanced alien lifeforms who understand it completely. Anything else is asking for trouble 8-).
If it's a real bug in A:M, chances are it should be reproduceable on demand (by following the same process, you should be able to consistently produce the same problem) and it should definitely be reported in detail to support@hash.com. Please include information like what platform you are running it on, what version you are running, how much memory and what type of video card you have, what version of DirectX/OpenGL you are running, an exact process for repeating the bug behavior, etc.
How can I optimize performance on my PC?
- Use Windows Update (in your start menu) to download ALL AVAILABLE updates for your OS (not just critical updates).
- Download and install the latest video driver for your PC, from the card manufacturer's website.
- try switching between OpenGL/D3D or vice versa- Do this by selecting the tools/options menu in A:M, you'll find this setting in the lower left corner of the 'global' tab.
- Download and install the latest DirectX - start here http://www.microsoft.com/directx/download.asp
If you're on NT, get the latest service pack - hmm, some of them relied on the earlier service packs being applied, I've heard rumored. Last seen at http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/PNP281.asp - Check your hardware/setup - are SCSI chains properly terminated ? Are there any IRQ conflicts ? Try turning off fancy BIOS stuff. Try uninstalling any non-essential hardware, and particularly it's drivers (I once had to fix a PC where it turned out the drivers for the video card and the printer conflicted). Check the jumper switches on your mother board and any cards.
- Remove memory resident software - virus checkers, ICQ programs, video card
utilities, sound card utilities. Oh, and nuke AOL's messenger program. These may
be loaded from the Startup folder, from SYSTEM.INI, from CONFIG.SYS or
AUTOEXEC.BAT, you might see them in the System Tray, and they might start from
Registry entry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Also, no screen savers (esp. when rendering), and you might also try turning off BIOS or software power savers, and hard disk power-downs. - If you're on NT, make sure you're set up to use Direct3D v3, not v6.
- If you must run with hardware acceleration, get a video card with at least 32MB of RAM, never have more than 3 windows open at a time, never maximise them (resize them by hand).
- Try running in 16-bit mode rather than 24-bit (or vice versa ?) - this was a known driver problem with at least one video card driver. Also, try running 32-bit instead of 24-bit, or vice-versa.
- Uninstall A:M. At your own risk, delete all the registry entries related to Hash - Start with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Hash, Inc. Re-install A:M (the latest version available from our web site).
- Get heaps of memory - 128MB seems to be a good working size.
- Don't run other programs before A:M. Do a clean boot beforehand.
- No themes, animated cursors, backgrounds.
- Turn off CD-ROM auto-detect.
- Run defragment and scandisk regularly.
- Take the cover off your PC. I'm serious - you would be amazed at how much weird behavior, general twitchiness and instability is due to heat stress on your CPU and other chips, contained in a nice little hot box by your PC cover, and insulated by dust sucked in through the vents.
Tony Lower-Basch's Top Ten Checklist (after a personal experience of going from crashing to stability):
- Clear your registry. Personally, since I have space for loads of partitions, I like to install completely from scratch. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
- Check your cabling. Check your cabling again. Read through every manual for every piece of hardware, particularly drives. Make sure (for SCSI) that your termination is set right, and that the terminators have power, if applicable. For IDE, make sure that you don't have two masters or two slaves on the same chain. You wouldn't think that your computer would still run if any of these were the case, but you might be surprised.
- Disable ACPI in both BIOS and OS
- Disable any programs that are running simultaneous with Hash, unless they are -absolutely- essential to the running of your operating system. Particularly, in my case, ATI display drivers install two programs to provide an "ATI" icon on the taskbar. However, you can remove them without in any way lessening the power of the drivers. In fact, it speeds everything up a little and (most important) helps with Hash stability. Ideally, when you bring up the Task monitor, it should show "Explorer, Systray, Animation Master", and that's it.
- Disable S.M.A.R.T. monitoring
- Check that you have no known hardware inconsistencies in your OS. Windows 98 actually provides a nice tool for this: in the System Information application there's a "Problem Hardware" tab, which will show you everything that Win98 doesn't know quite how to use. Make sure that tab is -empty-.
- Update your display drivers, definitely, seriously.
- Update the drivers for any other hardware where you trust the company more than you trust Microsoft. Particularly update the drivers for any hardware which is particularly new, and for which provided Microsoft drivers might not be adequate.
- Make sure your hardware is running in its preferred mode. CD drives capable of it should do Data Synchronization. Disk drives capable of it should -definitely- use DMA: such disk drives may have been debugged properly only using DMA, which means that using them in traditional mode is asking for trouble.
- Remove anything which could cause a warning message or background process to start. Make sure all of your disk drives have adequate disk space (I've noticed that the low-disk-space warning message can have a tendency to crash Hash: maybe because it steal input focus? Maybe my computer was just unstable). Make sure that you have sufficient swap space. Make -double- sure that you have enough room to actually store all of the output from your render. Etc., etc., etc. Hash does best with no distractions.
How can I optimize performance on my Mac?
- Make sure you are running the latest OS updates (currently OS 9.2.2)
- If you have OSX installed on your system, rather than running in "classic" mode, boot and run in OS9.2.2 (We hope to have OSX support sometime in 2003).
- Do you know that on the Mac you need to tell it how much memory to allot each program? Select the program, then select "get info" from the file menu and enter a number in the "preferred size" box. Leave quite a bit of room for OpenGL Leave some room for the OS too.
- Try trashing the A:M preferences file (Master v9.x preferences, in the preferences folder, which is in your system folder).
- DO NOT! move any of the items installed into the "Master" folder to your system or extensions folder!
- Use the extensions manager under the apple menu to create a set with as few extensions as possible.
-
You may want to test your extensions one by one to see what will conflict with Animation Master.
this is tedious, but may be necessary if you have a lot of specialized hardware/software installed on your mac-
One extension that will cause the CD not to be recognized is the ISO Joliet Extension file. Make sure that this peticular extension is turned off.
I'm still having stability problems - what else can I do ?
If you're still having unsolved system stability troubles, here's a few productivity tips to keep you going until you've solved the problem :
- Save the project first, before separately saving models, materials, etc.
- Then save your models, materials, actions etc. in separate files. This way if one file gets corrupted by something (e.g. a crash), the others should still be useable.
- Save everything (not just the project) regularly, using incremental versions under different filenames.
- Keep backup copies of your files on a different disk or diskette.
- Limit your usage of undo, and save before using it.