sb4

Can you control the number of threads used in V17?

Those look great! You can't give up with all those ideas baking. Gives the learners hope too. And your support on the forum would be sorely, sorely missed.

Hopefully... that will that be in the next 12 days? With my track record, it could be any year now... But seriously , do you have any animation projects in the works right now? That would be a definite incentive. And what are they, out of curiosity? -SB

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm glad Direct3D is there if we need it (in my versions). Perhaps I'll end up using both depending on what I'm doing. I appreciate it when programmers provide options to help solve these problems. Regards, -SB

I found something else, for any other souls in the wilderness of laptop Vista and older versions of A:M: I noticed on the Options General tab, the threads were set to 1. I changed it to "Auto", and now the OpenGL seems to be behaving better -- it will repaint the screen correctly on startup, and the rotate manipulator seems to repaint also. Not sure if any impact on crashes though. But I'm much happier knowing I can do some meaningful A:M experimentation on the road with my laptop. Regards, -SB

I think you're on the money. That may be exactly a main culprit for the crashing. I'll heed your advice as much as possible. -SB

Hey, that it's it! I couldn't find that setting before, but I finally located it. It solves the main problems for now. Thanks! Are there any drawbacks to using DirectX compared to OpenGL that you know of? -SB Edit: well, one real-time render crash so far flipping views in wireframe-shaded mode, but with the laptop, I'm happy being able to test and learn and work in simple modes, and do fine work on other computers.

Is there a forum here where computer jocks and motivated users can really work together on computer/AM compatibility problems in the interest of finding obscure workarounds if necessary, rather than just abandoning the computer or buying expensive new hardware? I'm having more display problems with my Vista laptop, but I don't want to give up. I feel there must be some workaround, such as a special OpenGL compatibility driver that can use low-end chips, even if slower, or DirectX option, or some other trick like using an older A:M DLL or such. My main problem seems to be repainting the screen. The latest showstopper is that when using a rotate manipulator, the image may not refresh correctly while rotating, and I can't see what I'm doing. Is there a way also to get some information from the A:M programmer about the graphics aspects that might help with workarounds? I don't want to clutter this forum with lengthy back and forth dialog on this, so if there is an appropriate forum I'll post there. Regards, -SB

Thanks, the AM2007.exe worked and now the version is 14 and the Oz characters appear during startup instead of Yeti. Do you have any knowledge of the other downloadable files listed under the AM2007? Such as "V14stuff..." and "V15stuff..." and how it works with the update? Regards, -SB -

On my Win XP SP3 when I hit the "0" key for shaded-wireframe, my control-points are black. Is this an artifact, or is there an option for the color? The black CPs are hard to see. -SB

Thanks! -SB

In a model window, I have an unattached 4 point spline. I click on a CP to select it, then right-click to bring up the context menu. I select "Delete", and it asks me if I want to delete "Untitled". I click "Yes", but nothing happens -- the CP is still there. However, if I use the "Delete" key instead of the menu, I can delete the CP. Is this normal? Is the Delete menu reserved for something else? (A:M 11.1i, WinXP SP3) -SB

Thanks. When people talk about "installers", is that the same as an update? Also, when you go to the update FTP site, I see under the "Update", a choice of AM2006, AM2007, etc. Under AM2007, for example, I see AM2007.exe and also a V13 subfolder with another "AM2007.exe" file in it. Then there is the "V14stuff-full" folder. There is also a "V15stuff-full" folder -- all under the basic AM2007 FTP folder. I'm having trouble making sense of this -- how to relate your CD year and Version number to all the update files that might apply to it. Also the top level of the FTP site has stuff like plugins, etc. which don't seem to have version-specific information. Can anyone explain what versions those will work with? Is there a document anywhere that explains what everything is on the FTP site? Or is there a standard procedure for updating a version using the FTP site? -SB

As a newbie myself, I was confused when I could not save what I was doing. In my case, it was because I chose not to copy the CD to my hard drive during install, and I believe when you drag a model like KeeKat or such into a model window and work on it, when you go to save, it thinks you want to save back to the CD and cannot. I think I found that I need to always use "save as" and pick a place on my hard drive to save any examples from the CD first. There are recommended ways to set up your own library for "objects" you create and save. I don't know if that is your situation though. I don't think it is a problem with registering somehow. Regards, -SB

Yes. The disc with the green and gold TinWoodman will run v15 and the disc with the more chrome TinWoodman will run v14. The Yeti disc will run v13. I have a disc that probably is the chrome TinWoodman (Tin Woodsman?) although his crown looks gold. When installing the program, I see an "AM2007" folder reference flash by, but when running the program, a Yeti figure appears at startup, and the Help|About says it is AM2006 V13. I'm wondering which update to apply. Regards, -SB

Can anyone tell me what is the difference between the "Yeti" A:M CD and the "Oz" CD? It seems they are both V13, is that correct? Can they both be upgraded to the same version? -SB

At least wait until I get one original animation created and can walk on my (and its) own two feet! (sorry, I panicked... ) -SB

I believe it has the "Intel 965 Express Chipset". I have not been able to find a driver later than the one currently installed. Video Chipset: Mobile Intel 965 Express Video Bios: 1533 Driver: 7.14.10.1437 Graphics Mode: 1440x900 True Color 60Hz Generic PnP Monitor - DDC2 Protocol supported, Gamma 2.20 I have tried other resolutions and color depths, same problem. I tried a few different OpenGL settings, same problem. I've turned off Aero and Desktop Composite. I noticed if the current open window is in "non-maximized" mode and I open another in non-maximized mode, I get the same problem -- resizing the window larger than the default size fails to draw the grid in the expanded area. Shrinking the window however succeeds in correct repainting of the grid over the entire window. In contrast, opening two maximized windows achieves a fully painted grid. It's peculiar. I'll try to live with it, although the other effects such as intermittent shading and line drawing may make working on my laptop prohibitive, which would be a shame -SB

Thanks for the good ideas. Turning those off did not affect the initial window grid dropout, but maybe will help in other parts of the program and generally improve stability. -SB

(I tried to post this in archive forum to not bother up-to-date users, but forum is readonly.) To any other AM 11 / Windows Vista users: I'm having display problems where the screen doesn't seem to refresh, or partially draws with my Windows Vista Compaq laptop. Particularly, when only one A:M window is open (say, chor or modeling) the background grid does not fully draw. Having two windows open magically makes the grid draw fully in both windows. In a Model window, I'll switch to "shaded" mode and a patch won't render. If I tweak a control point, suddenly it might render. Sometimes while drawing a spline, parts don't draw while making it. Some sort of display driver compat issue probably. I've checked for latest updates, and I actually have a later version than the one available for download. I tried running A:M in WinXP SP2 compat mode, and it crashes on startup (after mostly displaying the GUI). Just wondering if anyone saw this and found some workarounds. -SB

Thanks all. I was wondering if there were some advanced light reflection options that could be turned off and such. I'll experiment. -SB If you post a result you get that you don't like, that would be a starting point for discussion. Ok, will do. It was actually more of a rendering performance question, any settings you could forgo for tunes that you need for 3D. Regards, -SB

Nothing. Splines are converted to polygones in shaded-view, since graphiccards can not show splines directly. But you can increase the subdivision-level by hitting "Page Up". Like that it will becomes smoother or less smooth (page down). If you feel a slow down, you may want to use a lower subdivision-level. This level has nothing to do with final rendering and will only affect the shaded-view. See you *Fuchur* Thanks, that does it. I also finally located in the Help about the Tools | Options | Polys per patch attribute -- which seems identical to the page up/page down. However, the help didn't mention that final rendering isn't affected, so that is good to know. Regards, -SB

I probably have some setting dinged somewhere but not sure. I'm just doing basic spline practice in a Model window. In pure wireframe mode, the splines look like normal smooth curves. In the shaded modes, each spline becomes a double line segment instead of a smooth curve. What do you think I have wrong? -SB

Thanks all. I was wondering if there were some advanced light reflection options that could be turned off and such. I'll experiment. -SB

Are there some recommended settings for A:M if you are working with "toons" style rendering that will be most efficient for rendering and overall workflow? -SB