Mac Images seldom appear correct

[TheToadStool]

I'm keeping notes my experience using the new v19 for mac. My main problem immediately is still no predictable appearance of rotoscopes. I'm trying to compare my models movements to the rotoscope reference in the background and it can't be done !

 

 

[robcat2075]

Was v18 better at this for you?

[robcat2075]

And when you say "seldom"... are there images that do work?

[TheToadStool]

Rotoscopes and decals (that you are positioning) almost always look like they do in the above image. You have to render each time to see it. Sometimes rendering an entire sequence makes the images normal for a minute. It just has the feeling of being unstable and unpredictable. The other strange thing has been that the decals/rotos typically show image fragments from other files on the hard drive rather than the intended image. v18 was no better. I believe that one day this can be fixed. if other images show, these ultimately should as well. Also, the file menu still freezes until you cmd-tab out and then back in to A:M, but I'm sure that is still a known bug. If this roto thing could someday be fixed it would be great !!!

 

-Adam

[robcat2075]

A temporary work around for rotoscopes might be to place the image on a rectangular patch that you then size and place to suit, then lock while you do your other work.

[largento]

What graphics card are you using? My iMac and Mac Pro don't have any problems with rotoscopes.

 

I normally use PNG files for them, but I just checked and jpegs worked fine, as well.

 

 

[markw]

So, this old chestnut again!
Maybe Rodney could pin the page in the link bellow for future easy finding by Mac users.

The problem is most likely the NVIDIA cards that are in some Macs.
Not all Macs have these cards, and so these lucky A:M users may never encounter this problem.

Here is my original post from 2014 with a possible workaround: https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45848&do=findComment&comment=393775

[TheToadStool]

I use a late 2013 imac. I also had this problem back on my 2012 macbook pro as well. I will check the previous thread for advice on this matter. This problem doesn't seem to affect any of the other graphics in this process. Why are rotos and pre-decals different?

 

 

adam

[robcat2075]

Just curious... Is the graphics card in an iMac in a standard slot like in a PC? Could one swap it out with another card?

 

Would the OS sense the change and update the drivers via the web like Windows does?

[TheToadStool]

Imac and macbook pro are self-contained. They are not like desktop Pc's with accessible slots. Again, why do most graphic functions work without a problem but these specific functions do not?

 

Also, I have a built-in NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M card.

[robcat2075]

Again, why do most graphic functions work without a problem but these specific functions do not?

 

It is a puzzling oddity. I'm not sure how graphics cards work at all.

[TheToadStool]

I have just made the rotoscope a flat model with a targa sequence decal and added it to the action I am working on. This dragged my system down to a halt for some reason. I am using .bvh motion capture data so there's a lot of points on the timeline, so that obviously slows things down, but adding the targa sequence model to the action dragged it to a crawl. I removed this sequence model and reloaded the sequence as a rotoscope again and this time the rotoscope is showing up every frame. Perhaps the sequence is still in memory as it was when associated with a model. If someone can translate this into technical sense, perhaps it might shed some light on the problem. either way, I am having fun actually being able to rotoscope today !

 

thanks,

 

Adam

[robcat2075]

I removed this sequence model and reloaded the sequence as a rotoscope again and this time the rotoscope is showing up every frame. Perhaps the sequence is still in memory as it was when associated with a model.

 

How interesting! If you quit and reload the PRJ do you have to do that all over again for the rotoscope to work?

[TheToadStool]

sorry for the late reply on this, I'm still experimenting with it. I think I had a crash at some point and I had to add the roto model again, delete it, and then reload a roto by itself to work again. I'm trying to stress the system so it will reveal its limitations. More on this later. I'm just glad as hell I got it to work using some form of voodoo. It's a great thing having a roto to work off of, never take it for granted !

 

* I wanted to say that I *did* have a major graphics meltdown the other day that was a terminal flaw. I have been working on a particular model for quite some time and in v19, some of the decals just failed at one point. They were decals on the eyes, they just partially disappeared, but what was weird is that it invalidated the geometry, hair, and decal on the geometry behind it so all that was visible was a partial decal and the blue background behind the model. This I could not fix. The decal file was still in the correct folder, I even replaced it with a different version of itself in case the targa was corrupted in some matter. I could not fix this and was temporarily devistated that a model I have poured so much time in now had a fatal corruption about it. I fixed the problem by reloading the model into v18. I'm not sure if this problem is unique to v19 but sometimes, A:M will not acknowledge decals that are properly in their folder. This is a very bad problem and it just happened randomly and would not reload the proper decals.. If/when this happens again, I will take screen shots and see what other info I can provide. I hate unsolvable problems.

 

 

 

Adam

[TheToadStool]

I just loaded another model into my v19 and am having the same problem with the decals acting erratically

[TheToadStool]

I'm not trying to be a negative complainer, that is not my purpose here. Perhaps I should have got in on the beta testing. I'm not sure what that is or what it entails. I wanted to mention that I am back to using v18 for the time being but now I can't import image sequences. Not at all. The option to import an image as part of a sequence has just disappeared. Right clicking on images and importing an image sequence/animation does nothing. Is there something I turned off somewhere? Can someone help me re-establish the ability to import image sequences?

 

 

thanks,

 

 

Adam

[robcat2075]

It worked before in v18, but not now?

 

How about Help>Reset settings

[TheToadStool]

Hi Rob, that is a great suggestion. Unfortunately, it didn't work. What a weird predicament ! Any other suggestions?

 

 

thanks,

 

 

Adam

[robcat2075]

I don't know how to ascertain what has changed since it worked before. Something has changed.

[largento]

I just tried it in v18 and v19 on the Mac and it works in both for me.

 

To be certain we're talking about the same thing, I did this:

 

Right clicked on images in the PWS, chose Import->Animation or Image Sequence..., selected the first image and clicked the "import as an animation or a sequence of images" check box and clicked open. dragged image onto a patch and applied it. Opened the model in a choreography and watched the image sequence run in the timeline.

[TheToadStool]

It looks like I solved the problem simply by reinstalling. I forgot the whole, "Have you tried turning it off and then turning it on again" routine. What's weird is that at first the "Import as an animation or a sequence of images" box disappeared but then it reappeared (after re-install). I know this might be a very unusual or unique problem to have but I am wondering about that little box in particular, why might it disappear at all? Oddly, when I used to use v16 that box did not exist for me but that window seemed to just know to import an image as an 'image sequence' so the little box wasn't necessary. When I installed v18, all of a sudden I had to specify again (using the little box) that I wanted the whole sequence. I found this to be redundant seeing as how I already chose to import a sequence rather than an individual image. So, I believe that me having to somehow switch back-and-forth between v19/v18 a few times last week to get my project situated (had to trash v19 due to aforementioned graphic failures). Anyhow, not to be a complainer, just to report bugs/anomalies and yes, I understand that somehow I was cursed with a Nvidia graphics card from a 2012 version of mac which seems at odds with Animation Master. I am wondering, could a setting on the OpenGL3 part of the 'Options' window offer a solution? I don't rightly understand this window and never touch it! It seems like it might have some useful options.

 

thanks for entertaining this rant,

 

 

Adam

[robcat2075]

I am wondering, could a setting on the OpenGL3 part of the 'Options' window offer a solution? I don't rightly understand this window and never touch it! It seems like it might have some useful options.

 

 

 

Won't hurt to try. You can do "Reset Settings" to get back the defaults.

[a.quaihoi]

The Toadstool - dude do yourself a favour, install bootcamp on you mac and install AM on windows 7 + 64 bit and you wont have this problem, I know its a pain if your graphics and editing apps are mac based, I went through the same thing a few months ago with v18, have already tested out if it was due to video cards having tried both AMD / ATI + Nvidia on mac = some times if you toggle the OpenGL 3 / open gl setting in settings the textures and rotoscopes come back for a while then it goes back again, then sometimes your files get corrupted - be careful of that one as you don't want to lose your file you spent time on getting lost. Long story short if you want to get busy doing work and mac version is not playing nice - bootcamp ! There is some issue probably with system configurations and hardware / software / drivers etc. across different macs which s why only some of the mac users report issues, I remember using AM back in the days on the Aqua G3 machines and G4 machines and they were rock solid for production work -

 

https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47610&hl=

 

https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45848&hl=

 

https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48106&hl=

 

https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47916&hl=

 

https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47857&hl=

 

https://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48175&hl=

 

[a.quaihoi]

I think a lot of issues are memory based with AM on Mac and that its running as a virtual app in a shell for the mac version and runs out of memory quickly, this is what I deduced from a quick study of crash error reports . . .

[robcat2075]

Is there some sort of an exact model number that would identify that Mac with the problem video card?

[robcat2075]

Idea... What if you sold that iMac and bought a used iMac of similar vintage that had the more desirable graphics card?

[TheToadStool]

fortunately for me, I have A:M on a PC with a different license. I'll probably move some of my operations over to there while I figure this out. Thanks again for all the suggestions. What an obscure problem !

 

 

Adam

[robcat2075]

fortunately for me, I have A:M on a PC with a different license.

 

D'oh!