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annimation crashes


Hunter B

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I have the same problem. I tried to animate 20 different times using different settings but the results were the same. At around 200 or so frames, it would freeze. I even bought more memory bringing me to 1024MB, but no change.

Katie, is there any hope in getting this problem fixed?

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OK... I had t go out of town for a week and am just getting back to trying to solve my annimation problem. I have a 20 second walk thru tht always seems to crash around the same frame... 200 or so. This is not really a complicated drawing so I'm surprized that it's not working.

I have no "image transperancies", and that is supposed to be the reason it's not rendering.

I've stepped thru the annimation and have rendered a large sample of frames and those have no problem.... the last crash notice I had was "error in mfc4zdll" if that helps at all.

I've checked this board in the past and have tried all the "fixes". PLEASE HELP.

Is it possible for you guys to send out a list of things that are wrong with VW10 so I don't have to keep struggling for weeks just to find out that this problem was something you guys knew about.

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The engineers have been looking into this file for a while now.

What rendering mode are you working with?

If you have files, please send them to me and I can forward them to the engineer to use in further diagnosing the problem.

a href="mailto:tech@nemetschek.net?subject=ATTN:Katie">Click to email me

In the body of the email, please include detailed inforamtion about the version of VW, OS, built in memory and rendering mode used. Also include a note about how many frames you get to and an error message you get.

Also place a link to this mb post in the body of the email.

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The dll error message is completely different though. That's a system issue.

What OS are you using?

What is the manuf. and model of the video card you have in the computer?

[ 03-19-2003, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: Katie ]

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Hunter: As Katie is indicating, their engineers are working on it.

Katie: Can you offer any encouragement? Do the engineers have any idea of what may be causing this?

My own deadline for making my animated presentation to my client is rapidly approaching. As of now I cannot make that annimation due to this bug.

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Yes they are working on it. However, the problem may be within QuickTime. The engineers are working with Apple on the issue.

As I stated before, if you send in the file you are having a problem with, I can have our engineer look at it. It would also be beneficial to have a problem file for testing purposes.

[ 03-19-2003, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: Katie ]

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hi Hunterb213:

I am trying to render this file in Fast RW with Shadows, but this file has 115 lights, and the shadow maps alone are taking more than 10 minutes just for one frame. How have you been able to render 200 frames of this file? Are you rendering with shadows off or something?

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hi again Hunterb213:

I think the first thing you should try is to simplify this file for a speedier animation export. The things I have done with this file are:

1. turn off cast shadows for all the overhead lights, that aren't going to create shadows on anything anyway

2. Delete the geometry behind the stage, which will not be visible during the animation

3. Delete the lights (the purple and yellow spotlights) and geometry in the corner of the room that also won't be visible in the animation

4. Delete the doors the won't be visible

5. Turn off Show 3D Detail for the trusses, the bolts and whatnot won't be visible from that distance

I will be trying to create this movie and let you know what happens.

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Thanks Dave... I have plenty of time so I haven't worried about the speed of the rendering.. I realize to simplfy thing I should take out everyting that is not visable in the annimation but all of the information is/ was needed in an original file... and I need the shadows, afterall, lighting is as much about shadows as it is light.

Thanks for the help... I hope it works..

I too will be re-rendering the annimation this weekend... I'll let you know haw it goes.

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Dave; I am puzzled by your comments to Hunter. It has been my understanding, from what you and Katie have been saying, that the reason I cannot get a finished animation is because of a bug within VW or Quicktime or a combination of the two.

Your comments to Hunter make it sound like the problem is user fixable. Is this a universal problem caused by a bug or is Hunter's problem different from mine?

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Dave... I just reviewed my file I sent you... I think you should note that most of the lights are turned off and therefore should not affect the outcome of the rendering since they donot contibute to the geometry of the rendering.

I hope that extra objects in the file do not make my file crash ... it would be a lot of work to have to rework the drawing more than I did for this just to make it work...

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hello Hunterb913:

When I tried to render your path animation, the machine reached about 300 frames, but memory used had reached 1.2 GB, which means the program is leaking memory. This problem happens during movie export but not usually in everyday rendering because the memory is released when the program switches layers or render modes. While exporting movies each frame is leaking a certain amount and since the render mode is not changed this leaked memory will accumulate until the movie is completed.

I have tracked this down somewhat to an interaction between symbols and textures. If I render with textures off it doesn't leak, and if I convert all symbols to groups it doesn't leak.

To get your movie to render until we can track down this bug further and fix it, try this:

Duplicate your file and name it something like "CEC Movie Export.mcd". Choose the Custom Selection menu item in the Organize menu. Choose Select Only. Click OK. Set the first menu in the dialog to Type and the second menu to Symbol. Click OK. 19 symbols should be selected. Choose Convert to Group in the Organize menu.

Converting the symbols to groups should reduce the leaking to where you can export your movie.

HTH,

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Hi Dave;

Thank you for following up on this bug. It is exciting to see a possible solution in sight. I will try your suggestion on my own file and see what happens.

I also appreciate your sharing the technical aspects of the problem/solution. While I do not understand much of what you are saying, it is none the less interesting and reassuring that there is a defined problem that can be traced.

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Hi Dave;

I have tried your suggestion and it appears to be no better and perhaps worse. I have done two annimations and both froze. The first froze at 16 frames and the second froze at 86 frames.

They are orbit point animations using final renderworks.

On each model layer, (first floor, second floor, roof), I followed your instructions and converted the symbols to a group.

The animation is run on a model layer that is composed of the other layers through layer links.

Any suggestions?

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Have you considered using Cinema 4D for making animations? I have been using it since they released the plug-ins for seamless transfer between VW and C4D. It is very inexpensive and you can create all of your geometry in VW export, render, go back to VW and make changes, then update the file in C4D. It's great! btw - projecting gobos and creating lighting effect is MUCH easier and more powerfull in C4D. VectorWorks is a great CAD package, but it's rendering and animation tools are in the dark ages compared to some other apps out there.

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Hi Andy;

I took a look at the Cinema website. At $1,700, I would not consider this an inexpensive software. Am I missing something when you say that it is "very inexpensive"?

I did notice that you can blow up your model using the "explosion gizmo". Right now that would come in handy as every time my Renderworks model freezes I would certainly like to blow it up.

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