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Elastic Reality Demo -- Version 1.01
Release Notes
Contents:
o Demo Version Notes
o Late Breaking News -- Read Before Using the Software
o Additional Copyrights, Licenses, and Credits
(For Technology Included With This Product)
o Troubleshooting
===========================================================================
Demo Version Notes
The demo version is a fully-functional Windows version of Elastic Reality,
with the following limitations:
o Saving and exporting of projects and shapes are disabled.
o Previews and full effect renders will have vertical red lines added
to them. Stamps created in the Sequence Editor will also have red
lines.
o Periodically, a message dialog will appear reminding you that a
fully-enabled version of Elastic Reality can be purchased. There is
also an option to fill out and print an order form.
Since we couldn't include our standard complement of Getting Started, Using
Elastic Reality, and Using TransJammer manuals, please avail yourself of
the introductory tutorials in the Getting Started Guide text file
(GETSTART.TXT) and our extensive online help.
Be sure to check out the more than 60 digital video effects we've included
with TransJammer, the point-and-click transition generator!
If Freecell does not start up properly, then Elastic Reality won't either.
If you are having problems running either program, then consult the
Troubleshooting section at the end of this text file for assistance.
Thank you for previewing Elastic Reality, the most widely adopted morphing
special effects system in the world!
===========================================================================
Late Breaking News -- Read Before Using the Software
o Installation options
o FLI/FLC and PCX support
o Tablet support
o Rendering in animation and still image formats
o Notes about Video for Windows CODECs
o Working with AVI files directly off compact discs
o Output format parameters
o Using TransJammer as an image format/size converter
o TransJammer's Control menu
o Additions made to the WIN.INI file
o Uninstalling the Elastic Reality package
o Notes for The ASDG Abekas Driver users
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation Options
NOTE: If you are running Windows NT, Win32s is not required and Video for
Windows is not supported. Also, Windows NT support is currently only
available under Intel processors.
Win32s needs to be installed if it's not currently installed on your
system. If you are not sure whether you have it or of you have an older
version of Win32s installed, install Win32s--the setup program will not
overwrite a newer version of Win32s with an older version. A sample Win32s
application, named Freecell, will be installed to help confirm whether
Win32s was installed and is running properly.
Video for Windows needs to be installed if you want to load, save, and play
AVI animation files. If your main use of Elastic Reality will be with other
image formats, then it is not required. If you find you need AVI support in
the future, you can simply run the setup program again.
After installing the software, the machine will have to be restarted for
Win32s and Video for Windows to take effect. Once Windows has been
restarted, run the Freecell application to confirm that Win32s was properly
installed. Just start the program--you do not have to play the game. If it
seems to be running properly, exit Freecell. You are ready to start Elastic
Reality and TransJammer. If any of these Win32s applications does not start
or run properly, see the Troubleshooting notes at the bottom of this text
file.
NOTE: We highly suggest that you do not run other applications while the
software is being installed on your system. This will avoid any conflicts
accessing system files.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLI/FLC and PCX support
Due to unforseen circumstances, FLI/FLC animation file support is not in
this initial release of Elastic Reality. It will be added at a later date.
However, PCX image support for both loading and saving is now part of the
Elastic Reality package.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tablet support
Tablets usable with other applications will be usable with Elastic Reality.
If you do not have a dual button pen, you can access the Reshape and
Correspondence mode pop-up menus (normally opened by clicking the secondary
mouse button) using the ENTER key.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rendering in animation and still image formats
In the Output Options dialog box, if you select an animation format such as
Video for Windows, the "[num]" token will be automatically removed from the
File Name Template. This avoids creating individual AVI files each
consisting of a single frame. However, if you want this capability, simply
enable the Add Frame Number option after selecting Video for Windows as the
saver module.
Elastic Reality will remember what type of saver module was selected at the
time the Output Options dialog box was opened. This avoids having the
"[num]" token added to the File Name Template when switching from an
animation to still image format when the template didn't initially have it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes about Video for Windows CODECs
Although Elastic Reality and TransJammer were designed to be responsive and
multitask well with other applications, some of the Video for Windows (AVI)
compressors (sometimes referred to as CODECs) were not. If your projects
are being rendered in Video for Windows format, multitasking performance
may be degraded during the Elastic Reality saving phase.
To select a compressor, open the Output Options dialog box, set the saver
to Video for Windows, click the Parameters button to display the Parameters
dialog box for the Video for Windows saver module. From this dialog box,
select the compressor from the drop-down list box.
Also, some compressors have image size limitations. If you get an AVIError
message saying "Bad Format", you might've specified an output Width and
Height larger than what a compressor can currently handle. Simply change
the output Width and Height values (in the Output Options dialog box) to a
supported image size. Safe values are 160 x 120 and 320 x 240.
On some compressors, specifying and enabling a "Key Frame" value (done in
the Video for Windows Parameters dialog box) may produce animation files
containing only key frame images. If this happens, use a different
compressor.
When rendering 8-bit AVI files and specifying a non-Fixed Palette, we
recommend you set the "Get Palette from" setting to "First Frame", instead
of "Every Frame". Rendering using the First Frame is faster and more
reliable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Working with AVI files directly off compact discs
Random accessing AVI files directly off compact discs places high stress on
CD-ROM drivers and can possibly uncover latent defects in their code.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Output format parameters
Listed below are the descriptions of the output format parameter dialog
boxes.
BMP
The "Windows" option outputs bitmap files that are compatible with
Microsoft Windows. The "OS/2" option saves bitmap files that are
compatible with IBM's OS/2.
JPEG
The "Quality" scroll bar controls the output file size and quality.
Higher values will produce better images but larger file sizes.
Conversely, lower values reduce the image quality but result in
smaller file sizes.
The "Baseline" check box is for applications that require this
option for JPEG files. Consult the documentation that came with
your JPEG-supported applications to see if this option is required.
This option is typically enabled.
PICT
You can specify whether a "MacBinary" header will be added to saved
files. Enabling this option allows hassle-free cross-platform
creation of PICT files via network. If you will be transferring the
PICT files via DOS-formatted floppy, disable this option.
SGI RGB
The "8 bits" option will force data being saved to be 8-bit, even
if it is not. Conversely, the "16 bits" option will force 16-bit
files. The "Automatic" option will always save the image as 8 bits.
Targa
You have the option of outputting 5 bit (Targa 16) or
8 bit (Targa 24/32) color files, as well as enabling file
compression. Having compression disabled will create larger files
on disk.
TIFF
If Compression is set to "None", image data will not be compressed
and can produce large file sizes.
Setting Compression to "LZW" will produce the smallest files, but
as LZW compression is a recent addition to the TIFF specification,
some applications might not be able to recognize them.
Setting Compression to "RLE" (Run Length Encoded) will produce
relatively small files. This compression scheme is fairly portable
amongst TIFF applications.
Wavefront
The "Color Depth" option work similarly to the SGI RGB's color
depth controls.
The "Gamma" control is intended for cross-platform applications
that require this value be set. Consult the documentation that came
with your Wavefront application to see if this value needs to be
adjusted. Typically, this value can stay at its default value.
Video for Windows
There are many compression options available for Video for Windows.
You can get information about the compression types by clicking
their respective About buttons. You will need to contact the
developers of the compressors for specific information about them.
YUV
The "NTSC" button will save images in NTSC video format (720x486).
The "PAL" button will save them in PAL video format (720x576).
Images will either be padded with black or cropped.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using TransJammer as an image format/size converter
TransJammer is not only a powerful tool for creating transitions and other
effects--it can also be used as an image format converter, taking your
image files and converting them between image formats. This is done using
the "passthru.er" TransJammer effect project, as follows:
To build an AVI file from single images
---------------------------------------
1. Select the "passthru.er" effect from the Available Effects list.
If you do not see the "passthru.er" effect listed, make sure the Select
Effects Directory is set to the "tj_projs" subdirectory within the
directory Elastic Reality was installed (by default, "c:\ereality").
2. Place all of the single images in the A-roll.
Click the Select Images button and insert all of the images you wish to
merge into an AVI file into the A-roll. Choose Accept from the File menu
when done.
3. Specify the output options, using Video for Windows as the output
format.
Click the Output Options button and specify the output format named
"Video for Windows". Adjust the other settings as necessary. Consult the
on-line help for detailed descriptions of each control.
Click the OK button when done.
4. Click Go!
Each of the images in the A-roll will be read and, in turn, written to
the AVI file you've specified.
To bust an AVI file into single images
--------------------------------------
1. Select the "passthru.er" effect from the Available Effects list.
2. Place the AVI file in the A-roll and remove unwanted frames from being
processed.
Click the Select Images button and insert the AVI file. Use the Sequence
Editor's Make Stamp command (under the Image menu) to view specific
frames, then use the Cut command (under the Edit menu) to remove
unwanted frames from the conversion process. In fact, you can use the
Copy and Paste commands to rearrange frames for processing.
Choose Accept from the File menu when done.
3. Specify the output options, using a single image format (such as BMP,
Targa, etc.) as the output format.
Click the Output Options button and specify the single image format from
the drop-down list box. Adjust the other settings as necessary. Consult
the on-line help for detailed descriptions of each control.
Click the OK button when done.
4. Click Go!
Each of the AVI frames in the A-roll will be read and, in turn, written
to the image format you specified.
To batch convert image file formats and sizes
---------------------------------------------
The same techniques listed above can be applied to any image format,
whether single or animation.
Also, by using the controls in the Output Options dialog box, you can even
specify a different image size and color depth and color reduction method
(if the output image format supports them), for the processed files!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TransJammer's Control menu
TransJammer's Control menu (click the box in the upper-left corner of its
window) now contains "About TransJammer" and "Play Movie" commands.
"About TransJammer" displays the About window for TransJammer, showing the
version number, copyright information, and licensing information of this
copy of TransJammer.
"Play Movie" launches the Windows Media Player application, similar to the
Play Movie command under Elastic Reality's Render menu.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additions made to the WIN.INI file
During the Elastic Reality setup, the following additions were optionally
made to your WIN.INI file:
[programs]
er.exe=C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS\ER.EXE
trnsjmmr.exe=C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS\TRNSJMMR.EXE
The path ("C:\EREALITY") to the "PROGRAMS" directory containing the ER.EXE
and TRNSJMMR.EXE programs may be different, depending upon where you
installed the software.
These additions were done to be able to open an Elastic Reality project
file from the Windows File Manager by double-clicking its name. Note that
each project file launched in this way will start a new copy of Elastic
Reality.
NOTE: The WIN.INI file will be copied as WININI.ERI before these additions
are made.
Elastic Reality does not alter your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uninstalling the Elastic Reality package
Elastic Reality has been designed to affect the minimum number of system
files. As such, uninstallation is very straightforward.
To uninstall Elastic Reality, TransJammer, and all of their support files,
do the following:
-- If the files were installed in a new directory, simply delete that
directory.
-- If the files were installed in an existing directory containing files
from other applications, delete the following subdirectories of that
directory (denoted as "[DIR]" below):
[DIR]\ER_PROJS
[DIR]\HIIP
[DIR]\IMAGES
[DIR]\OUTPUT
[DIR]\PROGRAMS
[DIR]\SHAPES
[DIR]\TJ_PROJS
You should also remove the "er.exe=" and "trnsjmmr.exe=" lines from the
WIN.INI "[programs]" section, as described previously in "Additions made
to the WIN.INI file".
There is also a CTL3D32.DLL located in the SYSTEM subdirectory of your
WINDOWS directory that was copied there during the Elastic Reality
installation. This DLL allows Elastic Reality and TransJammer to have the
3-dimensional look to their dialog boxes. Although you can remove this
file, some of your other applications might also make use of it.
The last portion you would need to remove is the "Elastic Reality" program
group.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes for The ASDG Abekas Driver users
If you own The ASDG Abekas Driver, the HIIP modules included with the
Elastic Reality package are newer and slightly incompatible. Contact our
Sales department at (608) 273-9240 to make arrangements for an update to a
fully-compatible version of The ASDG Abekas Driver.
In the mean time, if you want to use Elastic Reality properly, you must
unset the HIIP environment variable. Do this from the DOS prompt (exit
Windows first), by typing the following command:
SET HIIP=
If you will be using Elastic Reality more than The ASDG Abekas Driver, you
might want to comment out the line setting the HIIP environment variable in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that you don't have to remember to type the above
command everytime you want to use Elastic Reality.
===========================================================================
Additional Copyrights, Licenses, and Credits
(For Technology Included With This Product)
Tag Image File Format Library
Copyright (c) 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 Sam Leffler
Copyright (c) 1991, 1992 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its
documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
(i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all
copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam
Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or
publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written
permission of Stanford and Silicon Graphics.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS,
IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY
DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR
NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
SOFTWARE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This software [the JPEG modules] is based in part on the work of the
Independent JPEG Group.
===========================================================================
Troubleshooting
Installing the Application
--------------------------
PROBLEM:
Running the Freecell program gives one of the following error
messages:
File Error: Cannot find OLECLI.DLL
Win32s - Error:
Improper installation. Win32s requires WIN32S.EXE and
WIN32S16.DLL to run. Reinstall Win32s.
Win32s - Error:
Improper installation. Win32s requires w32s.386 in order to
run. Reinstall Win32s.
Error: Cannot find file freecell.exe (or one of its
components)...
Unexpected DOS Error 21
or Freecell locks up the machine, corrupts the display, or doesn't
show any game cards.
CAUSE:
The number one problem with getting the Elastic Reality package
installed is getting Win32s properly installed first. This might
happen if there is a mix of old and new versions of the Win32s
DLLs or Win32s was not completely installed.
If the machine locks up, then there might not be enough DOS
memory available for Win32s applications to run.
If the machine corrupts the display or Freecell doesn't show its
game cards, there might be an incompatibility with Win32s and your
video driver and current video mode.
SOLUTION:
If the machine corrupts the display, try a different video mode
or use the standard Microsoft (VGA or SVGA) video driver(s).
If the machine locks up or if changing the video driver did not
solve the problem, try using the DOS command (memmaker /batch) or,
if you are using a third-party memory manager, using the
appropriate memory optimization program to optimize memory usage.
NOTE: If your CONFIG.SYS file defines multiple configurations,
consult your DOS manual for specific information on using memmaker
or similar utility with multiple configurations.
If none of the above solve the problem, uninstall then
reinstall Win32s. To properly uninstall Win32s, do the following:
-- If you have a printer driver from LaserMaster, delete it or
comment it out as it interferes with the Win32s installation. Then,
reboot the computer, reinstall Win32s, then reinstall the printer
drive or remove the comment characters.
-- Edit all occurrences of "Setup=1" to "Setup=0" in the file
called "WIN32S.INI" in your "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory (or
whichever drive the "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory is located). You
can either do this from your favorite text editor or from the File
Manager. What this does is tells the installation program that
Win32s is not installed on the system (even though it is). This
will allow Win32s to be reinstalled properly.
-- Remove the Win32s VxD (virtual device)line from the [386Enh]
section of the SYSTEM.INI file:
device=c:\windows\system\win32s\w32s.386
-- Delete the W32SYS.DLL and WIN32S16.DLL from the SYSTEM
subdirectory of the WINDOWS directory. Also delete all files in the
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WIN32S subdirectory.
-- Make sure that paging is enabled. From the Control Panel, select
the 386 Enhanced icon, click the Virtual Memory button, then click
Change. Verify that the drive type is not set to none--set it to
either temporary or permanent (permanent is preferred).
-- Make sure that SHARE is enabled by making sure the following
line is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (not appropriate if running
under Windows for Workgroups):
C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE
Finally, reboot the machine, restart Windows, and reinstall Win32s.
If you still get errors after running Freecell, contact Technical
Support for further assistance.
PROBLEM:
The FreeCell program doesn't run at all or does run but causes
the display to be corrupted. Also, you have an S3-type video card
running with a resolution of 1024x768 and 256 colors.
CAUSE:
There is a known incompatibility between Win32s and the S3
driver.
This problem can also arise from incompatibilities between the
drivers in Win32s and the video drivers in these video cards:
Number Nine GXE (both ISA and VLB flavors). We are testing
compatibility with other video drivers and will update this list
when more information is available.
SOLUTION:
The workaround is to change the following line in the "display"
section of the SYSTEM.INI file from:
APERTURE-BASE=100
to:
APERTURE-BASE=0
NOTE: If your SYSTEM.INI file did not already contain the
APERTURE-BASE= line, then you do not need to add it.
The workaround for the Number Nine GXE cards is to run Windows at
640x480 or to use the generic driver. This is a known problem
in Win32s and a fix from Microsoft is in the works.
The S3 driver version 1.3 does not have these problems.
PROBLEM:
The Elastic Reality package was reinstalled, but now the Elastic
Reality program group has two sets of Elastic Reality and
TransJammer icons, but only one Elastic Reality ReadMe icon.
CAUSE:
This is a known bug in the Microsoft Setup program which will
not replace program item icons if the existing ones have a
Working Directory specified. Elastic Reality and TransJammer
specify working directories so that the project files are
immediately visible.
SOLUTION:
If the software was reinstalled in the same directory as the
existing programs, which means that their working directories
are the same, then delete one of the sets.
If the software was reinstalled in a different directory, then
delete the previous set of icons.
Starting the Application
------------------------
PROBLEM:
You are experiencing segment load failures when running Windows or
Elastic Reality and TransJammer won't run.
CAUSE:
You might want to check that you are allocating enough file
handles for DOS. The number of file handles determines how many
files Windows can have "open" or in use at one time. It is better
to have more than enough file handles allocated than not enough.
Due to the demands placed on your system by Win32s, the default
number of file handles might be too low. Also, the amount of
used DOS memory may be substantial. These demands are evident by
simply running the example Win32s application, Freecell.
SOLUTION:
To change the number of file handles allocated, you need to modify
your CONFIG.SYS file. You might want to use the SYSEDIT command
from Windows to do so.
In CONFIG.SYS, change the number on the FILES= line to a value of
50 or higher.
PROBLEM:
TransJammer causes a General Protection Fault or Page Fault
(Win32xxxx) on startup.
CAUSE:
Check to make sure that you have installed Win32s from the disks
that came with the Elastic Reality package. These types of errors
can be caused by a mix of old and new Win32s DLLs.
SOLUTION:
Do a complete uninstallation of Win32s (as described previously
in this Troubleshooting section), then reinstall Win32s from the
Elastic Reality disks.
PROBLEM:
You get an Access Violation in POINTER.DLL (GROWSTUB) when
starting the application.
CAUSE:
You are probably using the Microsoft mouse driver, version 9.01
or earlier.
SOLUTION:
Version 9.01b of the Microsoft mouse driver fixes this problem.
In the interim, simply comment out or remove the line referencing
POINTER.EXE from your WIN.INI file. NOTE: Do not adjust the mouse
settings after commenting out or removing the POINTER.EXE line.
Otherwise, the line will be added to WIN.INI, causing the problem
again.
PROBLEM:
You get a "Can't find BUFIO.DLL" message when running Elastic
Reality.
CAUSE:
The working directory for Elastic Reality is invalid or Elastic
Reality's DLLs cannot be found in the path.
SOLUTION:
Update Elastic Reality's program icon to have a Working Directory
of C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS (or in whatever directory the ER.EXE
program is located). If this doesn't solve the problem, add the
C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS subdirectory to your current PATH statement
in AUTOEXEC.BAT (do this outside of Windows).
PROBLEM:
I have installed everything without any problems, but when I try to
run any 32-bit application, I get an "Insufficient Memory" error
message.
CAUSE:
Windows is using most of or all of your conventional (DOS) memory,
most likely because you have a large number of drivers installed,
or are using memory-intensive resident applets, such as using
wallpaper on your desktop or having a multimedia application (that
attaches sounds to Windows events) running.
SOLUTION:
You need to free up as much conventional memory as possible by
removing old or unused drivers (do this from the Drivers applet in
the Control Panel) or by disabling any multimedia programs that are
running in the background. This can be done by taking their icon
out of the Start Up program group, or by taking them out of the
load=/run= lines in your SYSTEM.INI file, then restarting Windows.
NOTE: There also have been occurrences of low memory errors on
systems with 16 or more megabytes of memory and running a
third-party memory manager. If this is happening to you, try using
the DOS command memmaker or, if you are using a third-party memory
manager, using the appropriate memory optimization program to
optimize memory usage.
NOTE: If your CONFIG.SYS file defines multiple configurations,
consult your DOS manual for specific information on using
memmaker or similar utility with multiple configurations.
You can also try performing a clean boot of your system (by
pressing F5 when you see the "Starting MS-DOS..." text) or try
using "clean boot" files similar to the ones below). Then try
running Freecell or Elastic Reality again. If this does not help,
please contact Technical Support to report it.
Example "clean-boot" CONFIG.SYS file:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=UMB
FILES=60
BUFFERS=10
STACKS=9,256
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(Add any lines that you might feel are appropriate, but remember,
the goal is to use as little conventional memory as possible, so
try not to put in any drivers that are not needed for this test.)
Example "clean-boot" AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PROMPT $P$G
@ECHO OFF
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS
LH C:\DOS\SMARTDV.EXE /X 512 512
SET TEMP=<temp-directory-location>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(Replace the "C:\EREALITY\PROGRAMS" path with the path to the
"PROGRAMS" directory within the Elastic Reality software directory.
Add any system specific sets or drivers you may need here, such as
your DOS mouse, video mode settings, etc.)
Using the Application
---------------------
PROBLEM:
No image files are being recognized by Elastic Reality. Even the
tutorial images are not being recognized. Elastic Reality is giving
a HIIP error launching the loader module.
CAUSE:
Check to see that you are not using old versions of the Win32s
DLLs. A few applications do use older versions of Win32s that will
not operate properly with Elastic Reality, such as Vista Pro(tm),
RealSoft's/Activa International's Real3D(tm) application and The
ASDG Abekas Driver.
An easy way of finding out which version of Win32s is installed is
to check the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WIN32S.INI file for the version
strings. The version of Win32s included with the Elastic Reality
package is 1.15 or later. If you have 1.1 or earlier, then it is an
old version.
An easy way of finding out whether images can load properly into
Elastic Reality is to see if, on startup, the startup/splash screen
appears. Elastic Reality uses HIIP to load the splash screen, so if
that's failing, then stamp creation and image loading would
probably fail as well.
SOLUTION:
Reinstall Win32s using the Microsoft-instructed method (as
described previously in this Troubleshooting section).
PROBLEM:
No mixed image appears when you attempt to move the mix scroll bar.
CAUSE:
You are probably low on memory. This will be evident because the
A-roll image is only visible when the mix scroll knob is left of
center and the B-roll image is only visible when it's right of
center.
SOLUTION:
Try using lower resolution images, specify a lower resolution for
the Edit window images (done by specifying a Custom Project Image
Size in the Image preferences dialog box), exit other currently
running applications, or install more memory.
PROBLEM:
You get a System Error, Sharing violation on drive <drive-letter>
when rendering a project in Video for Windows (AVI) format.
CAUSE:
The AVI file being saved to is probably open or being accessed by
another application, such as Media Player. Simply closing the
movie playback window does not close the file.
SOLUTION:
Close the AVI file from the other application until rendering in
Elastic Reality has completed.
PROBLEM:
You selected a TransJammer effect which requires two rolls and have
selected the images you want to use, but the Output Options button
is still disabled.
CAUSE:
If TransJammer requires two rolls, the Sequence Editor must only
contain images in two rolls, not one or three.
SOLUTION:
Click the Select Images button and place images in the proper
number of rolls.
PROBLEM:
I tried to use the Reverse command in the Sequence Editor, but
nothing happened.
CAUSE:
There is a known bug with version 1.0 (the first version) of
Elastic Reality not being able to reverse cells if the last cell
in a roll was selected.
SOLUTION:
The Reverse command will work if you select all but the last cell
in a roll. So, to reverse all the cells, just reverse all but the
last cell, then move the last cell to the beginning of the roll.
This command has been fixed in version 1.01.
PROBLEM:
I had a closed shape with more than four correspondence points, but
when I broke the shape open there were only four.
CAUSE:
Whenever you break open a shape, the number of correspondence
points is reset to four. Also, some of the correspondence points
are repositioned.
SOLUTION:
Replace the number of correspondence points and reposition them in
the intended locations along the shape. The edge density of the
shape is not changed at all when a closed shape is opened.
PROBLEM:
I broke open a closed shape that had a user edge connecting one of
its correspondence points to another shape's correspondence points,
but now I get a "CoPoint index not found." message anytime I try
to work with the project.
CAUSE:
This message will appear if the closed shape that was opened had
more than four correspondence points and a user edge was connected
to one of the correspondence points. This is a known bug and will
be addressed in a future version.
SOLUTION:
Currently, you must delete the shape that you opened, redraw it,
replace the added correspondence points, and reattach the user
edge.
PROBLEM:
I changed some settings in the Video for Windows Configuration
dialog box for a particular CODEC, but they were not used. When I
opened the dialog box again, they were reset to the default values.
CAUSE:
The Video for Windows Configuration dialog box settings are
currently ignored and not used at all, so changing them will have
no effect upon the resulting images. This is because these controls
require that the AVI file being created be already open at the time
you adjust them. Because ER works with the file at a later date,
using these settings is not possible at this time. In other words,
the way these configurations are intended to work doesn't allow
settings to be saved for use at a later time, which is what ER
requires.
SOLUTION:
There is no current solution to this problem. All configuration
settings will be ignored. Until the time comes when an application
can set these settings before opening the AVI file, there is no
solution.
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