Vista Capable?

[moshe]

I bought a new HP laptop with 2 G RAM mainly to use for Anime Studio Pro 5.5 - which was advertised as Vista capable.

I constantly get kicked out of this program [even when just adding some bone functionality to make the eyes blink to my existing animation] and receive the error 'Anime Studio 5.5 has stopped working. A probem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close.'

This is exremely frustrating as I cannot get my work done.

Any suggestions? Any upgrade to fix this issue? It happens extremely often.

Thanks!

[areyouguystwins]

I bought a new HP laptop with 2 G RAM mainly to use for Anime Studio Pro 5.5 - which was advertised as Vista capable.

I constantly get kicked out of this program [even when just adding some bone functionality to make the eyes blink to my existing animation] and receive the error 'Anime Studio 5.5 has stopped working. A probem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close.'

This is exremely frustrating as I cannot get my work done.

Any suggestions? Any upgrade to fix this issue? It happens extremely often.

Thanks!

Hey! I thought I was the only one who constantly receives that error message!

BTW, I also have a new Vista system with 2 gig of RAM and I use Anime 5.5.

Unfortunately I know your pain quite well, after having used Anime these past ten months on my Windows systems (XP and Vista). I don't think the Anime crashing problem is solely a Vista issue, as I have the same problem on my XP machine.

I thought I had found the culprit a few weeks ago -- whenever I imported an image or Anime file under a main switch layer, the program would have a tendency to crash -- "stop working." But over the past couple of weeks it even crashes when I am doing nothing. One time it crashed after I opened the program and before I opened any Anime file. Pretty sad.

The answer?

I don't have one. I have written on this board before about the crashing issue on Windows XP and Vista and no one has been able to narrow it down to any one offender. So I put up with it. CTRL S is automatic with me every 30 sec to 1 minute whenever I use Anime. I never know when the program is "going to stop working." It is so random even I (a software tester in my previous incarnations) can't figure out what I am doing wrong.

I believe it is a bug. I honestly believe Anime was not really designed for Windows -- it is more of a Mac "thing." But only the developer(s) can say for sure why we both have continual crashing issues with the software on Windows systems.

I won't hold my breath waiting for any help from the "developer(s)" of Anime.

Oh well, for a couple hundred bucks, I guess I can't complain if the software has a tendency to crash a couple times a day.

[slowtiger]

Saving every minute is (or should be) common professional behaviour in any software, regardless of OS.

[FCSnow]

How long is the animation you're working on?

I also run with Vista (not my favorite OS), and have a similar problem, but only when the animation get over a minute long, ASP seems to get unstable beyond a certain number of frames. If you wait long enough, the program will recover, atleast for me. But this requires infinite patiences.

You can try making your animations short as they would appear in a storyboard and assemble them in a different program such as MS Movie Maker (not my first choice but it's all I have right now) or similar program.

If, like me, you like to make cartoons to sync with music, you almost have to use ASP and make one big file and suffer with the lock-ups (save often). You can make the scenes short and use MS Movie Maker, but timing becomes critical.

I was wondering if there is a similar problem with othe OSs such as Linex?I have read that Apple users have their own kind of problem runnung ASP.

Good Luck
FCSnow

[slowtiger]

I'm working on Mac and experience AS crashes when I forget to save often, especially if I do some amount of point motion. My files are in the range of 1 to 8 MB, which is pretty large for AS, but they may hold up to 10 characters completely done in vector, so it's a quite big amount of points.

[areyouguystwins]

How long is the animation you're working on?

I also run with Vista (not my favorite OS), and have a similar problem, but only when the animation get over a minute long, ASP seems to get unstable beyond a certain number of frames. If you wait long enough, the program will recover, atleast for me. But this requires infinite patiences.

For ourselves, we usually work on 1-2 minute long animations per Anime file. Therefore we average between 1400 and 2800 frames per file. That is why we bought Anime Pro, because prefer to work with longer animation files and Anime Pro "supposedly" supports files longer than 3000 frames.

But yeah, that could be a good theory why Anime crashes a lot for us. Of course as I stated above, I had Anime crash on me after I opened the program and BEFORE I opened one of my 1-2 minute files -- so I don't know if longer Anime files is the main culpit of the crashing issue on Windows systems.

I have also had crashing when I had a 72 frame file opened (one of my character files).

You can try making your animations short as they would appear in a storyboard and assemble them in a different program such as MS Movie Maker (not my first choice but it's all I have right now) or similar program.

The preferred method for most animators. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I like the ability to do all my animation/editing in one program -- Anime. Another reason we bought the program.

If, like me, you like to make cartoons to sync with music, you almost have to use ASP and make one big file and suffer with the lock-ups (save often). You can make the scenes short and use MS Movie Maker, but timing becomes critical.

Yes, that is how we animate -- to soundtracks which include voices and sound effects. Therefore the timing is critical and it is much easier to animate all in one program -- Anime -- than to have to splice together lots of little pieces later on in an editing program. I haven't found any decent editing program for my tastes -- so we do all of our shots/editing/effects in Anime for each of our scenes export a mov file and compile later in Windows Movie Maker. Not my favorite program either, but it does the job.

I was wondering if there is a similar problem with othe OSs such as Linex?I have read that Apple users have their own kind of problem runnung ASP.

I haven't heard of any similar crashing problem in Linux or on Macs -- at least not on this forum. Anime is a good program --when it's not crashing. The ability to animate over 3000 frames (although not recommended) is a plus in my opinion -- I just wish the developer(s) would improve upon the software and tackle some of the bugs. Or at least look into them.

[slowtiger]

I had Anime crash on me after I opened the program and BEFORE I opened one of my 1-2 minute files

This clearly shows that the problem doesn't depend on file size. This is seriously fucked-up behaviour and mostly due to a faulty installation of something - the application, the OS, some drivers, whatever. Unfortunately it could be virtually anything.

I must admit that this happens to me once in a while even on Mac - and this is new because it didn't happen that often under Mac OS-before-X.

[heyvern]

There is yet ANOTHER very very important rule of thumb:

Never change OS's or software versions in the MIDDLE of a project. If it aint broke don't fix it.

I know that Vista is new and exciting, I know everyone wants a new computer, I know it says it is Vista compatible... but if AS is working on one system and you change it and can't "go back" and it stops working and it is a big problem there is no one to blame but yourself. If you want to get a new computer keep the old one running. If you want to upgrade the OS prepare tor the inevitable crashing of software. If you run a business buy a NEW computer to test the new system. You can write off that expense.

If you are in the middle of a project or run a business that relies on the stability of the OS and the software, and everything is working fine... you don't change it. A lot of businesses have already made the decision to NEVER switch to Vista. You have get use to the fact that in the beginning of a new OS life cycle you are going to have problems.

I would suggest posting this issue in the "bugs" forum. No one in charge of AS is going to look through all the general forum posts for possible bugs... they will look in the bugs forum. They will also look for bugs that effect the most people. The more people who post there the more attention it will get.

You can't seriously be surprised or angry that software crashes on a brand new OS that has been eviscerated in the press for being slow and buggy as heck. Wait for the service pack, maybe things will get better.

-vern

[areyouguystwins]

You can't seriously be surprised or angry that software crashes on a brand new OS that has been eviscerated in the press for being slow and buggy as heck. Wait for the service pack, maybe things will get better.

Huh? Are you talking to the original poster or to me?

I have stated numerous, numerous times here on the forum that Anime crashes on XP also. I have two separate XP computers and I get the same error messages in Anime on THOSE computers as I do on my Vista computer.

I do not believe it is solely a Vista problem. The Vista service pack isn't going to make Anime run any better, as I can't get it to run correctly on XP.

Should I go back to Windows 95?

As to the "developers" not reading the general forum -- well, that's their loss. They can get a lot of "free" testing advice from people here who actually use Anime -- regardless if it is under the bugs section or the general section.

If I was developing Anime you bet I would make it a habit to read as much of the discussions that go on here -- not just the "bugs" section.

But hey, that's just me.

Anyway, back to animating...

[mkelley]

Good advice, Vern.

I've been using PCs for nearly 30 years now and was always an early adopter... until Vista. Something really smelled with it, and I'm not sure I'll ever switch from XP (I even bought a new computer and made sure it would NOT have Vista on it), at least until I have no other choice.

Unless and until you get software that will *only* run on Vista I can't see any possible reason to use it -- XP is about the most stable Windows there is and it works just fine (and so do my 3000+ frame AS animations in it).

When most programs (and computers) are 64bit there will be compelling reasons to change your operating system -- my gut tells me, however, that at that time it won't be Vista (I'm guessing Vista will mostly be remembered as the Win'98 of 64 bit systems).

[heyvern]

I have stated numerous, numerous times here on the forum that Anime crashes on XP also. I have two separate XP computers and I get the same error messages in Anime on THOSE computers as I do on my Vista computer.

Mine was a general comment. I don't know about XP problems but if you ARE having trouble you really should post in the "bugs" forum. The reason they have a bugs forum is so someone doesn't have to read through every forum section to find a mention of a problem. They can go to one place. It is YOUR loss if they don't read all the forum posts to find one bug report. Posting about problems over and over in various forum categories doesn't mean anyone important will see it.

There are actually very few bug reports regarding this issue with XP or Vista in the bugs section. You've got to post it there although I can't guarantee anyone reads that either. My guess is that "they" know about this problem already. It may be that "they" are working on it for the next release. Anime Studio, the software "ping-pong ball" is still in transition.

I don't for a minute mean to excuse anyone from responsibility for a buggy application that crashes. I only want to point out that if you change your OS and your software version during a project with a deadline, and you have no way to "go back" some of the responsibility for your frustration is on you (not you specifically but the general "you").

XP has been out for ages. It would seem to me that nearly EVERYONE here running AS on windows is using XP and yet I really haven't heard that many complaints about it regarding Anime Studio crashing. I know people with AS and have used it on their XP machines. I haven't pushed it so far like doing 3000+ frame animations (this would seem to be the likely culprit in my opinion) but still it seems to run on most XP systems or there would be much more complaints about it.

I hope they fix the problem really soon. I understand and commiserate with your frustration. We've all been there. But I have learned through experience to NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER change my OS or upgrade software until I'm on vacation and all of my current projects are at a point that some down time won't mess me up. Last time I updated my Mac OS I had two computers running in tandem. took me ages to switch over.

When I get a new PC I plan to keep the old one running right along side just in case (it's my "intranet" server anyway).

-vern

[dueyftw]

I think that the problem can be unrealistic performance of the virtual memory. If you haven't all ready, go in and change it to the max. 4096

Changing the setting to system cache also might help.

These changes should do no harm.

Dale

[moshe]

Thanks to all of you for your replies...as suggested... I'll repost in the Bugs forum...

TO FC snow: I'm combining small animations. Sometimes I do not even have to make any more than 1 change and the program crashes.

TO mkelley and heyvern: I did not select Vista. I started with animations a few months ago, and bought a new computer for doing it. All computers that I've seen come with Vista now. Not really by choice.

[DarthFurby]

I've been using Anime Studio Pro on Vista Home Premium for the past 7 months with no issues whatsoever. I am running it on a 3 ghz, 1 GB ram intel pentium machine with an ATI graphics card(don't remember which but it's hardly top of the line.)

Not sure what's causing the problem but you might either have a buggy install of Vista, or a buggy install of Anime Studio.

[heyvern]

All computers that I've seen come with Vista now. Not really by choice.

There is a choice. You can still buy new computers with XP from some vendors. Microsoft extended the availability and support for XP due to ongoing issues with Vista:

http://www.news.com/2100-1016-6210524.html?tag=yt

Most of the chip heads and computer nerds I know recommend buying a new computer with XP rather than Vista. I am aware that many Vista users have had no problems... I am only passing on information I know first hand from others who have more experience than myself. If someone who builds their own computers from scratch says I should stick with XP for now... I will stick with XP.

You could always buy a copy of XP and switch back to Vista later when it is working better.

-vern