[Susan Anson]

I have had issues like this. In my case I was able to resolve it by shutting off my Memeo Disk Backup Program in the system tray. It seems that Memeo was seeing a file that was being created and it grabbed the file and tried to archive it off onto my backup disk while the program was still rendering it. I also had an issue where disabling my antivirus and firewall temporarily during the render seemed to affect the outcome for some reason. I wonder if you might have some kind of competing resource that is interfering with your render?

Cheers,

Suzzie

[Susan Anson]

Larry,

I have just had the same issue. Renders would fail after a number of frames and freeze.

For me… I have a backup program called Memeo from Western Digital that is running in the background and it backs up files to an external drive for me so I dont loose any work.

When I disabled the program…then my files would completely render. It seems like Memeo was grabbing the very young and incomplete file and was beginning to save it…and it locks the file.

Strange. But that might be a possible issue for you. Do you have your firewall on or an archive program that is running. Try disabling some background programs and see if your render is released.

[Susan Anson]

Edward, sounds great. Can you give me some step detail how to begin creating these object tracks…I’ve not heard of them before. All I know to do is animate the characters in a single word right now. Thanks, sue.

[Susan Anson]

Hi Topher,

Thanks for the reply. I hear you!

Topher, I was hoping I didnt have to make up a completely registered second set of words…and then have to painstakingly hide them behind… and in register with …the original 2 separate words.

I was hpoing there was some kind of a grouping function… or copying function… or combining function in Animator Pro …that could take the existing 2 elements and group or make them into a single newly combined element.

I can certainly tweek and nudge and fiddle and get a second set of images in perfect register with the original two…and then do the spin and zoom off. The Kerning on the words is so customized that it is challenging to duplicate it again in register.

Anyone else have a way to take two elements on separate tracks…and when they make their final pose…then… combine the two into one complete unit…and then rotate the whole thing… and then fly it off!

Thanks

Suzzie.

[Susan Anson]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the help. Thats perfect advice. And, Thanks for the link also…it was right on.

I got the workflow down for making animated GIF’s out of Zaxwerks now pretty well: Do the desired animation in Zax…Use a frame rate that is close to your final (say 10 frames per sec)…Save it as a Quicktime Movie…then import that into Photoshop CS3. It shows up there in the animation timeline. Use the “Convert Frames into Layers” command in the flyout…Adjust your final frames…then Save it for Web and Devices. That was the part that stumped me! There is NO Animated Gif in the Save As command…It is under the “Save for Web and Devices” choice.

So this is wonderful…Create stunning images in Zaxwerks…then make up killer web banners that are far superior to any you have seen… because of the high quality looks and animations in Zaxwerks. Zax makes a great front end for making animated web banners. Produces some very nice results. Nice Work!

[Susan Anson]

Hi Jon,

Yes it helps…It makes great sense. Thank You!

Is anyone aware how to make a transparent animated GIF in Photoshop CS3? I unloaded CS2 and the Image Ready application unfortunately… and dont want to re-install it.

I tried to import the Pro Animator Movie… and was successful…and I got frames of video just fine…but did not see animated GIF as a “Save As” Choice. Anyone know the CS3 trick?

What I did: I rendered each video frame to a separate layer in the Photoshop CS3 timeline…and it plays back fine in the timeline. But, im stuck because the animated GIF is not an option in the “Save As” menu. Maybe i’ll go over to the Photoshop forum, if there is one here, and ask around.

Thanks,

Suzzie

[Susan Anson]

John,

I appreciate your helpful attitude. Thanks for hanging out around here and offering help to others – I can see many posts with your name on them.

You also replied to another post of mine and offered help there. I will send you the file and appreciate your looking at it.

I guess what my baseline difficulty is – is that im not feeling that there is alot of help and training around. This is one of the few places where I see a zax community – and I appreciate it – but I still have a fairly strong degree of difficulty advancing myself beyond a certain point with the products. I need some holes in my understanding patched up – some of them are quite basic and others are intermediate – like getting good ai import files from illustrator reliably – and that memory error problem Zach is having – I get those quite frequently at the most frustrating and critical times.

When I see a user community like this – I want it to be a great place where you can get real life solutions and insightful help.

Thanks for working a real job and helping us newbies out too!

Now if we all could find out where that odd memory error problem stems from – we would all be a lot saner.

[Susan Anson]

John,

Sorry for the annoyance – didnt mean to be critical on purpose.

I get the memory errors 4 or 5 times a week myself also. It seemed to me that the phrase “memory error” occurred with very high frequency in the posts here with a strong user base represented and good factory presence on line.

This particular memory problem appears somewhat obtuse and occurrs in the strangest places and times in the program. My “theoretical” comment comes from a post that might go like this, “check for one out of of your 200 fonts being corrupt” – as opposed to – a practical user or factory rep saying ” I deleted ariel black italic and Clerendon lite and my problem seemed to go away” or “make sure to double check video drivers with the newest Nvidia boards”. A practical approach might be to mention what to look for in the 200 fonts like zero file sizes or entries that have no corresponding files, for example. Whatever insider, expert, or specific information that could be offered – by users and helpers – is what could make this forum even MORE helpful.

As a newer creative cow user – I might like to make one suggestion that occurrs to me. There are many posts here where a very kind hearted individual says, “send me your file and we will take a look at it”. This is very friendly and helpful – BUT – I rarely find a followup comment back from the helper saying, “we found several un-closed paths that were causing the problem. We were able to solve the problem by completing the line with the pen tool with the control key held down”. Just responding back to the user community AFTERWARD like that would be a great help to those of us with less than excellent proficiency in your products. Seems like the larger, more permanent community is missing some of the benefit of your wonderful help and observations.

I did see – and appreciate – that you were trying to be helpful – no dispute to that.

[Susan Anson]

John,

Thanks for the kind reply. No, I thought I was behind the curve and needed catching up.

This “live Trace” feature in illustrator is phenominal!

I can do a quick scan of a piece of flat artwork or a logo on my scanner then bring the bitmap directly into illustrator. Live trace cleans up the scan, finds the edges, and presents me with vector outlines of the bitmap so that I can adjust the accuracy of the trace. The adjustment controls make it possible to get very accurate and optimized vector points.

My problem is that I have not used illustrator very much before – but now – I see the importance of learning to use it well. Illustrator Live Trace lends itself to Invigerator very well by accurately vectorizing bitmapped graphics.

I used streamline with some success in the past – this Live Trace is 200% better.

Im looking for some specific and narrow help.

When I get my great vector graphic – how do I make sure I get the compound paths that zax wants? The vectors show the “A” and the “hole” in A – but – i have a hard time making that vector outline become a hole in zax.

Try out Live Trace – It is the cleanest – fastest – most accurace vectorizer I have seen thus far. Too bad I dont know vectors that well yet – im a video geek.

[Susan Anson]

Like which fonts? There are a hundred. Any clues – anyone found any specific ones that seemed to help any? Also, how to pick pick out a corrupt font?
Do you do an exercise and type with 20 of them and look for one that has missing characters? Do you look at the file size of all the fonts and delete those that are smaller than 20% of average size?

Someone have a list of suspected fonts?

If this is a main users forum – why dont we get practical here and help one another out. There must be 50 memory error posts here – lets team up together and with the factory and post some real helpful rather than theoretical stuff.