Thanks very much for the replies guys. Just wanted to let you know some more about my problem. I'm using a pc 800 Mhz and 128 RAM. I'm using the standard Microsoft movie 1 compression. I am sure that the key frames are not the problem and I have still not had the chance to render it with smaller ratios. But can the comression be the problem?

It sounds like memory allocation. If you don't have enough alloted to your movie player, it's gonna jerk like crazy, no matter how big your processor.

ULP, 128MB of RAM, and you're trying to do animations?! My friend, think about getting as much memory as your motherboard can handle, and then try it. And if your motherboard can't handle much memory, you're looking at a new computer. Wow. Ron

I am on a mac but somethings are the same and yes compression can be a problem. Rule of thumb, don't compress untill you are done!!!!! Your first issue really is the low ram. 800 mgh is great, but upgrade the ram. Also the program you render in makes a differance. You can develope in one program, do not compress, dump it in a higher end program and render there and compress if you like what you see. I am 500mgh, 768 ram which I boot up with virtual memory. It is slow going but it works.

I am on a mac but somethings are the same and yes compression can be a problem. Rule of thumb, don't compress untill you are done!!!!! Your first issue really is the low ram. 800 mgh is great, but upgrade the ram. Also the program you render in makes a differance. You can develope in one program, do not compress, dump it in a higher end program and render there and compress if you like what you see. I am 500mgh, 768 ram which I boot up with virtual memory. It is slow going but it works.

Have you made movie files in any other program? Have you played movies made by other people on your compuiter? Jerky movie playback can occur if your machine is sharing IRQ's. If you have anything that insn't plug-n-play in your machine. It might be on the same IRQ as something else. Depending on what OS you run. You can find the IRQ listing for your hardware in the ControlPanel-> System->Device Manager window. Each component should have it's own IRQ. Might want to check that out. ScottA

Ugh, come on folks, you don't do serious work such as animations with only 128MB of RAM. Sorry, friend, but you need more memory. Ron

Oh, Ron, c'mon. 128 isn't the end of the world. The machine I had before my current one had only 96, and it could handle animation work. Granted, slowly, but it could. My current one bops along with 128 and creates broadcast-ready animations... or at least so my post house tells me. It just depends on how you manage things. Sheesh, are we to the point where size matters on everything?

Teehee

There are few enough animators here, we oughtn't be putting people off trying. I managed well with just a 233 laptop and 64 megabytes. As Virtualsite says, it was slow but it taught me the value of forward planning. Admittedly things got a lot easier with more memory and better speed but I still think the best improvement came with a bigger screen.

Getting back to the thread. Forward planning: it sounds like the machine itself isn't capable of playing the movie for whatever reason. I think you're going to have to do the experimenting you perhaps ought to have done before starting out, not helpful I know but these lessons need to be learnt sometime.

And, just in case anyone with a lesser set-up wants to get into animation, look in the lo-res figures folder. These are great to use as templates for your animations and have a very low demand on hardware. When you've got something you like just swap to the final figure to check how it looks (won't work with Vicky though but does work with Eve).

I've been doing animation professionally for 15 years... long enough to realize that you can do whatever you need to do with the equipment and software at hand. However, better equipment and software will make the task easier. There is always the ability to network machines and build a render-farm: even the big movie houses do that!

Ummm. Hauksdottir, now that we're cheek by jowl in this thread, so to speak, are you Icelandic or have you come all over Nordic all of a sudden?

Appreciate the replies! I just got it working with the microsoft video 1 compressorat 720x405. I think the problem was that I had changed the document window size during animating, with out maintaining the ratio. Those of you who have a lot of RAM on your computers; How long does it take for you to render 100 frames of a quite detailed scene at the above ratio (720x405)? I just wanna know 'cause it took almost 2 hours on mine.

Two hours sounds about right. It depends on a lot of factors in each frame: transparencies, number of objects, materials that have to be accessed as texture wraps. But a hundred frames some out to about a minute and a quarter per frame, and I could see where that would be acceptable. Bear in mind that some of the work done on Riven took days per frame, because of the complexity of the scene.

Search for a shareware program called FastMovieProcessor. It works very well and smooths out the animations.

Personally, if you're going to spend money, I recommend getting more memory. Last I checked memory is dirt cheap. Get as much memory as your motherboard will handle, then see how everything works. Ron

saxon, All of a sudden? I got my degree in "Early Scandinavian Culture" 30 years ago. My name changed when I divorced my husband 20 years ago because I didn't want his name or my father's name... for quite good reasons. I'm 5'10" with blond braids below my waist and the high cheekbones of the Norse, so there is no way that I could hide my ancestry even if I chose to disregard it. How about you? Carolly

Hmm... I've been savouring that image. I'm aware of the naming system of Icelandic peoples, quite why I have no idea, lost in the dim and distant past no doubt. I admire your independance. As for me, I'm a Brit 6' 2" and since I now live in Wales, stand out like a sore thumb! I don't know if if my cheekbones are high or not, if a cross between Donald Sullivan and Tsar Nicholas looks Nordic then maybe some raping and pillaging went on a dozen or so centuries ago. My family name comes from within the Danegeld area but I would rather think that my roots go all the way back to the mesolithic within these islands. Early Scandinavian culture sounds fascinating, my degree was more prosaic.

Since the Vikings settled as well as pillaged their way across the top half of the known world (especially within the Danegeld), you might have a bit of Norse blood... as well as some Pict or other prehistoric tribe. The "Saxons" were a Teutonic people living in continental Europe near the base of Denmark. They made period forays into neighboring countries, partly as a result of pressure from other peoples spreading west. The Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians kept hitting Britain after the Romans faltered and left (about 400AD). It is believed by many scholars that there was a real life Romano-British warlord or commander who defeated the Saxons so thoroughly that it was a hundred years before they returned... and that this led to the "Arthur" myth. At any rate, when the Saxons returned they settled in pretty thoroughly for a few centuries. It wasn't until Aethelred the Rede-less paid the Danes tens of thousands of silver pounds a year, year after year, that the Saxons were doomed. Few nations pay for their own invasion, but Aethelred was a spectacularly awful king. He balanced out the greatness of Alfred. History is so much fun! Your "more prosaic" degree probably was job-worthy. Few can make a living reading musty tomes or tracing patterns along ancient trade routes. Carolly