Overview:

This project is for newer users who want to create a nice looking 3D scene and learn about objects, textures, and lighting within Electric Image.
Creating a realistic (or stylized) Planet with Atmosphere in EI is a multi step process:
The planet, clouds, and atmosphere must be created (modeling step).
The models must be surfaced - a combination of object settings, material settings, and texture map settings (surfacing step).
The models must be lit (lighting step).

Having completed the above you will have a Planet with Atmosphere scene that you can merge with your asteroid scene, or your satellite scene, etc.

Finished Project: Download Planet Project

Modeling Steps:

Launch EI - create a NEW project file and call it something like - “Planet”. It’s a good idea to make a new Folder (with an appropriate name) to organize all the assets of this project (model files, texture maps, etc.). Save your new project.

A dialog box pops up asking you if you want to add a model file. Click ‘Cancel’. (Unless you already have a nicely meshed Sphere.fac model somewhere. If so, add that and then proceed.)

Into your EI project add an Ubershape - Sphere. Go to the ‘Plugin’ menu and and scroll down to ‘Uber Shape.plm’. Click to add an Uber Shape plug-in to your project. In the pop up ‘Uber Shape’ dialog box change the ‘Shape Type’ from the default ‘Plane’ to ‘Sphere’. We need lots of mesh resolution to create a smoothly curving planet, especially if you will be rendering close to the planet’s edge rather than far away in space. Increase the EI and Camera resolution from the default 18 (Latitude and Longitude) to 40. The number of Polygons status (lower left of the dialog box) should jump to 1600. For closer angles this will NOT be adequate. For a how to, we will leave it. Be sure to increase polygons as needed for your own project.

Click OK’ to accept. A sphere should appear in the World and Camera windows. From this humble ‘Uber Shape’ all will be created. Currently, our sphere is not yet camera ready. Plug-In geometry is recalculated on every frame and also resists some tricks we will perform upon it later when lighting. We need to export this model and re-import it.

Click on the ‘Sphere’ model to select it. From the ‘Object’ menu, scroll down to ‘Export Object’ and select ‘Native Fact’. Name your model (I called mine “sphere") and export it. A pop up dialog gives you some options, but for something this simple just accept the defaults and click ‘OK’.

Delete your Uber Shape sphere. (Don’t worry, we’ll bring the other model right back!)

From the ‘Object’ menu, select ‘Import Object’. Navigate to your exported sphere and select it. Note the options on the Import Object dialog box. The critical one here is ‘Smooth Shading Angle’. This is the angle between polygons where EI will shade the two faces as a smooth, continuous curve. 40 degrees is too shallow, and our planet will NOT appear smooth. Click and drag over the 40 degree number to select it and type in 89.9. This will cause all edges under 89.9 degrees to be smooth shaded. Those over (like the 90 degree right edges of a cube) will be hard shaded.

Click on ‘Open’ and the box will blink as the model is read in. Click ‘Done’ and the Sphere will reappear in the World and Camera windows. So far so good.

Save Your Project! (Always important).

Almost there. Select your newly added sphere.

From the ‘Window’ menu, scroll down and select ‘Project Window’. (Or press CMD/CTRL ‘l’—This is the most important hot key in EI!)

The Project Window appears showing your sphere highlighted (selected). Click on the Sphere again, and note that a white strip has appeared across the top of the Project Window (below the icons of various EI tools). The name ‘Sphere’ appears in this white data field. Click and drag over it to select, and type to rename your sphere. I called mine “Planet”.

Import your sphere model again. Be sure the Smooth Shading Angle is still set to 89.9 degrees. Rename this model “Clouds”.

Import the sphere again (getting tired yet?), and rename this one “Atmosphere.”

Double click on the ‘Clouds’ object in the Project Window. The ‘Clouds Info’ dialog box will pop up. Since we want the clouds to appear above the planet’s surface, this object should be a bit larger. In the section marked ‘Scale’ click on the ‘Auto Edit Y Z’ tick box. Now we can just enter an ‘X’ scale, and the other two (Y and Z) will follow. Click and drag over the X scale value of 1.0 and change it to 1.01 (after all, we need it just a bit larger). Hit enter to accept.

The Clouds object should expand slightly. Close the dialog box (click on the upper left Close control).

Double click on the ‘Atmosphere’ object in the Project Window. Just like before the ‘Info’ window opens. Change the scale of this object to 1.07. (Did you remember to enable Auto Edit Y Z? Good. We want this Atmosphere object to be larger than the others so we can make a soft, fuzzy edge later with our surfacing.

Close the ‘Info’ dialog box. Save your project.

At this point the modeling step is fairly well done. We could do a few extra things with normal flipping, but let’s save that for the lighting step.

Surfacing Steps:

We will need some texture maps for our planet’s surface and it’s cloud patterns. I got mine from this web site:

Planet Pixel Emporium

This was the first web site listed when I searched for “planetary images spherical maps”. This particular web site offers some low resolution maps available for free. If you need them, you can buy better quality maps here also. I downloaded JPEG files of the Earth, including a Color Map, Cloud Map, and Cloud Transparency Map.

Convert these JPEG’s to the EI Image format (.img). Typically I use Photoshop with Toby Thain’s conversion plug-in:

Telegraphics

JPEG’s might work, but Image format is better.

Before mapping actually starts, we could use a quick change to our lighting. Nothing too drastic, just a start to see how our maps will render.

Open the Project Window and double click on the ‘Light 1’ object to open it’s info window. (You can also double click on the Light Icon in the World or Camera views). On the upper left, change the default Light Type from Radial to Parallel. Click on the ‘Shadow’ tab to bring it forward and click on the ‘Enable Shadow’ tick box to set it. Leave the Shadow Type set at it’s default of ‘Buffer’. Close the Info box.

Click on the Light and drag it around in your scene. I chose the Top View Window to do this in, and swung my light slightly to the left.

Very good.

In the Project Window, note the Check Marks on the far left of the listed objects. These are Visibility Flags. Click on the check mark (Visibility Flags) for the Atmosphere and Cloud objects. The Flags vanish (uncheck) and the objects disappear from view, leaving us with the planet object.

We will start surfacing with this object.

Double click on the Planet object to open it’s Info box. Note the Sphere shaped Material Ball in the upper left. This is not a representation of our object, but it is one way to open the object’s surface or Material Properties. Click on the upper left sphere in the Planet Info box.

The Planet Material box should open. This is where we set basic and advanced surface properties for our planet.

Select the Diffuse Tab to bring the color and diffuse properties forward. Reduce the Diffuse Amount to 0.80. (Nothing is completely, 100% diffuse). Down below in the Diffuse Maps, click on the ADD button. A dialog box titled ‘Select Image/Shader File to Add:’ pops up. Navigate to the Earth color map and select it. (You did put all the converted images into an organized project folder, right? File structure is so important.)

The dialog box closes and now you can see your map loaded in the Diffuse Maps list. Double click on the map name, to open it’s Texture Info window. Here is where you will set the mapping parameters for this image. Click on the Tab marked ‘Projection’ to bring it forward. You should see an image of our mapped planet on the right. It doesn’t look so good right now. Let’s fix that. Under the ‘Map Type’ drop down, change the mapping method from the default ‘Flat’ to ‘Spherical’ (since we’re mapping a sphere!)

Much better. The other settings have been automatically placed for us by EI, and will work just fine here. Close the Texture Info dialog box.

Diffuse amount and color are now okay. Click on the ‘Specular’ tab to bring it forward. Lower the ‘Specular Amount’ all the way to 0. Something the size of a planet doesn’t need to be shiny.

That’s it for the Planet surfacing! Close out all the dialog boxes and if you like, find the icon that looks like a camera in the ‘Camera 1 View’ Window and click it. Scroll down to ‘Window Size’ and let go to render this view of your planet. When the thrill of 3D creation has settled down a bit, close this image window.

Open the Project Window again (remember CMD/CTRL ‘l’). Click on the Visibility Flag for the Planet object to turn it off. Click on the Visibility Flag for the Clouds object so we can begin surfacing it.

Double click on the Clouds object to bring up it’s Info window. Click on the Material Ball (yes there are direct ways to get to the object’s material properties, but we’ll stick with this for now). EI thoughtfully brings up the ‘Cloud Material’ box, with the Specular Tab already forward. (Since that was the tab we used previously.) Turn the Specular Amount all the way down to 0, Clouds aren’t shiny either.

Click on the Diffuse tab to bring it forward. Turn the Diffuse Amount down to 0.80. Same reason as before, nothing is 100% diffuse (ever). For the Diffuse Maps, you got it, click on the ADD button. Navigate to the Earth Cloud map and select it. Once it’s listed in the Diffuse Maps section, double click on the name to bring up the map properties. Again EI thoughtfully shows us the Projection tab (as that’s where we were working last). Change the Map Type from the default of ‘Flat’ to ‘Spherical’, and the clouds snap right to where we need them. Getting easier, as we’ve done this all before. Close the Diffuse Map property box.

Click on the Transparency tab to bring it forward. Here’s where we’ll apply a map to turn the Cloud object transparent so we can see the planet surface below. The map allows the white clouds to stand out, while the clear air turns, well, clear, transparent.

The Transparency Maps list is on the lower left of the dialog box. Click the ADD button and navigate to the Earth Cloud Transparency map. (arthcloudmaptrans.img) Select the map and then click Open to load it. Once again, double click on the map name and change the Map Type to Spherical. Getting easier all the time. Close the Map Info dialog box and using the Camera Icon on the “Camera 1” View Window, render out the scene.

Something’s wrong. The blue colored areas should be clear, and the clouds white. Our transparency map is inverted for our needs. No problem. Close the rendered image and from the transparency maps list, double click on the map name to open it’s Info box. Click on the ‘Filter’ tab to bring that forward. There is a setting marked ‘Invert’ which does exactly what you would think. Click on the tick box to invert the transparency map. Close the Transparency Map info window and re render.

Much better, white clouds. Close that Rendered image, and from the Project Window, turn the Visibility Flag for the Planet Object back on. Render again. Now we’re getting somewhere.

Turn off the Visibility Flags for the Planet and the Clouds. Next up, we surface the Atmosphere. Turn on the Visibility Flag for the Atmosphere object and double click it to bring up it’s Info box. While we have this box open, click on the ‘Shadow’ tab to bring it forward. Uncheck the tick box marked ‘Cast Shadow’, as it really isn’t needed for our transparent Atmosphere. On to surfacing.

Click on the Material Ball to bring up the Atmosphere’s Material Properties.

This one’s a bit special. Here we’ll do some tricky things to make the edge of the Atmosphere fuzzy and soft. Start by turning the Diffuse Amount down to 0.80. To the left of the Diffuse Amount is the Diffuse Color Swatch. Click on it to bring up the Color Picker. Select a nice Blue color. I choose the following H.S.V. values: H 203, S 82, and V 100.0. Anything you like will work (Mars would be orangish!) Click OK to accept this color.

Turn the Specular Amount to 0.

Transparency is where the magic happens. On the right side of the Transparency Tab are the Edge Settings. Increase the Edge Characteristic Amount (the first slider) to FULL. Set the number in the FallOff box to 0.2. Also, below are some radio buttons that tell EI how to process the edges of Transparent objects. Click on the Transparent button to set it.

The material ball in the upper left corner of the Material dialog box should now have a nice soft, fuzzy edge. Of course the middle is completely solid and will block the planet’s surface from view. We’ll fix that with some 3D trickery during the lighting step.

Close the Atmosphere Material dialog box, and SAVE your project.

Lighting Step:

Open the Project Window and click on the Light 1 object to select it. Click on the Menu Item marked ‘Edit’ and scroll down to ‘Duplicate’ to make a copy of our light. You could just press CMD/CTRL ‘d’ (another useful hotkey within EI).

Why two lights? As we noted during the surfacing step, the atmosphere object has a nice fuzzy edge, but the center is solid and will block the planet. One trick to get around this is to ‘Invert the Normals’, which means to turn the Atmosphere object’s polygons inside out. They will face inward, which alone does not help us, but we will also ‘Cull’ the back facing polygons, which turns them invisible. This actually does the trick.

Unfortunately, turning the normals to face inward also throws our lighting out of whack. We’ll fix that by creating two lights, one for the planet and clouds, and another for the atmosphere.

Rename one of our light objects to “Planet Clouds” and the other to “Atmosphere”.

Double click the ‘Atmosphere’ light object to bring up it’s Info dialog box. Click on the light’s ‘X-form’ tab (transformation) to bring it forward. Note the X, Y, and Z position of this light. Since we duplicated this from the original, the data will be the same, and we want the exact opposite. For each value (X, Y, Z) simply add a negative sign (-) in front of any positive numbers, and delete any negative signs to turn those values positive.

In the world view windows note that now our two lights are positioned exactly opposite of each other. Close the Atmosphere light’s info window.

Next we must tell each light to only illuminate certain items in the scene.

In the Project Window select the Planet and Cloud objects. Right click on these items and from the contextual menu that pops up scroll down to ‘Add to Selection Set...’ and choose ‘New Set’. A dialog box will pop up asking you to provide a name. I called mine “Planet Clouds”. Click ‘OK’ to accept. Right click on the Atmosphere object and again scroll to the menu item ‘Add to Selection Set...’ and choose ‘New Set’. I called this second selection set “Atmosphere.” Click ‘OK’ to accept.

Selection Sets are a very powerful tool within EI. They make organizing and working within your project much easier. Here, we will use selection sets to control which objects receive which type of illumination.

In the Project Window, double click on the ‘Planet Clouds’ light object to bring up it’s Info Dialog box. Click on the Properties tab to bring this forward. At the bottom is the ‘Illumination List’ section. Click on the ‘Add’ button and a dialog box showing the available Selection Sets will pop up. Since this is the Planet Clouds light, choose that set and click on Add, to add that set to the list. Also click on the Include radio button to set it. This way, the Planet and Clouds objects will by illuminated by that light.

Close the Planet and Clouds light info box.

In the Project Window, double click on the Atmosphere light object to open it’s Info dialog box. The Properties tab should already be forward. Again add a selection set to the Illumination list, this time the set called ‘Atmosphere’. Click on the Include radio button and close the dialog box.

Almost there.

In the Project Window, double click on the Atmosphere object to bring up it’s Info dialog box. Click on the ‘Shading’ tab to bring it forward. On the right side of this dialog box is a section marked ‘Geometry’. Click on the ‘Cull Backfaces’ and ‘Reverse Normals’ tick boxes check them.

That’s done it! Close all the dialog boxes and Save the project. Position your camera somewhere nice in the scene and render out an image. The atmosphere has a very nice rim glow to it, especially when the planet is half in shadow.

This project could be adjusted to taste of course. Some artists will prefer higher resolution texture maps, others will want minimal atmosphere glow. Right now, moving one of the lights means manually adjusting the position of the other, and rotating or positioning one of the objects could mess up the position of the others. Various nulls, hierarchies, and even Master Lights would make this project more adjustable, but for now, the basics work for your Planet with Atmosphere.

Thanks to the Igors and Ian Waters for assistance with the inverted normals lighting trick for planet atmospheres.

Guide to Electric Image Camera Error Messages
Feb 3, 2005 revised Jun 13, 2008

Almost all errors generated during rendering are given in the form of:

4-character Library Module, Error ID, Error number, File Path

The file path is optional and may not be given. Here is an example:


Camera Error: A system API function has returned an unexpected error
number. Library: ANIO Error ID:10 Error number: 1 File:D:\SharedVolume\Universe\hall_long.fac

The list below gives you the 4-letter Module designations followed by a list of error IDs with their detailed descriptions. The description will tell you what information is stored in the Error Number and if there is a file path given. Look in the table for MBLR, ID: 2. From the description, this error returns the “version number” in the Error Number and gives the file path to the blur buffer.

The ANIO example given above indicates that the file, hall_long.fac, couldn’t be opened for reading. It’s supposed to be located at the path D:\Shared\Volume\Universe\. Better check to make sure it is really there.  Was it moved before rendering to some other location? Was the folder that contained it moved? Is the file on a server that is no longer mounted or available?

Some of these error messages indicate that Camera ran out of memory. Resolve these problems by allocating more memory to Camera. Information on increasing Camera’s memory allocation can be found in the ElectricImage Animator manual, pages 2 and 3.

Many of the errors related to disk drive I/O (input/output) on the Macintosh return a system error value in the Error Number. The common Mac OS/System error numbers are listed and described at the end of this document.

Errors not related to File I/O or Memory allocation can probably not be resolved without help from Electric Image technical support. Please contact us when these problems arise so we can assist you.

All of the Library Modules are common to both Mac and Windows EXCEPT ANIO and MCIO. ANIO is the Windows-specific file I/O library module and MCIO is the equivalent library module on the Mac.

BFIO – Buffered I/O module
1 Camera ran out of memory while creating a new input file.
2 Camera ran out of memory while creating a new output file.
3 Camera read past the end of the file. File path given.
4 Camera read past the end of the file. File path given.
5 Camera read past the end of the file. File path given.
6 Camera read past the end of the file. File path given.
7 Camera read past the end of the file. File path given.

CACB – Cache Buffer
1 Camera ran out of memory creating space in texture cache. Space needed given.

CLCS – Calc Shading
1 Camera ran out of memory creating edge record. Size of record given
2 Camera ran out of memory creating chunk list. Size of list given
3 Camera ran out of memory trimming facet list.
4 Camera ran out of memory trimming facet list.
5 Camera ran out of memory creating facet chunk. Size of chunk given.
6 Camera ran out of memory creating coordinate. Size of chunk given.
7 Camera ran out of memory creating edge list. Size of list given.

CMRA – Camera Main
1 Camera ran out of memory during initialization.
2 Camera ran out of memory during initialization.
3 Version number of display interface doesn’t match Camera’s version.

CTRL – Camera Control File Reader
1 Bad reference position in control file.
2 Camera ran out of memory reading shadow data from file. Memory size given.
3 Camera ran out of memory reading projection lights from file. Memory size given.
4 Camera ran out of memory reading glow lights from file. Memory size given.
5 Camera ran out of memory reading lensflare info from file. Memory size given.
6 Camera ran out of memory reading flare plugin from file. Memory size given.
7 Camera ran out of memory reading flare plugin from file. Memory size given.
8 Camera ran out of memory reading light record from file. Memory size given.
9 Camera ran out of memory reading composite record from file. Memory size given.
10 Bad model reference read from control file. Reference given.
11 Camera ran out of memory reading plugin ctrl record from file. Memory size given.
12 Plugin group hierarchy as read in control file is corrupted.
13 None
14 Camera could not allocate EFX compiler block. Compiler data size given.
15 Camera could not initialize EFX compiler
16 Illegal EFX type
17 Camera could not initialize EFX compiler
18 None
19 None
20 Bad table of contents block offset in control file. Offset given.
21 Bad table of contents block size in control file. TOC size given.
22 Bad file reference table offset in control file. Offset given.
23 Bad file reference table size in control file. Reference size given.
24 Bad serial record offset in control file. Offset given..
25 Bad serial record size in control file. Record size given.
26 Bad override data offset in control file. Offset given.
27 Bad override data size in control file. Data size given.
28 Bad command data offset in control file. Offset given.
29 Bad control file ID in control file. Control ID given.
30 Camera could not allocate file reference block. Block size given.
31 Focal length in control file was less than 0.0 FL given.
32 Zoom factor in control file was less than 0.0 Zoom given.
33 X scaling factor was bad. Factor given.
34 Y scaling factor was bad. Factor given.
35 Blur focal length in control file was less than 0.0 Blur FL given.
36 Blur zoom factor in control file was less than 0.0 Blur zoom given.
37 Blur X scaling factor was bad. Factor given.
38 Blur Y scaling factor was bad. Factor given.
39 Camera didn’t have enough memory to render. Min Mem Size given.
40 None
41 The current frame is greater than the last frame. Current frame given.
42 Camera ran out of memory allocating list terminator. Main frame.
43 Camera ran out of memory allocating list terminator. Mirror or Env Map.
44 Camera ran out of memory allocating list terminator. Temp file.
45 Camera ran out of memory allocating list terminator. Glow layer.
46 Unknown Camera command in control file. Command given.

CVTI – Convert Image Utilities
1 Bad Image file version number in color histogram source. Version given.
2 Bad Image file frame count in color histogram source. Frame count given.
3 Bad frame bit depth. Bit depth given.
4 Bad frame alpha depth. Alpha given.
5 Bad frame packing mode. Packing mode given.
6 Bad frame pixel type.  Type given.
7 Bad frame palette type. Type given.
8 Bad frame background index. Background type given.
9 Bad Image file version number in color translation source. Version given.
10 Bad Image file frame count in color translation source. Frame count given
11 Camera ran out of memory allocating 256 color QT movie list. Frame list size given.
12 Camera ran out of memory allocating conversion buffer 1. Buffer size given.
13 Camera ran out of memory allocating conversion buffer 2. Buffer size given.

GILL – Global Illumination System
1 Could not allocate GI buffer. Allocation size given

GRPR – Group Reading Routines for Control File Reader
1 Bad override block file position in control file. (Does Camera version match Animator?)
2 Bad override block file position in control file. (Does Camera version match Animator?)
3 Bad override block file size in control file. (Does Camera version match Animator?)
Error ID=3 can also occur if not enough RAM has been allocated to Camera.
4 Bad override block file size in control file. (Does Camera version match Animator?)
5 Camera ran out of memory reading light exclusion list. Size of light list given.
6 Camera ran out of memory reading morph target list.
7 Camera could not allocate PFX image processing data. Data size given.
8 Camera ran out of memory reading plugin shader data.
9 Camera ran out of memory reading deformation record. Data size given.
10 None
11 Camera ran out of memory copying deformation record. Record size given.
12 Camera ran out of memory reading deformation record. Record size given.
13 None
14 Camera ran out of memory reading deformation record with blur. Record size given.
15 None
16 Camera ran out of memory reading deformation record. Record size given.
17 None
18 Bad override block type in control file. (Does Camera version match Animator?)
19 Coordinate size mismatch while copying group. Coordinate size given.
20 Camera ran out of memory copying map list. Shader size given.
21 Camera ran out of memory copying group deformation record. Size given.
22 Camera ran out of memory copying group blur deformation record. Size given.
23 Camera ran out of memory creating group record. Record size given.

LENS – Lensflare System
1 Could not open flare plugin connection. System error number given.
2 Could not close flare plugin connection. System error number given.
3 Could not initialize lens flare plugin code. Description given.
4 Could not set up flare plugin. Description and file path given.
5 Could not finish lens flare. Description and file path given.
6 Could not find flare plugin. File path given.
7 Could not process lens flare. Description and file path given.
8 Camera ran out of memory creating flare buffer. Buffer size given.
9 Camera ran out of memory creating light visibility samples. Size given.
10 Lens flare file does not exist. Description and file path given.

MBLR – Motion Blur System
1 Camera ran out of memory expanding blur buffer. Buffer size given.
2 Bad Image file version in blur frame file. Version and file path given.
3 Bad Image frame count in blur frame file. Count and file path given.
4 Bad frame rectangle height in blur frame file. Height and file path given.
5 Frame rectangle width mismatch in blur frame file. Width and file path given.
6 Bad frame rectangle width in blur frame file. Width and file path given.
7 Frame rectangle height mismatch in blur frame file. and file path given.
8 Bad frame size in blur frame file. Frame size and file path given.
9 Frame bit depth mismatch in blur frame file. Depth and file path given.
10 Bad frame type in blur frame file. Type and file path given.
11 Bad frame packing mode in blur frame file. Model and file path given.
12 Bad frame alpha depth in blur frame file. Depth and file path given.
13 Bad frame palette count in blur frame file. Count and file path given.
14 Bad frame type in blur frame file. Type and file path given.
15 Bad frame packing mode in blur frame file. Mode and file path given.
16 Bad frame alpha depth in blur frame file. Depth and file path given.
17 Bad frame palette count in blur frame file. Count and file path given.
18 Bad frame background color in blur frame file. Background and file path given.
19 Bad frame type in blur frame file. Type and file path given.
20 Bad frame packing mode in blur frame file. Mode and file path given.
21 Bad frame alpha depth in blur frame file. Depth and file path given.
22 Bad frame palette count in blur frame file. Count and file path given.
23 Bad frame background color in blur frame file. Background and file path given
24 Bad frame bit depth in blur frame file. Depth and file path given.
25 Camera ran out of memory allocating filter samples. Filter size given.
26 Camera ran out of memory allocating motion blur frame buffer. Buffer size given.
27 Bad image frame count in Gaussian blur frame file. Count and file path given.
28 Bad image frame count in Gaussian blur frame file. Count and file path given.
29 Camera ran out of memory allocating Gaussian blur frame file. Size + file path given

HOST – Plugin Callbacks
1 Plugin face vertex index out of range. Point given.

QTIO – QuickTime File I/O Routines
1 Could not parse movie header. Frame count and file path given.
2 Could not parse movie header. Frame list size given.
3 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
4 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
5 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
6 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
7 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
8 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
9 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
10 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
11 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
12 Could not parse movie header. Size and file path given.
13 Could not parse movie header. File path given.
14 Could not parse movie header. Atom Size and file path given.
15 Could not parse movie header. Depth and file path given.
16 Bad movie data type. Movie data type and file path given.
17 Bad move header offset in movie. Header offset and file path given.
18 Bad movie header size in movie file. Header size and file path given.
19 Camera ran out of memory reading movie header. Header size given.
20 Bad movie header type. IFFType and file path given.
21 Camera ran out of memory reading movie header. Header size given.
22 Bad movie header type. IFFType and file path given.
23 Bad movie file header. File size and file path given.
24 Could not allocate movie resource . Handle size given.
25 Cannot open movie resource file. File path given.
26 Could not create movie resource. System error and file path given.
27 Cannot close resource file. System error and file path given.
28 Camera ran out of memory allocating frame lists. List size given.
29 Could not open standard compression component. System error given.
30 Could not get preview PICT resource. System error given.
31 Could not create tile GWorld. System error given.
32 Could not set test image. System error given
33 Could not set default spatial settings. System error given.
34 Could not set default temporal settings. System error given.
35 Could not set default data rate. System error given.
36 Could not request compression settings. System error given.
37 Could not get user spatial settings. System error given.
38 Could not get user temporal settings. System error given.
39 Could not get user data rate settings. System error given.
40 Cannot close standard compression component. System error given.

QTUT – QuickTime Utility Routines
1 Could not lock of screen GWorld. QDError given.
2 Inconsistent image file width. Width and file path given.
3 Inconsistent image file height. Height and file path given.
4 Bad image file depth. Depth and file path given.
5 Bad image alpha depth. Depth and file path given.
6 Incorrect frame palette count. Count and file path given.
7 Bad frame background index. Index and file path given.
8 Could not open picture file. System error and file path given.
9 Could not get picture file header. System error and file path given.
10 Could not close picture file. System error and file path given.
11 Cannot open movie file. System error and file path given.
12 Cannot make new movie from file. System error and file path given.
13 Could not get movie information. System error and file path given.
14 Could not close movie file. System error and file path given.
15 None
16 Could not import graphics file. System error and file path given.
17 Could not get graphics file description. System error and file path given.
18 Could not set graphics file quality. System error and file path given.
19 Could not set progress proc. System error and file path given.
20 Could not create GWorld. System error and file path given.
21 Could not set graphics file GWorld. System error and file path given.
22 Could not draw graphics file. System error and file path given.
23 Could not close graphics file. System error and file path given.
24 Could not open picture file. System error and file path given.
25 Could not get picture file header. System error and file path given.
26 Could not create GWorld. System error and file path given
27 Could not draw picture file. System error and file path given.
28 Could not close picture file. System error and file path given.
29 Cannot open movie file. System error and file path given.
30 Cannot make new movie from file. System error and file path given.
31 Could not close movie file. System error and file path given.
32 Could not get movie information. System error and file path given.
33 Could not create GWorld. System error and file path given.
34 Could not get movie duration. System error and file path given.
35 Could not set movie GWorld. System error and file path given.
36 Could not set movie rate. System error and file path given.
37 Could not set movie time. System error and file path given.
38 Could not get movie track. System error and file path given.
39 Could not start movie. System error and file path given.
40 Could not draw movie. System error and file path given.
41 Could not stop movie. System error and file path given.
42 Could not open picture file. System error and file path given.
43 Could not open picture file header. System error and file path given.
44 Bad image file version. Version number and file path given.
45 Could not create new movie. System error and file path given.
46 Cannot open movie file. System error and file path given.
47 Cannot get movie from data fork. System error and file path given.
48 Cannot close movie file. System error and file path given.
49 Bad image file width. Width and file path given.
50 Bad image file height. Height and file path given.
51 Could not create movie track. System error and file path given.
52 Could not get movie track. System error and file path given.
53 Could not locate movie video track. Track count and file path given.
54 Could not get movie track dimensions. System error and file path given.
55 Bad image file width. Width and file path given.
56 Bad image file height. Height and file path given.
57 Could not create movie file alias. System error and file path given.
58 Could not create track media. System error and file path given.
59 Could not get track media. System error and file path given.
60 Could not begin media edits. System error and file path given.
61 Camera ran out of memory-image to QT conversion. Buffer size+path given.
62 Cannot create an off screen graphics buffer. System error and file path given.
63 Could not open standard compression component. System error and file path given.
64 Could not set progress proc. System error and file path given.
65 Could not set default spatial settings. System error and file path given.
66 Could not set default temporal settings. System error and file path given.
67 Could not set default data rate. System error and file path given.
68 None
69 Cannot begin movie compression. System error and file path given.
70 Could not draw picture file. System error and file path given.
71 Camera ran out of memory compressing QT frame. Size + file path given.
72 Cannot compress movie frame. System error and file path given.
73 Could not add media sample. System error and file path given.
74 Cannot end movie compression. System error and file path given.
75 Could not end media edits. System error and file path given.
76 Could not insert media into track. System error and file path given.
77 Cannot close standard compression component. System error and file path given.
78 Cannot open movie file. System error and file path given.
79 Cannot get movie from data fork. System error and file path given.
80 Cannot close movie file. System error and file path given.
81 Cannot close picture file. System error and file path given.
82 Could not open output QT sound movie. System error and file path given.
83 Could not get mov ref. from output sound QT mov. System error and file path given.
84 Could not close output sound QT movie. System error and file path given.
85 Could not open input sound QT movie. System error and file path given.
86 Could not get mov ref. from input sound QT mov. System error and file path given.
87 Could not close input sound QT movie. System error and file path given.
88 No sound tracks in the selected sound file. System error and file path given.
89 Could not get sound track. System error and file path given.
90 Could not get sound track media. System error and file path given.
91 Could not create new sound track. System error and file path given.
92 Could not create new sound track media. System error and file path given.
93 Could not begin sound media edits. System error and file path given.
94 Could not insert sound track segment. System error and file path given.
95 Could not flatten output sound QT movie. System error and file path given.
96 Could not open PICT file. System error provided.
97 Could not open standard compression component. System error given.
98 Could not set default spatial settings. System error given.
99 Could not set default temporal settings. System error given.
100 Could not set default data rate. System error given.
101 Could not set progress proc. System error given.
102 None
103 Cannot begin movie compression. System error and file path given.
104 Cannot close standard compression component. System error given.
105 Could not initialize the QT Media Layer (QTML). System error given.
106 None
107 None
108 None
109 None
110 None
111 Could not register this app’s resource file with QT. System error given.

QVRW – QTVR Routines
1 Could not open standard compression component. System error given.
2 Could not set default spatial settings. System error given.
3 Could not set default temporal settings. System error given.
4 Could not set default data rate. System error given.
5 Could not set QTVR object movie user data item. System error given.
6 Could not set QTVR object movie ctype. System error given.
7 Could not update QTVR object movie resource. System error given.
8 Could not open temporary movie file. System error given.
9 Could not get movie from temporary file. System error given.
10 Could not get movie track. System error given.
11 Could not get movie user data. System error given.
12 Could not flatten movie. System error given.
13 Could not open file movie file. System error given.
14 Could not add movie resource. System error given.
15 Could not get new movie track. System error given.
16 Could note get movie time code. System error given.
17 Could note get newTrackMedia. System error given.
18 Could not get movie duration. System error given.
19 Could not allocate panoramic description. System error given.
20 Could not allocate panoramic sample header. System error given.
21 Could not begin media edits. System error given.
22 Could not add media sample. System error given.
23 Could not end media edits. System error given.
24 Could not insert media into track. System error given.
25 Could not update movie resource. System error given.
26 Could not create tile GWorld. System error given.
27 Could not create movie file. System error given.
28 Could not create movie track. System error given.
29 Could not create movie media. System error given.
30 Could not begin media edits. System error given.
31 Could not create image description handle. System error given.
32 Could not get maximum compression size. System error given.
33 Could not allocate compression memory. System error given.
34 Could not compress image. System error given.
35 Could not add media sample. System error given.
36 Could not end media edits. System error given.
37 Could not insert media into track. System error given.
38 Could not add movie resource. System error given.
39 Could not open picture file. System error and file path given.
40 Could not set progress proc. System error given.
41 Cannot compress picture file. System error given.
42 Cannot close standard compression component. System error given.
43 Could not close PICT file. System error and file path given.
44 Could not open QTVR object movie. System error and file path given.
45 Could not create QTVR object movie from movie file. Sys error + file path given.
46 QTVR source image file didn’t have 4 frames. System error and file path given.
47 Camera ran out of memory allocating input QTVR buffer. Buffer size given.
48 Camera ran out of memory allocating output QTVR buffer. Buffer size given.
49 Frame width not consistent for the 4 frames. Width and file path given.
50 Frame height not consistent for the 4 frames. Height and file path given.

RAYT – Raytracer
1 Camera ran out of memory allocating BSP tree element. Leaf size given.
2 Camera ran out of memory allocating BSP tree root node. Leaf size given.
3 Camera ran out of memory allocating BSP nodes. Leaf size given.
4 None
5 None
6 None
7 None
8 Camera ran out of memory allocating ray recursion list. List size given.
9 Camera ran out of memory allocating ray projector light colors. Buffer size given.
10 Camera ran out of memory allocating ray cache list. List size given.
11 Camera ran out of memory allocating ray cache. Cache size given.
12 Camera ran out of memory allocating shadow cache. Cache size given.

RFAC – Routines for Reading FACT Files
1 Number of color vertices doesn’t match number of vertices. Cvert count+file path given.
2 Number of normals doesn’t match number of vertices. Normal count + file path given.
3 Number of texture vertices doesn’t match number of verts. Tvert count + file path given.
4 Number of bump vertices doesn’t match number of verts. Bvert count + file path given.
5 Camera ran out of memory reading complex polygon. Size and file path given.
6 Group element data received before coordinate data. File position and file path given.
7 Current vertex greater than vertex total (model file corrupted). Point and file path given.
8 Read past end of IFF chunk (model file corrupted). ChunkType and file path given.
9 Bad model file position. Position and file path given.
10 Incorrect model file location. Position and file path given.
11 Bad file version number (model file corrupted). Version and file path given.
12 Bad hair vertex (model file corrupted). Vertex count and file path given.
13 Bad complex polygon vertex (model file corrupted). Vertex count and file path given.

RFRM – Read Frame Routines
1 Camera ran out of memory creating motion blur buffer. Buffer size given.
2 Camera ran out of memory creating UV buffers. Buffer size given.
3 Camera ran out of memory creating interpolation array. Array size given.
4 Camera ran out of memory creating input gamma table. Table size given.
5 Camera ran out of memory creating output gamma table. Table size given.
6 Camera ran out of memory creating translation gamma table. Table size given.

RPLG – Read Plugin Routines
1 Could not open plugin connection. Error result and File path to plugin given.
2 Could not close plugin connection. Error result and File path to plugin given.
3 Could not initialize plugin code.  Description and file path to plugin given.
4 Could not set up plugin code. Description and file path to plugin given.
5 Could not generate plugin. Description and file path to plugin given.
6 Could not finish plugin. Description and file path to plugin given.
7 Bad plugin file reference. Reference given.
8 Plugin model file does not exist. Reference and path to plugin given.

RRTN – Read Routines for Deforms and Morphs
1 Could not perform model deformation. Error number given.
2 Could not perform normal deformation. Error number given.
3 Camera ran out of memory morphing vertices. Buffer size given.
4 Camera ran out of memory morphing normals. Buffer size given.
5 Camera ran out of memory morphing blur vertices. Buffer size given.
6 Bad morph file vertex list. Chunk type given.
7 Bad morph file normals vertex list. Chunk type given.

RLOP – Render Loop Routines
1 Camera ran out of memory allocating EFX buffer. Buffer size given.
2 Camera ran out of memory allocating deep buffer list. Buffer size given.
3 Camera ran out of memory allocating scan list 0. List size given.
4 Camera ran out of memory allocating scan list 1. List size given.
5 Camera ran out of memory allocating scan list 2. List size given.
6 Camera ran out of memory allocating scan list 3. List size given.
7 Camera ran out of memory. Not enough memory remaining to render.
8 Camera ran out of memory allocating pixel visibility list. Buffer size given.
9 Camera ran out of memory allocating light projector color list. Buffer size given.

SCAL – Shader Callbacks
1 Camera ran out of memory adding shader reference. Reference size given.
2 Could not open shader. Result code and file path given.
3 Camera ran out of memory creating shader record. Record size given.
4 Could not open shader file. Shader file path given.
5 Could not close shader. Result code given.
6 Shader ran out of memory during initialization. Result code and file path given.

SHDO – Z-buffer Shadow System
1 Camera ran out of memory allocating shadow cache buffer. Buffer size given.
2 Unsupported shadow buffer version number. Version and file path given.
3 Incorrect shadow buffer frame count. Frame count and file path given.
4 Incorrect shadow buffer size. Size and file path given.
5 Could not allocate shadow page list (out of memory). List size given.
6 Not enough memory for temporary shadow buffer. Buffer size given.

TRTN – Texture Routines
1 $PROGRAM$ specified but there are no source effects.
2 $PREVIEW$ specified but there are no preview source effects.
3 $AUX1$ specified but there are no aux1 source effects.
4 Camera ran out of memory creating map record. Map size given.
5 Camera ran out of memory creating map attributes record. Record size given.
6 Bad map alpha mode. Mode given.
7 Bad map RGB mode. Mode given.
8 Bad map projection mode. Mode given.
9 Bad Image version number (<>5). Version and file path given.
10 Bad Image frame count. Count and file path given.
11 Bad pack type. Pack type and file path given.
12 Bad alpha depth. Depth and file path given.
13 Bad image type. Type and file path given.
14 Bad palette count. Count and file path given.
15 Bad alpha depth. Depth and file path given.
16 Bad image type. Type and file path given.
17 Bad file depth. Depth and file path given.
18 Could not allocate cache page list (out of memory?). List size given.
19 Could not allocate map palette (out of memory?). Palette size given.
20 Could not allocate temporary map buffer (out of memory?). Buffer size given.
21 Could not allocate cache page list (out of memory?). List size given.
22 None
23 Unsupported map file type. File type and file path given.
24 Camera ran out of memory allocating map cache buffer. Buffer size given.

MCIO – Macintosh File I/O Routines
1 Camera ran out of memory allocating file reference. File record size given.
2 Camera ran out of memory duplicating file path. Length of path given.
3 Could not delete file. System error and file path given.
4 Cannot examine file. System error and file path given.
5 Cannot set file information. System error and file path given.
6 Cannot examine file. System error and file path given.
7 Camera ran out of memory creating file path. Path length given.
8 Camera ran out of memory creating file path. Path length given.
9 Camera ran out of memory creating temporary file path. Path length given.
10 Cannot open resource file. System error and file path given.
11 Cannot check file position. System error and file path given.
12 Cannot set file position. System error and file path given.
13 Cannot find file size. System error and file path given.
14 Cannot set file size. System error and file path given.
15 Cannot get volume information. System error and file path given.
16 Cannot flush volume. System error and file path given.
17 Cannot open file. System error and file path given.
18 Cannot open file for read. System error and file path given.
19 Cannot open file for write. System error and file path given.
20 Cannot create file. System error and file path given.
21 Cannot create file for write. System error and file path given.
22 Cannot close file. System error and file path given.
23 Cannot rename file. System error and file path given.
24 Cannot read block from file. System error and file path given.
25 Cannot write block to file. System error and file path given.
26 Bad control file header. ID and file path given.
27 Camera ran out of memory reading control file. Reference size given.
28 Could not get file reference. Reference given.

ANIO – Windows File I/O Routines
1 Camera ran out of memory allocating file reference. File record size given.
2 Camera ran out of memory duplicating file path. Length of path given.
3 Cannot set file position. File path given.
4 Cannot find file size. File path given.
5 Cannot set file position. File path given.
6 Cannot set file size. File path given.
7 Cannot set file position. File path given.
8 Cannot flush volume. File path given.
9 Cannot open file. File path given.
10 Cannot open file for read. File path given.
11 Cannot open file for write. File path given.
12 Cannot open/create file. File path given.
13 Cannot open/create file for write. File path given.
14 Cannot close file. File path given.
15 Cannot read block from file. Items read and file path given.
16 Cannot write block to file. File path given.
17 Bad control file header. ID and file path given.
18 Camera ran out of memory reading control file. Reference size given.
19 None
20 None
21 None
22 None
23 None
24 None
25 None
26 Could not get file reference. Reference given.

WRTI – Routines For Writing Image Files
1 Camera ran out of memory allocating shadow cache buffer. Record size given.
2 None
3 None
4 None
5 Could not allocate shadow page list (out of memory?). List size given.

Common Macintosh OS Errors (System Errors). These errors can also occur under Windows inside QuickTime
-17 to –24 (I/O system errors – bad hard drive?)
-33 directory full
-34 disk full
-35 no such volume
-36 I/O error (bad hard drive?)
-38 file not open
-39 end of file
-40 tried to move file pointer before file start
-41 not enough memory to load or open file
-43 file not found
-45 file is locked
-46 volume is locked
-54 permissions error
-1309 You exceeded the Macintosh 2GB file size limit
-1409 Named fork not found. This can happen when you open a 2.9 project in version 5.5
or later. Try opening the project in version 5.0 and save it out.
-2093 This error occurs under Windows when QuickTime is not installed

Answers to frequently asked questions. Some have been taken from the forums.

Rendering
Setting up Multi-Processor rendering with Renderama
Reducing noise in GI animations
My render looks soft
What does that Camera Error Mean? Camera Errors

Texturing
Adjusting the alpha value of a colour
Getting started with UV textures in Animator

Workflow
Setting an attribute to multiple objects
How to scrub along the timeline

Support
How to report a bug

Section 1: About your system

OS (eg. Mac OSX 10.5.2, Windows Vista etc.)
CPU (eg. MacTel, G5)

Section 2: About EI

Version (eg. 6.5 or 701)
Are you rendering via Renderama?

Section 3: About the bug

Provide a list of steps to reproduce the bug, no matter how simple the bug seems, this is essential.

For example:
1. New project
2. Add 3D text
3. Type somthing
4. Change font
5. Change font (going one down the list repeatedly, as if to check what font looks good)
6. Error will appear after 5-10 font changes.

Then, if it seems appropriate, please upload a project that reproduces the bug (this is again essential for Camera bugs).

Before you upload a project, remove as much as you can from the project without ‘fixing’ the bug. We call this ‘minimising the project’. In most cases you’ll want an archive smaller then 5mb.

Bugs can be fixed quickly if all the information listed above is given. If something is missing, the bug may take much, much longer to fix. An example of this is the ‘Crash on Save bug’ that appeared in 6.6 - many people reported it, but, without steps to reproduce it, as annoyingly for all involved, it seemed totally random. It wasn’t fixed, but then, 6 months later, a way to reproduce it was found - this long standing bug was then fixed within 24 hours.

Hope this helps!

Project Window

Direct Object Renaming

Select an object and hit “enter”. The object name highlights and can be overwritten. Same as with folders in the Function Curve Editor.

Folders

I’d like to see folders in the project window, much like in the Function Curve Editor. Add a folder and drag all items into it. Just to tidy up the project window. The list in the FCE already does this. Couldn’t this interface item also be used in the project window?

Solo Button

Basically a button/switch to isolate objects with a single click. In opposite to make all other objects invisible an additional solo checkbox next to the visibility checkboxes would make all other object than the objects with this option set to “on” invisible.

Copy and Paste of Keyframes

Select a keyframe in the project window and copy it. Select another object and paste the keyframe. In many cases there are more than one keyframe in the same location. i.e. a keyframe for Position and Reference of a Camera. In order to be able to select the desired keyframe it would be good to introduce a context menu, that lists all keyframes on the selected frame. i.e.

- copy Position
- copy Reference
- copy Color etc.

Set Ease in and Ease out

Right click a keyframe. In the context menu there are options to ease in and ease out the motion. If two keyframes are selected that follow in time, ease-ease is available to ease between them.

Renderama

Job Reordering

Sometimes it is desirable to reorder the job list. The most wanted way would be to just grab a job, and to drag it to the new location within the list.

Display File Names

It would be most desirable to display the name of the file that is currently beeing rendered in addition to the job name. Most job lists are from the same project, so the job name is the same for every render job in the list.

Multiple jobs and slaves selection

To delete.

Open GL

- Inverted faces are shaded black when backface culling is disabled.

Software Shading in Camera Window

- The preview gets cluttered with large triangles as soon as an object is behind the Camera.

Quicktime Previews

- Quicktime previews skip frames if you leave Animator during the preview (i.e. switch to the Finder)

Search, browse, add, subscribe to the feeds; the wiki is yours to use to add to your own knowledge and share your knowledge with others!

We still have MUCH to add to the WIKI so please be patient as we continue to add information.

What is Electric Image Animation System?

EIAS History, EIAS Difference, Production List

Working in EIAS

Getting Started, Techniques, Frequently asked questions

Plugins and Extending EIAS

Northernlights3d, Paralumino, Konkeptoine, Ramjac, Triade Shaderlab, Onyxtree Computing

Community and Third-Party help

EITG Forums, CGtalk Forums, Postforum, ramjac Forum, help on Xpressionist, Rodeo and OBJ2FACT

Material Repository

EIAS Known Bugs and Feature Request Lists

This section is designed to help the developers and to define lists of improvements.

Known Bugs, Feature Request Lists

Bead Blasted

Download >>>> File:BeadBlasted.zip

Created by: Dave Stoddard
3rd party shaders: None
Scene Units: Not Scaled

Material notes: This material requires EIAS 7.0 or later.
Utilizes the Scratches Shader and noise to create tiny dimples in a surface.

Keywords:
Industrial Design, Automotive, Complex, Glossy, Reflective, Shaders

Dude, Who Keyed My Car

Download >>>> File:Dude-WhoKeyedMyCar.zip

Created by: Dave Stoddard
3rd party shaders: None
Scene Units: Not Scaled

Material notes: This material requires EIAS 7.0 or later.
Utilizes the Scratches Shader to create random colored scratches.

Keywords:
Industrial Design, Automotive, Complex, Glossy, Reflective, Shaders