ParticleIllusion SE for FREE!

craftech wrote on 8/20/2003, 6:30 PM

PIcked it up this afternoon at Tower Records for $13.50. They had plenty of them in stock.

John

mlane2 wrote on 8/25/2003, 7:27 AM

I got the program like everyone else on this post, but there is a problem. Particleillusion will not accept an .avi rendered from Vegas. It keeps giving a "AVI Format Request Error". I e-mailed PI's tech support and was very dryly told that PI is weak in that area and for me to try to render it using a different codec.

Anyone else with the same problem? Does anyone have a workaround?

TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/25/2003, 9:44 AM

I just tried that and got the same error. I've been using the Plugin Pac Frame Server though. That works.

BobMoyer wrote on 8/25/2003, 1:20 PM

Did you get a multi-colored/pixilated picture or did it just refuse to open it? My problem was the multi-colored thing (Using Win98SE), I just re-rendered the avi file and "DESELECTED" the option for an Open_DML file type and it loaded just fine.

Bob

Jsnkc wrote on 8/25/2003, 1:27 PM

I went to Barnes & Noble in Madison, WI and they said they didn't carry it, and I then ordered it of the magazines website and I still haven't been charged for it so I don't know if I will ever get it :(

mlane2 wrote on 8/25/2003, 1:31 PM

Nah, it just refused to open altogether. I will try your way and see what happens. Thanks.

bwillett wrote on 8/25/2003, 3:02 PM

I got my copy at Barnes and Noble in Madison last week. They still had a couple copies left when I got mine.

Chanimal wrote on 8/25/2003, 5:00 PM

I also had a problem getting it to load the native Vegas AVI. Although some loaded just fine. I'll try to rerender with the open gl compatibility off as mentioned.

Even still, I was able to open a spinning glass logo in AVI format, ad sparkles, flames, smoke, an explosion and a running mouse (with smoke trailing). It worked very well and now looks very Disney.

Check it out at the Chienworks website at:

http://www.vegasusers.com/vidshare/textdisp?chanimal-particle_illusion_disney_fx

kentwolf wrote on 8/25/2003, 5:59 PM

>>Does anyone have a workaround?

I found that rendering the selected portion as *Uncompressed* solves the issue. Works fine then.

Jsnkc wrote on 8/25/2003, 6:24 PM

That bastard lied to me then, he said they have never carried that magazine. I guess I'll have to go look again, maybe they got some more in.

msorrels wrote on 8/25/2003, 8:35 PM

Normally when you can't open a DV avi file with an app, it is because they are using the older Vfw AVI API's rather than the DirectShow stuff. The solution to this is basiclly to buy a Vfw DV codec. I have the one from MainConcept. It works well and lets you use Vegas DV avi's in apps that otherwise wouldn't touch them. However in this case, particleIllusion SE crashes when trying to open a Vegas made DV avi with the MainConcept codec. Doesn't look like it handles background images very well. Even rendering to an XVid AVI it would load in PI but only show the first frame. I suspect if you want to use background sequences in PI your going to need to do some testing.

PI will render to the MainConcept DV codec which might make it a little easier to use inside Vegas. It's render engine seems a little weak in terms of formating output, but the effects are very nice for a $13 magazine.