Images not found due to memory or cache management problem

[JubbaTheHott]

We have characters made up of PNG files.
All images used are valid, non-corrupt, and working 100% fine in Anime Studio.
Characters use switch layers for things like mouth shapes and different angles of the head/body/etc.

When we have multiple characters in a scene, eventually we get the broken image icon showing up instead of the correct (and working ) images. This happens when a switch layer changes something like the head or body angle (and therefore is trying to load a set of new images into memory). So, instead of finding the correct images and displaying them, Anime Studio is giving up and showing the broken image icon instead. It's as if the program has reached its limit of how many images it will store in its memory or cache and refuses to add any more images.

Turning off the visibility for all characters except for one, saving the file, and reopening it will work for every character on their own, proving that the images required DO all work inside of the scene.

In order to get something new to load once we start seeing broken images, we have to close the scene and re-open it - it seems that once the memory/cache has been maxed out, you can't change what the program is willing to load/display.

Depending on what frame we start with and scrub through the timeline, different images end up being broken. Basically, once the memory/cache limit is reached, any new images encountered on the timeline are just broken.

What's the solution to this?
Can't it manage image files more reliably?
Can the memory/cache be told to update on the fly and NOT display broken image icons when the files are good and working?
We're using version 8.01 on 64 bit Windows PCs with *lots* of RAM.
We tried the scenes on a Mac with Anime version 8 and they worked 100% fine.
We need them to work in a Windows environment, though.

Please help! Thanks.

[slowtiger]

(I'm working on a Mac ...)

Not a solution, but a faster workaround: could you render the scene with the top half of the layers set invisible, then import the video file into a copy of that scene, erase the now unnecessary bottom layers and set the top layers visible again?

[JubbaTheHott]

(I'm working on a Mac ...)

Not a solution, but a faster workaround: could you render the scene with the top half of the layers set invisible, then import the video file into a copy of that scene, erase the now unnecessary bottom layers and set the top layers visible again?

yeah i see what you're saying and it could work, but it'd be nice if we could make the program just work properly instead...

for final renders, we render out characters on their own (one at a time) and comp it all together in after effects, but it's not an ideal workflow for getting playblasts and work-in-progress low-rez renders.

thanks for the suggestion

[neeters_guy]

Possible memory leak? I think this one is worthy of a bug report to SmithMicro.

[DK]

I had same thing happen. The solution is to render out the images to another png sequence in a size that AS likes. Like using one of the default settings. My problem came from the images in my sequence being quite large and AS began to drop or lose track of the images. Also using the bach render command was one way we found of keeping the image sequence intact while rendering to the new sequence.

Cheers
D.K

[ponysmasher]

Unfortunately AS has problems with complex scenes and/or high resolutions. Masks and aliasing also have tendencies to stop working: http://animestudioscripts.com/aliaserror/

In my experience AS can handle a bit more if you use it on a single core machnine, but you will still get errors eventually if the scene gets complicated enough or you render to high resolutions.