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From: a976@mindlink.UUCP (Ron Tarrant)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: DumpToIFF (DKB) crashing
Message-ID: <3127@mindlink.UUCP>
Date: 9 Sep 90 22:12:38 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Lines: 44

> jean@pogo.hasler writes:
> 
> Msg-ID: <1529@hslrswi.UUCP>
> Posted: 10 Sep 90 05:54:05 GMT
> 
> Org.  : Ascom Hasler AG, CH-3000 Berne 14, Switzerland
> 
> 
> The DKB (ray tracer) software is (slow but) great! I was even
> able to compile it for my IBM compatible and happy to see that
> the same .dis file was created.
> 
> 
> When running DumpToIFF from data.dis to data.ham the picture
> is displayed (so nice) but when writing to the diskette funny
> things happen (sometimes with the L path access) with the system
> which finally crashes with the famous GURU message.
> The file data.ham has a zero size and the diskette is corrupted
> (Diskdoctor message).
> 
> It is really a pity because this package is so nice. But without
> IFF conversion ....?!?!?


I've run this program several times (about 10) on my A2500 with no problems.
Perhaps (and this is just a guess) it was compiled to run on just the '020 by
mistake before being packaged.
Another possibility is that your stack wasn't set high enough. The docs mention
setting a large stack for the actual ray tracer but nothing is said about what
stack should be set for any of the utilities. Since Dump2IFF is dealing with
24bit files that are over 300k in size, it might need the extra stack.
These are my suggestions, anyway.

On the other hand, I was trying to re-compile Sculpt2DKB (using Lattice 5.05)
and ran into some crashing problems when I finally got it to compile. During
the compile phase, I found that several of the lines of code where missing the
odd character, perhaps due to line noise, sloppy file handling during the
'splitting up and putting back together' step, (My fault completely in this
case) or some other unknown factor. Has anyone else run into this problem?
All in all, I'd say it's a great software package. My hat is off to DKB and AC
(and the rest of the gang responsible) for a job well done. I've never seen
CLOUDS in a commercial ray trace package!
-Ron Tarrant
a976@Mindlink.UUCP