Mac OS : crashes when grabbing images with a camcorder

[D.T. Nethery]

QUESTION for TVPaint Development/Support Team:

With Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite have you had any reports of TVPaint 11 crashing while using the Video-In for frame grabbing ?

I have an online student who is new to using TVPaint , running TVPaint 11.0.2 on Mac OS 10.10 , reporting that TVPaint randomly crashes while she is capturing frames using "Grab Input" from Video In panel. Her webcam is Logitech C-930 .

I have asked her to try to save a Crash Report and email it to you next time this happens , but this is very distressing because such a simple operation as frame-capture with a webcam doesn't seem like it should cause TVPaint to crash repeatedly. I am wondering if this is one of the issues related to the problems with Yosemite ? Do you think it would it have any good effect for her to run TVPaint in FULL SCREEN mode while grabbing input from the webcam with the Video-In ?

Please advise.

Thank you.

-DN

[Elodie]

David, I am already in contact with Ramya.

(But thanks for explaining more than she actually did)

[2dbert]

If it helps to find the problem: when I used the video grabber with a canon camcorder some time ago this seemed to cause crashes every now and then, but I'm still running OSX 10.9.5, so it's maybe not a Yosemite thing.

[Elodie]

With a TVPaint 11 Pro ? 64 or 32 bit ?
With my built-in camera, I don't have any issue. I will try with another device.

[2dbert]

latest version 10 professional, 64 bit (It's all in the signature in detail)

[Elodie]

oh yes, sorry ^^

[2dbert]

It just occurred to me that it might also help to mention the reason why I never bothered to report the crashes: the connection of camcorder was a firewire 4pin (camera) to the firewire 9pin port of the computer. Since I learned from the use of dragon frame that even the length of the cable can interrupt a connection I suspected the odd cable connection might be the problem also here, and since firewire 4 pin has pretty much vanished everywhere I doubted the matter to be worth looking into.

[Elodie]

(I've split the topic, since it's not related to Wacom issues)

[D.T. Nethery]

It just occurred to me that it might also help to mention the reason why I never bothered to report the crashes: the connection of camcorder was a firewire 4pin (camera) to the firewire 9pin port of the computer. Since I learned from the use of dragon frame that even the length of the cable can interrupt a connection I suspected the odd cable connection might be the problem also here, and since firewire 4 pin has pretty much vanished everywhere I doubted the matter to be worth looking into.

Interesting. I did not know that about the length of a cable possibly causing an interrupted connection.

My online student is using a Logitech C-930 HD webcam (USB connection) , but I will ask her about the length of the cable she is using. (one of the optional items on the class supply list is a USB extension cable , so the original 3'ft. cable attached to the webcam is extended by an extra 10'ft. using the extension cable. )

On the other hand, the student is not reporting that the connection with the webcam is interrupted , but rather that TVPaint is randomly crashing while she is capturing frames from the webcam. But maybe if the length of the cable causes the webcam's connection to freeze this in turn causes TVPaint to freeze and then crash ... ? I am just thinking out loud ... I have no idea if the length of the webcam's USB cable is in any way related to the crashing behavior, but willing to consider all possibilities to find the cause of the crash by process of elimination.

[Thierry]

I have done a few tests with a c270 Logitech Webcam on my Mac running Yosemite 10.10.5 with TVPaint 11.0.2, no issues.

But maybe if the length of the cable causes the webcam's connection to freeze this in turn causes TVPaint to freeze and then crash

This might be a possibility (not sure at all).

[D.T. Nethery]

I have done a few tests with a c270 Logitech Webcam on my Mac running Yosemite 10.10.5 with TVPaint 11.0.2, no issues.

But maybe if the length of the cable causes the webcam's connection to freeze this in turn causes TVPaint to freeze and then crash

This might be a possibility (not sure at all).

Ok, I'll mention it to her as something to try. (she may be using a USB extension cable ... I'll ask her to try it without the extension cable ... see if that stops the crashing from happening. It seems unlikely to me that the length of the USB cable is causing the crashing , but who knows ... ?)

I have read in the other topics that some of the issues that happen with TVPaint 11 running on Yosemite are fixed by running TVPaint in full-screen mode. Do you think it would it have any good effect for her to run TVPaint in FULL SCREEN mode while grabbing input from the webcam with the Video-In ? Her Mac is retina-screen . Should she set TVPaint 11 to Open in Low-Resolution as suggested here:

http://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php? ... =45#p82438" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-David

[Elodie]

Do you think it would it have any good effect for her to run TVPaint in FULL SCREEN mode while grabbing input from the webcam with the Video-In ?

Why are you asking us what we think about using Full Screen mode ? I mean, there is no risk or danger. Just do the test and let us know.

On my MacBook Pro with Retina screen, I have no problem when using another webcam : no crashes or something, it works like a charm.

Her Mac is retina-screen . Should she set TVPaint 11 to Open in Low-Resolution as suggested here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8603&start=45#p82438

Yes, she should do this in order to avoid glitches.

[D.T. Nethery]

Do you think it would it have any good effect for her to run TVPaint in FULL SCREEN mode while grabbing input from the webcam with the Video-In ?

Why are you asking us what we think about using Full Screen mode ? I mean, there is no risk or danger. Just do the test and let us know.

Well, I suppose I was asking you ("you" meaning "TVPaint Developpement Co." collectively ) because this is the Technical Support forum for TVPaint and because I recall reading that some of the problems people have had with TVPaint lagging on Mac OS 10.10 have been helped by switching to Full-Screen mode. I don't have Mac OS 10.10 so I can't do a test of it here. I wasn't implying a risk or danger . I simply wondered if you had an educated opinion as to whether that could help.

On my MacBook Pro with Retina screen, I have no problem when using another webcam : no crashes or something, it works like a charm.

I'm glad to know that you have no problems with using Video-Input through a webcam (neither do I) , but in this case I have a student who is reporting TVPaint crashing while she is using a webcam to capture frames. Because the student is an online student and lives 4,790 miles away from where I am located I can't simply look over her shoulder at her computer and help her directly with troubleshooting her issue. So I am attempting to seek information wherever I can to help her solve her problem.

.

[Fabrice]

Well, I suppose I was asking you ("you" meaning "TVPaint Developpement Co." collectively ) because this is the Technical Support forum for TVPaint and because I recall reading that some of the problems people have had with TVPaint lagging on Mac OS 10.10 have been helped by switching to Full-Screen mode. I don't have Mac OS 10.10 so I can't do a test of it here. I wasn't implying a risk or danger . I simply wondered if you had an educated opinion as to whether that could help.

classical french/english translation and understanding problem

[Elodie]

Well, I suppose I was asking you ("you" meaning "TVPaint Developpement Co." collectively ) because this is the Technical Support forum for TVPaint and because I recall reading that some of the problems people have had with TVPaint lagging on Mac OS 10.10 have been helped by switching to Full-Screen mode. I don't have Mac OS 10.10 so I can't do a test of it here. I wasn't implying a risk or danger . I simply wondered if you had an educated opinion as to whether that could help.

I know you were talking about TVPaint Développement. I just could not answer anything, because since everything is working fine for us, we don't know in what Full Screen mode will affect or not the camera (and, after all, running the test would have given faster answers ).
Sorry if I upset it you, it was not my wish !

I'm glad to know that you have no problems with using Video-Input through a webcam (neither do I) , but in this case I have a student who is reporting TVPaint crashing while she is using a webcam to capture frames. Because the student is an online student and lives 4,790 miles away from where I am located I can't simply look over her shoulder at her computer and help her directly with troubleshooting her issue. So I am attempting to seek information wherever I can to help her solve her problem.

And your students should be more grateful for what you do for them, especially since you are not working with them directly. =)
However, as you said, you cannot simply look over her shoulder and instead of being like a bridge between us and her, I think she could at least answer my emails or subscribe the forum.