Problems with papag. Same on Mac & PC?

Craigar · Post by **Craigar** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:00 am

Hi All,

I'm new to PapaG & animation in general.

I'm on a mac. Is papaG better on PC? Or is it finicky on both platforms. Will it run fine on Vista? If so will the files be compatible back to my mac?

I find PapaG has exciting potential. I wish I could realize it on my computer.

The problem I'm currently having is simply dragging the words to their appropriate position. Sometimes it grabs the edges, sometime the whole word; sometimes nothing at all. It's untenable. It seems I need to click & hold the word for a time prior to dragging. Very frustrating. I had to change mouse hands because the stress could lead to carpal tunnel syndrome .

This would be an excellent place for AS to improve it's workflow.

Thanks in advance.
-Craig
mac g5 10.4.11

mkelley · Post by **mkelley** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:06 pm

PG is a little finicky, particular zoomed out. Zoom in for best results, but don't expect it to behave any better no matter what computer or platform (it works much the same on my slow laptop as it does on my fast multi-CPU monster). It requires patience but the rewards are great.

It produces ASCII files which I assume are the same on a Mac, so it can indeed be used on either platform. Also, the resultant files can be manipulated to offer even more possibilities.

Craigar · Post by **Craigar** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:16 pm

Thanks.
My experience differs however.
I just couldn't take it anymore on the mac so I'm trying PG on my PC (Vista).
Papagayo actually WORKS on the PC! Hooray.

(I hope the files transfer back to my mac ok.)

Among other things PapaGayo would benefit from a disclaimer about not working well on Mac. That way Mac users won't trash the program altogether. ( A bad reputation can take years for software makers to overcome. )

I'm back to work.
-Craig

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:22 pm

Papagayo is open source. It is not actually part of the AS software. It is free. It is not actually supported by Smith Micro. The mac version works for me. Yes it is a bit sluggish on the mac but it still works and I use it often and my mac is quite old.

-vern

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:29 pm

Also, you might want to search this forum. There are several modified versions of Papagayo. One of these may work a bit better.

Craigar · Post by **Craigar** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:47 pm

Thanks as always gentlemen.
HeyVern, I suspect your Mac System and mine differ. I've been doing desktop television production (broadcast, cable & network) for 10 years (albeit not animation). I can't imagine anyone working extensively with PG the way it currently works on my Mac G5 OS vers.10.4.11.
I suppose I could try it on my intel MacBook vers 10.5.. It may do better.
In any event I do know it works markedly better on Vista.

synthsin75, the mods are apparently for PC only, correct? So that won't help the mac user. I plan to try them on my Vista machine however. Though the imperative is greatly reduced now that I see PG running well on PC.

Thanks for your feedback, gents.

-Craig

Craigar · Post by **Craigar** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:31 pm

Now (on the PC for 1/2 day) I'm a big fan of Papagayo.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 5:20 am

Yes, the PC version is WAAAYYYY faster. I did however use it on the Mac for about 10 solid minutes of dialog. It was a bit frustrating but it only took a day or so and would have taken a week or more doing it by hand in AS without Papagayo.

As it is with most open source software, you need someone with programming chops on the Mac to make the improvements. Considering the latest mod is for Linux and PC it might not be that much more work. I seem to recall that it was possible to install the latest mod of Papagayo on the mac?

-vern

Craigar · Post by **Craigar** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 5:52 am

thanks, buddy.
I'm on the PC now. I'll check out the mods when I finish production – my first animation!
And you helped.
-Craig
future ANimAYTOR