Frequently Asked Questions

Setup Instructions – Mac

Setup Instructions – Windows

Setup Instructions – Mac

Setup Instructions – Windows

If the blue light doesn’t flash, it means you didn’t actually depress the CONN. button after turning the keypad on. You must use something small, like the tip of a pen or pencil, or a bent paper-clip, to press it.

Instead of giving you a code to type on the keypad, the computer asks you for the keypad’s PIN. If that happens, try this:

1. When it asks you for a code, click into the field, and type “0000” on the regular computer keyboard, then click the Connect button.
2. Immediately after that, type “0000”, followed by enter, on your Dragonframe Bluetooth keypad.
3. Wait 15-30 seconds.

Note: The computer will not provide visual feedback of the keypresses.

Windows 10 added a feature to use a numeric keypad to control your mouse.
If this is on, the keypad won’t work properly.

To fix the issue:

1. Open the ‘Ease of Access’ settings by pressing the Windows logo key + U on the keyboard.
2. On the ‘Ease of Access’ settings screen, scroll down and select ‘Mouse’ in the left-hand column.
3. On the right side of screen, click the On/Off toggle switch under ‘Control your mouse with a keypad’ to turn it off.

This issue applies to either the USB or Bluetooth keypad.

Please review all of the information in the Camera FAQ here, and visit the Camera Support page to find setup instructions for each camera Dragonframe supports.

If you are still having trouble, send in a Problem Report through the program’s Help menu.

Camera Support

We recommend Canon EOS cameras, specifically the ones listed on our supported cameras page.

The Canon EOS cameras have a large live view with exposure simulation.
They also have smooth mechanics during capture.

Get the Canon EOS R or 5D Mark IV if you have a larger budget. If you want a full-frame camera at a lower price, look at the Canon EOS 6D.

The Nikon Z series also works really well with Dragonframe.

If you have a limited budget, you can look for used Digital Rebels (or 450D/1000D) on Amazon.

Dragonframe supports a wide array of cameras. Please visit our Camera Support page for a full list.
Camera Support

Canon offers a Stop Motion Animation Firmware addon for EOS R, EOS RP, R5, R8, R100, and EOS R6 Mark II cameras. You must purchase a camera with the special firmware, or send your camera in to get it updated. It is a paid offering. (The models that are available may vary by region.)

Here is an overview of the features it provides, and the support in each version of Dragonframe:

HD Live View: The live view (video assist) is doubled from 960×640 to 1920×1280.

Focus Peaking: The camera shows which parts of the image are in focus with bright colored pixels. You must use an RF lens and set it to ‘MF’.

Aperture Lock: The camera keeps the lens closed during video assist and while capturing photos. This prevents potential flicker from the aperture opening and closing repeatedly. Requires an RF lens and Dragonframe 5 or newer. The feature is always on in Dragonframe 5. You can verify by choosing a fairly closed aperture, like f/22, and looking into the lens. Verify that it is closed during live view. Then verify that when you take a picture it does not open and close.

Focus Programming: This also requires an RF lens and Dragonframe 5 or newer. Dragonframe can program the focus if you create an axis in ARC and set the Connection to ‘Digital Focus’. This feature does not work on a shot that also zooms. Changing the zoom affects the focus range. Prime lenses are best for this feature. Or set the lens to the desired zoom for the shot, and turn the camera off and on.

Inquire at Canon:

Canon USA: https://www.usa.canon.com/explore/stop-motion-animation-firmware
Canon UK: https://www.canon.co.uk/pro/services/upgrades/stop-motion-camera-firmware/
Canon Japan: https://personal.canon.jp/product/camera/software/stopmotion

Dragonframe supports many full-frame mirrorless cameras, including the Canon EOS R series, the Sony Alpha A7/A9 series, and Nikon Z series.

Additionally, the Olympus, Fujifilm and Panasonic cameras we support are all mirrorless (but not full-frame).
See our camera support page for the most up-to-date list of supported models.

Note that some of the earlier Sony models do not send the live view over USB.

Camera Support

Dragonframe supports several medium format cameras:

• Fujifilm GFX 50S
• Fujifilm GFX 50R
• Fujifilm GFX100
• Pentax 645Z

You can find these listed on our camera support page.
Camera Support

The software does not support Hasselblad or Phase One medium format cameras.

Dragonframe supports Olympus OM-D E-M1, E-M1 II, and E-M5 II, as well as Panasonic DC-GH5, DC-GH5S and DC-G9. Those all work really well with the software.

See our camera support page for the most up-to-date list of supported models.

Camera Support

Dragonframe supports direct R3D capture from RED DSMC2 cameras. You need to use the Gig-E connector, which may require a specific back-plate and cable accessory.

Note: DSMC3 cameras are not currently supported. They do not provide a way to directly capture R3D files.

See the instructions on our camera support page.

Camera Support

RED changed the protocol for communicating with their cameras, between the DSMC2 and DSMC3 models.

The DSMC3 protocol does not provide a way to retrieve captured frames from the camera.

This makes it unusable for Dragonframe.

Unplug it right now! The HDMI port on your computer is an output only—for sending the screen to a monitor or HDTV.

Any of the supported still cameras should be connected via USB.

First of all, we recommend using a still camera for the highest quality. And when we support a camera, generally that means it provides live view over USB, not HDMI. See our Camera Support page for a list of supported cameras and instructions to configure them to work with Dragonframe. [Camera Support]

In some cases, though, it may be useful or necessary to use the HDMI output of a camera, either as just the video assist source, or also as the capture source.

In those cases, you will need to use an HDMI capture device to get the HDMI signal converted to a usable video source. You cannot plug into the computer’s HDMI port, because that is an output for a monitor.

The following devices should work. However, please make sure you pick a device that is compatible with your computer, your operating system, and your camera’s HDMI output:

1. Any of the Blackmagic Design devices listed on our Camera Support page. [Link]
2. Elgato Cam Link 4K
3. Atomos Connect 4K

Most digital still cameras have USB ports, and can be used with a computer to download images from the camera. However, that is the extent of the common functionality.

Most cameras do not have any type of tethered shooting capabilities, where the computer can change settings and trigger the camera to capture an image. And cameras that have tethered capabilities (such as Canon and Nikon supported models) have very different interfaces.

We try to support as many cameras as we can reasonably do.

We found that the GoPro WiFi interface was basically unusable for Dragonframe. The connection was slow and often failed.

The quality of the grabs was fairly awful, and some of the auto-exposure and auto-focus features could not be disabled, so the camera was unusable.

If you need to use a small camera, look at the Ximea cameras we support.

Dragonframe supports most Canon EOS cameras. However, most of the Canon EOS M cameras are not supported because Canon does not provide tethered shooting support for them. You may notice that Canon’s own EOS Utility does not support tethered shooting with the ‘M’ series cameras.

The latest EOS M camera, the M50, is supported in Dragonframe 4.1 and newer.

Dragonframe supports most Nikon DSLR cameras. However, the D3000 and D3100 cameras are not supported because Nikon does not provide tethered shooting support for them.

First, make sure you have followed all of our setup instructions for your camera.

If you installed Sony Imaging Edge on Windows, it may have installed special “libusbK” drivers for your camera. If it does this, other programs, such as Dragonframe, will not detect your camera.

• Go to the Windows device manager and check if camera is listed under “libusbK USB Devices”.
• If so, double-click it and choose Uninstall Device.
• Check Delete the software driver for this device.
• Turn camera off and back on.
• Windows should install the normal driver for the camera.
• Run Dragonframe and check the connection now.

Note that Dragonframe 5 and newer support Android devices running our free Dragonframe Tether application, and connecting over WiFi.

This answer is for Dragonframe 4: Apple provides a fairly easy way to communicate between a desktop application and a device, over the tethered USB connection. That is how we are able to support iPhones. Android requires the user to install developer tools (and know how to use them) in order to support something similar. This is not something we want our customers to deal with.

Dragonframe Tether

No. You must use Dragonframe 4 or newer, along with our free Dragonframe Tether app on the phone, in order to use it as a capture device.
Dragonframe Tether

No. You must use Dragonframe 5 or newer, along with our free Dragonframe Tether on the phone, in order to use it as a capture device.

In Dragonframe 4, we only supported iOS devices, because our tether application only supported USB tethering. That was not something we could do easily on Android devices.

Dragonframe Tether

Well, it’s kind of technical… Basically Apple decided to use some of the same PTP event codes as Olympus, and so Apple does not pass the events on to the end application. They fixed it in macOS Sierra, but chose to leave it unresolved in El Capitan.

This is where a basic photography class could be helpful. There are all sorts of considerations for lenses, angles of view etc. Here is a simple rule to help you out: if you are shooting miniatures—imagine there is a tiny crew of people shooting your film.

Where would they put their little camera? If you are shooting an interior—put the center of the lens about where it could fit in that room.
Then pick the focal length that shows what you need for the shot.

This is just a starting point. Get books on cinematography. Watch great films. We hope this helps!

Note that we strongly recommend using a manual aperture lens (such as a Nikon lens) with a Canon body. With a digital lens, the aperture will close down to slightly different positions for each shot. This is not a problem for still photography, but for stop motion or time-lapse it creates “flicker”. For Canon cameras, use a Nikon manual aperture lens (‘D’ series) with a Nikon to Canon lens adapter.

Stop Motion Animation Firmware: If you have an EOS R-series camera with Canon’s special stop motion animation firmware, we recommend getting a Canon RF lens. You do not need to use a manual aperture lens in this case.
Canon Stop Motion Animation Firmware – More Information

For Nikon cameras, use a Nikon manual aperture lens and put masking tape over the lens’ electrical contacts.

A manual aperture lens has a physical ring for controlling aperture. Do not get a ‘G’ series lens, which has no aperture ring.

Your camera is supported and set up properly, but the software is not detecting it. Or the software sees the camera but then stops working after a while. There are a variety of connectivity issues that people experience, but the causes are usually the same. So we will start with likely causes first:

• The USB cable is too long.
• The USB cable is defective.
• The USB port on the computer/hub or camera is damaged.
• The power supply to the camera is interrupted.

As you can see, many of the problems have to do with USB connectivity. Therefore, when you have camera issues, we recommend that you switch back to a simple setup and test the camera and software:

• Use a short USB cable (preferably the one that came with the camera).
• Plug the USB cable directly into the computer (not through a hub).
• Power the camera over AC.

If this setup works, slowly change your configuration to identify the problem.

First, make sure your camera is supported by visiting the Camera Support page, taking care to note which versions of Dragonframe support the camera (if any). Follow any setup instructions provided. Then you will want to verify that the computer itself can see the camera. If you are on a Mac, use “Image Capture”, which is an application that comes with the computer and is located in the “Applications” folder. On Windows, you can see if the camera connects when you plug it in, since Windows always pops up a message for new devices. If you have a Canon camera, you can also use “Canon EOS Utility” on either platform to detect the camera. If you have Nikon Camera Control Pro 2, you can check that as well.

If the operating system or other programs can see your camera, but Dragonframe does not, you should definitely send in a camera test (see Dragonframe Help menu) and also contact support. If nothing can see your camera, try using a different USB cable and port, and possibly try your camera with another computer.

Anti-virus software blocking camera detection.

If you have anti-virus software, make sure to white-list Dragonframe so that it can access the camera.

Camera Support

First of all, make sure you are running Dragonframe 2024 or newer. Only these versions support macOS Sequioa (15.x).

Then, make sure your camera is supported. [Supported Cameras]

If you are using the correct version of Dragonframe, the camera is supported, and it is seen by Image Capture (in Applications) but not in Dragonframe, follow these instructions:

• Quit Dragonframe, turn off your camera, and unplug it from the computer.
• Open a Terminal (in Applications : Utilities) and run the following command:
  For Dragonframe 2024: tccutil reset All com.dzed.dragonframe2024
• The run Dragonframe, and answer ‘Yes’ to the permissions questions.

If your camera is supported, and you followed all of our setup instructions, and Dragonframe can’t seem to talk to it… it may be a permission issue. There was probably a point, when you first ran Dragonframe on macOS Catalina, that it asked if Dragonframe could access Photos… and you said ‘no’.

Quit Dragonframe and turn off your camera.

Open a Terminal (in Applications : Utilities) and run one of the following commands:

For Dragonframe 2024: tccutil reset All com.dzed.dragonframe2024

For Dragonframe 5: tccutil reset All com.dzed.dragonframe5

For Dragonframe 4: tccutil reset All com.dzed.dragonframe4

The run Dragonframe, and answer ‘Yes’ to the permissions questions.

If that doesn’t work, please try the development build.

Development Builds

This issue always seems to be related to the USB connectivity issues we describe above. For some reason, the cameras tend to freeze when there is poor USB connectivity. You can actually see the same problem in Canon EOS Utility as in Dragonframe. We have notified Canon and are also exploring alternate solutions.

The solution for you is to use shorter USB cables or buy a better USB extension cable.

Usually this is just a matter of camera settings and/or lighting. Start by going into the Cinematography workspace and adjusting the camera settings. The most important are the three sliders for Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO. (If you are using a manual lens, the Aperture slider will be grayed out.)

• Make sure the lens cap is off.  ;)
• Increase the shutter speed (to at least 1″).
• Open the aperture (go to a lower number). If you have a manual lens then open it up all the way.
• Increase the ISO.
• Increase the amount of light in the room.

If the live view remains black, send in a Camera Test through the Help menu.

If you are using a digital lens (not a manual aperture lens), then the live view and high-resolution images will have different aperture values, and therefore different depth-of-field and focus range. This is because the camera keeps the aperture wide open during live view, giving a shallow depth-of-field and a small focus range. If your high-resolution image has a stopped down aperture, like f/22, it will have a large depth-of-field and large focus range. Possible solutions:

• Accept this difference and live with it.
• Switch to a manual aperture lens with a lens adapter.
• If you are using a Canon camera, you can set the live view to use depth of field preview. In Dragonframe 5+, this is in the Camera Settings section of the Cinematography workspace. In older versions press Command-K (Ctrl-K Windows) to open the video settings, and turn on depth of field preview there.

First of all, it is super important to understand that the live view and high-resolution images are different. In the cinematography workspace you set up your high-resolution capture settings and take test shots to make sure that your final images will look correct. In the animation workspace you are typically working with the video assist images from your camera, although you can switch to review your high-res images.

Possible Cause #1: Using a Nikon DSLR

Most of the Nikon cameras do not have live view “exposure simulation”. This means that their live view exposure level auto-adjusts all the time, and does not reflect changes in camera settings. In this case, you will have to live with the difference. Make sure to check your high-resolution images early and often.

Possible Cause #2: Exposure Simulation is turned off

The Canon live view DSLRs all have exposure simulation. It is either “always on”, or there is a setting to turn it on. If there is a setting, it will be called out in our setup instructions. Just make sure you’ve followed that step.

Possible Cause #3: Using a manual aperture lens on a Canon body

We recommend using a manual Nikon lens on Canon body, because this avoids flicker. The downside is that this can affect the live view exposure simulation of the Canon cameras. Usually you can adjust the live view to match the high-resolution images by adjusting the “Exposure Preview Offset” in the Cinematography workspace’s Camera Settings. You can read more about the problem and see another solution here.

Sometimes the internal live view calculation is thrown off by the last digital lens connected.

Here is a possible solution:

1. Attach a Canon digital lens to the camera.
2. Open the aperture as much as it can go (lowest f/stop number).
3. Take a picture.
4. Power down the camera and then try your Nikon lens.

If you still can’t get close with the exposure preview offset, let us know.

Possible Cause #4: The sensor isn’t getting enough light.

We often get calls from people who are on a dimly lit set, with their aperture stopped down to f/22, and with “Exposure Preview Offset” set all the way to “+4”, and they want to know why the live view doesn’t match their high-resolution image. This is especially problematic for manual aperture lenses, since the aperture is always stopped down.

The reason is simple: the lens doesn’t have enough light. You have exceeded the limits of the live view exposure simulator (inside the camera).

Here are some possible solutions:

• Increase the lighting on your set.
• Open up the aperture.
• Use a bash light (also called a work light). This is a light that is on for the animator and video assist, but off for the high-resolution capture.

There are a few ways to set up a bash light with Dragonframe:

• Use the DDMX-512 to control a bash light through DMX.
• Use the DDMX-512 to control a bash light through a relay.
• Go to Preferences : Capture and set a capture delay of several seconds. Turn a light off after you press the shoot button, and then back on after the high-resolution image is captured.

[DDMX-512]

In the Animation workspace you typically are looking at the live view and stepping back to other video assist images you already captured. These should always line up perfectly. Now, you switch to view the high-resolution proxies in the animation workspace, because you want to see your “real” images. But when you step between live and the other frames, the image doesn’t line up perfectly.

There is no real solution to this problem. Dragonframe gets the live view and the high-resolution images directly from the camera. Unfortunately these are not framed exactly the same, and so they will just be off. But that’s why we have the live view, so you can animate with it.

If this is super important to you, there is something you can try. You may find that certain image sizes have framing that more closely matches the live view. You can adjust the image size in the Cinematography window’s Camera Settings, and compare to the live view. For example, the Large JPEG might use a slightly different section of the sensor than the Medium JPEG. You can experiment to see which matches the best.

If your live view has light bands that move across it, you are probably dealing with an issue between the refresh rate of your live view and the lighting source.

One potential source for this is your lights, especially if they are fluorescent. In that case, you may need different lights. This can also happen with very fast shutter speeds.

If you slow the shutter speed down to 1/2 second or slower, does the problem go away?

If your live view or hi-res video images have light bands that move across it, you are probably dealing with an issue between the refresh rate of your live view and the lighting source.

One potential source for this is your lights, especially if they are fluorescent. In that case, you may need different lights.

For most video sources, in the Camera Settings, you can select ‘Frame Averaging’ and choose a value like 60. This will average together many consecutive frames, and probably get rid of the banding effect.

If this happens, your camera thinks it is in movie mode. That’s why it’s limiting your shutter speed range. Make sure to follow our camera setup instructions.
Camera Support

For Nikon cameras you need to turn off Manual movie settings in the Movie Settings.

This is a common issue for Canon users trying to use an external flash. This is actually a limitation of the camera, described in the camera manual (most models):

Cautions for Live View shooting
A non-Canon flash will not fire during Live View shooting.

Dragonframe provides a workaround. In the Cinematography workspace set External flash to On. Dragonframe will disengage the live view prior to capturing the high-resolution image, allowing the external flash to fire.

Sometimes the camera and program are working great, and then all of a sudden, every capture fails.This usually is caused by a disk failure:

• Check if the hard drive is full. You can fill it up quickly shooting RAW files!
• Check if someone moved or renamed the folders out from under you.
• For an external or network drive, check if it was removed or disconnected.
• Check if the permissions for the folder/drive are not allowing you to write to it.

There are many factors the can contribute to flicker.

Here are things you can do to reduce flicker:

• Make sure your lighting is controlled. No natural light coming through windows.
• Make sure your power is consistent. Fluctuating power leads to fluctuating lights.
• Watch out for reflections. If you wear a bright shirt, it can reflect light onto the set.
• Use longer exposures. A one second exposure will be less likely to have flicker than a 1/100th exposure.
• Use the ‘capture blackout’ preference in Dragonframe to turn the screen black during hi-res capture.
• Use manual aperture lenses. The opening and closing of the aperture can lead to fluctuations in the exposure level. This is covered in another answer.

Sometimes a Canon camera will get locked up and need to be reset in a special way.

• Remove the USB plug from the camera.
• Open the battery door and release the battery or AC adapter.
• Put the battery or ac adapter back in.
• Plug in the USB.
• Try again in Dragonframe.

Dragonframe only has direct support for the first two BMD cameras: the original “Cinema Camera” and the “Production Camera 4K”.

Why? Because these camera have Thunderbolt output and provide a way for Dragonframe to directly retrieve high-resolution streams.

Newer cameras do not have the same direct control capabilities.

You can use newer Blackmagic Design cameras the same way you can use other HDMI sources: by using a Blackmagic Design capture device to take the HDMI output of the camera and bring it into the computer. This will only bring HDMI input into the computer. It does not capture RAW or DNG images.

In most situations, it is simpler and yields better results to use a supported still camera.

There is a known issue with macOS 14.2.0 that prevents our software from detecting digital still cameras.

Apple has resolved the issue in macOS 14.2.1. Please update if you are using 14.2.0.

Dragonframe can visually de-squeeze an image shot with an anamorphic lens.

In Dragonframe 5.2 and newer, the setting is part of the Camera setup in Scene|Cameras.

In Dragonframe 5.1, the setting is called ‘Anamorphic’, and is available with most cameras in the ‘Camera Settings’ area of the Cinematography workspace. There are various de-squeeze ratios you can choose from: 2.0, 1.6, 1.33.

In older versions, the setting is called ‘Stretch’, and only offers ‘Anamorphic’, which is 2.0.

No.

The live view the Dragonframe receives from digital still cameras is almost always 8-bit JPEG images in sRGB. There is simply not enough information, and not in the correct format, to apply a LUT to. In any case, it probably wouldn’t match if you applied the same LUT to the captured still image.

This is just how things are in still photography. It’s not really a limitation of Dragonframe.

If you have a command line tool that can process the RAW file and then add the look you want, it’s possible to recreate the JPG proxies that are viewed in Dragonframe. This would only be for the high-res still images, though, and not for the animator’s live view.

In general, though, it is simply not necessary for an animator to have the ‘final look’ as they animate.

Just make sure that images are properly exposed and in focus. You can adjust your final look at a later stage, when you process your RAW files for post-production.

If you want to program lighting from within Dragonframe, you must have a compatible Dragonframe device:

• DDMX-512
• DDMX-S2 (old version)
• DMC-32
• DMC-16 (discontinued)
• DMC+ (discontinued)
• ENTTEC DMX USB Pro (and compatible products)
• ENTTEC DMX USB PRO Mk2
• Art-Net DMX Devices

One of these hardware devices is required to get a DMX512 signal from Dragonframe out to your lighting hardware.

Note that for real-time DMX capabilities, you need our DMC-32 real-time controller.

You can do real-time DMX with the following products:

• DMC-32
• DMC-16 (discontinued)
• DMC+ (discontinued)

All other DMX options are suitable for stop motion and time-lapse, but will not play live in synchronization with a motion control move.

Dragonframe 4+

Dragonframe 3 / Dragonframe Stop Motion 2

If you are looking for a decent, inexpensive dimmer pack, check out the 4-channel models from Elation, such as American DJ DP-415.

We do not recommend Optima dimmer packs. They have random flickering.Note that standard dimmer packs, such as these, are for incandescent lights. Do not try to use them for other lights, especially not lights that have their own transformers.

You should not use a microphone cable for DMX, even though they have the same XLR connectors.They are not built to the same specifications.

Here is an explanation.

We have no idea. You almost certainly do not want to use a standard dimmer pack that uses current modulation (PWM).

Usually LED lights, if they can be dimmable, have their own system to do it. Some LED panels have DMX input directly on them, so you would just plug the DMX cable into it.

The best thing to do is talk to the manufacturer or read the documentation.

If Dragonframe gave you that message, it means that the DMX-capable device you connected to Dragonframe does not support all the channels you have in your scene’s program. For example, if your scene has 200 channels, but you connect a DDMX-S2 (which only supports 99 channels), you will get this message.

For the DDMX-S2, you can order an upgrade chip from our site to get 512 channels in Dragonframe 4 or newer.

You can only use one DMX controller (DDMX-512, DDMX-S2, DMC-32, DMC-16 or DMC+, for example) to control lights. You cannot add multiple controllers to access more lights.

Please note that this has nothing to do with how many dimmer boxes you use. You usually need to use multiple dimmer boxes.

You want to have a grow light on for the time between shots, then have it turn off and other lights turn on prior to capturing the image.

You can accomplish this with the bash light program.

The bash light is normally used as a way to provide extra light for the animator while setting up a shot. So it is on while using the live view, but then turns off before taking the hi-res capture. You can read about the bash program in the User Guide.

Set up a bash light program that has the grow lights enabled.

If you need an extended delay between turning off the bash light and capturing the image, you can adjust the “Bash light settle time.” You can find this setting in the DMX settings window (gear near the top left of DMX).

So, the grow light is enabled, either as a DMX channel, or as a trigger/relay output, on the bash program.

When the program goes to shoot, it captures the live view, then switches from the Bash to the main program. It waits for “Bash light settle time”, then takes the picture.

The goal of the free trial is for you to test it with your camera, and to familiarize yourself with how the software works.

We have a list of supported cameras, along with setup instructions and troubleshooting for camera issues.

Camera Support

The free trial is available here: https://www.dragonframe.com/downloads/

You will enter your email address, and our system will send you a special trial serial number (license key), along with further instructions.

If you don’t have your free trial code after 10-15 minutes, it probably got sent to your Spam/Junk or Promotions folder.

Hotmail accounts almost always send our messages to Spam.

Google/Gmail accounts usually send them to Promotions.

The message comes from from: Dragonframe Support ([email protected]) with subject Dragonframe Free Trial Information.

The free trial is for you to test the software with your camera and get used to how it works.

It has the following limitations:

• You can shoot up to 50 frames per take.
• Images will have a subtle watermark that cannot be removed.
• Camera RAW formats are not supported.

Otherwise the software is fully functional.

The free trial places a watermark (semi-transparent Dragonframe logo) over all of the images you shoot. You cannot remove this watermark.

The free trial places a watermark (semi-transparent Dragonframe logo) over all of the images you shoot. The watermark cannot be removed from images you shot with the trial.

When you buy the software, any new images you capture will not be watermarked. But you cannot un-watermark images you shot during the trial period.

The free trial is only for you to test your camera and get used to how the software works. Because the free trial places a watermark on your captured images that cannot be removed, it is not suitable for starting a production.

Once you decide that the software meets your needs, you should purchase the software before starting on a project.

You can send in the program’s log files using “Report an Issue…” (formerly “Problem Report”) in the program’s Help menu. Sometimes, though, you may need to locate the log files manually. For example, if the program was crashing on startup.

Mac OS X

Please open a Terminal (in Applications : Utilities).

Type this command:

open ~/Library/Logs

The Logs folder will open in the Finder.
Look for Dragonframe.txt in the folder.

If the program crashed, you may also find a file that starts with “Dragonframe_” in the DiagnosticReports folder (within the Logs folder).

Windows

Open a File Explorer (not Internet Explorer!) and type this in the address bar:

%TMP%\DZED\Dragonframe

Look for Dragonframe.txt in the folder.

If the program crashed, you may also find a file that starts with “crash” in the same folder as the logs.

Linux

Please open a Console.

Type this command:

cd /tmp/DZED/Dragonframe
ls -la

Look for Dragonframe.txt in the folder.

If the program crashed, you may also find a file that starts with “crash” in the same folder as the logs.

If Dragonframe freezes, we may ask you to send us a process sample, so we can see where it is hanging.

This only works for macOS.

Open the Activity Monitor. You can find this in Applications : Utilities.

Find Dragonframe in the process list and click on it.

Go to the (…) menu at the top, click it, and choose Sample Process.

Save the file to your computer, then email it to us as an attachment.

The program is probably in ‘Ready to Capture – Sync’ mode.

Please watch our tutorial about Ready to Capture.
Tutorials

You chose ‘Compare with’ to compare an existing image to the live view in the animation workspace.

To return to normal, do one of the following:

• Press the play button (zero/play on the keypad, or SPACE on the keyboard).
• Press the LIVE key (#3 by default).
• Step forward or backward (arrows or #1 or #2 keys).

If you can see live view in the Animation workspace, but don’t see any images in the Cinematography workspace, then you probably have an outdated graphics card driver.We have seen this with ATI graphics cards with older drivers. Nothing shows up in the Cinematography workspace. If you update to the latest drivers, the problem will go away.

For more information on updating your driver, go here:

The driver for your graphics card is too old…

Dragonframe 3.5 and newer accepts most standard audio formats including WAV, AIFF, MP3 and others.

For earlier versions, the supported audio file formats are:

• WAV or AIFF
• 8 or 16 bit per channel
• 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo)

If you are on the Mac, you can get a free program called “Audacity”. Open your file with it, and then save it as a WAV file. It will be compatible with Dragon Stop Motion and Dragonframe.

You can also use iTunes to convert the file.

Open the file in iTunes, then follow the instructions here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1550

Basically, you go to the iTunes Preferences, select “Import Settings…”, and choose Import Using “WAV Encoder”.
Then select your audio track in iTunes, go to the Advanced menu and select “Create Wav version”.

You should be able to import that version into Dragon Stop Motion or Dragonframe.

This suggests you have Windows 10 N, which does not include the Media Feature Pack.

Follow the instructions here to install it:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4475817/media-feature-pack-for-windows-10-n-may-2019

With Dragonframe 3.6 and newer, you may get the following message on Windows: “Could not start Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) Service or one of its dependencies.”

If that happens, please go to your Service Manager and make sure that none of these services are Disabled:

• Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Shell Hardware Detection

Windows Only: Dragonframe 3.5+ uses OpenGL v2.1 to provide high-performance graphics processing.

If the driver for your graphics card does not support OpenGL 2.1, Dragonframe will give you a message like this:

• “The driver for your graphics card is too old and must be updated.”
• “Dragonframe requires OpenGL 2.1. Your graphics/driver card is using OpenGL 1.4.”

Additionally, if you have an Intel HD graphics card on Windows XP/7, you may get a message like this:

• “The driver for your graphics card is too old and must be updated.
  (You are running Intel 2.1.0 – Build 8.15.10.2413.)”

If this is the case, there is a good chance you can resolve the problem by updating the driver for your graphics card. (Intel HD on Windows XP/7 requires driver 8.15.10.2450 or newer).

Generally, the Device Manager’s option to check for driver updates will NOT work. It always says your graphics card driver is up to date.

One option is to check your computer manufacturer’s website for drivers specific to your model.

Alternatively, you may need to visit the graphics card maker to get the latest driver:

For Intel Integrated Graphics cards, please find your latest driver here:
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/graphics

For nVidia graphics cards, you can find the drivers here:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

For ATI/AMD graphics cards, the drivers are here:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

Also, if you have a laptop with both an integrated and discrete graphics cards, see if you have the option of always using the discrete card with Dragonframe. In general they perform much better than the Intel integrated cards.

We’ve had a handful of reports where OS X shows this error dialog when the user tries to open Dragonframe:

If you look at the report, it says something like this:

Dyld Error Message:

Library not loaded: @executable_path/../Frameworks/libavcodec.dylib

Referenced from: /Applications/Dragonframe/Dragonframe.app/Contents/MacOS/Dragonframe

Reason: Incompatible library version: Dragonframe requires version 55.0.0 or later, but libavcodec.dylib provides version 52.0.0

The issue is caused by some other program setting a global library path, which is a very bad thing.

There may be more than one program that does this, but we’ve found that older versions of an application called “Tracker” does this. If you installed Tracker version 4.84 or older, you should uninstall it and then install version 4.85 or newer to resolve the issue.

If you’ve never installed tracker, look for “DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH” in your environment plist file:

Open a Terminal (Applications : Utilities) and type:

sudo open ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist

It will ask for your password. This is your machine password that you use to log in. It does not show it to you as you type.

In the editor that opens, remove anything that says “DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH”.

Note: This might require XCode. If you don’t have it, you may alternatively need to just remove this file, like this:

sudo rm ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist

If Dragonframe crashes after creating/opening a scene, most likely you have an outdated graphics card driver. For Intel Integrated Graphics cards, please find your latest driver here:

[Intel Driver Support]

Also, if you have a laptop with both an integrated and discrete graphics cards, see if you have the option of always using the discrete card with Dragonframe. In general they perform much better than the Intel integrated cards.

If you are using a numeric keypad to control Dragonframe, make sure that Num Lock is On. Otherwise the key commands will be interpreted incorrectly.

We have some reports of the program crashing when attempting to access font information on Mac OSX. To resolve the issue:

1. Launch the Font Book application in the Applications folder.
2. Select Trebuchet MS in the Font list.
3. Select Edit -> Resolve Duplicates.
4. Restart Dragon Stop Motion.

If Dragonframe’s window is entirely black when you start it, or if the program gives you warning about graphics card misconfiguration, this information is for you.

Many computers have two graphics cards. One that comes with the motherboard, usually an Intel integrated card. Then there may be a secondary, more advanced card, from NVidia or AMD.

Dragonframe needs to run using the more advanced card, and may have issues if you have set it to run on the integrated Intel card.

One way this can happen is if you plug the monitor directly into the HDMI/VGA/DVI port on the motherboard, instead of going into the separate graphics card. When you have a graphics card from NVidia or AMD, it will provide its own ports to plug into. If you plug into the wrong one, applications cannot use the better card.

Another way this can happen is if you configure your system to make Dragonframe run on the Intel card. NVidia and AMD provide software that lets you choose which graphics card to run specific applications on. You may need to look in that software and make sure Dragonframe is set to run on the proper card.

• Is the computer’s volume up?
• Is Dragonframe’s volume up? (Each workspace has a separate volume level.)
• Is Dragonframe muted (There is a mute key on our keypad)

• Set your output format to stereo (2 channel), 48 kHz.
• Make sure you are using normal speakers or headphones.
• Do not use theater sound setup.

On Windows, we have seen some cases that lead to the program freezing or hanging when the user opens a scene or creates a new scene.

Usually the main application window will be white, and the program hangs.

Here are the different reasons this can happen.

Monitor Plugged Into Wrong Port

If your computer has a dedicated graphics card, make sure all monitors are plugged into it directly.

We have seen numerous problems when one monitor is plugged into the integrated card on the motherboard.

Spatial Sound Processing Software: Sonic Studio or Nahimic

If you have a gaming laptop, and Dragonframe freezes when using dual monitors, this is probably the cause.

These sound programs try to enhance sound by injecting themselves into OpenGL calls.

For Nahimic, disable the “Nahimic” service in the Windows Services Control Panel.

For Sonic Studio, uninstall the software.

Our tutorials are only in English.

However, if you watch them on our YouTube channel, you can turn on subtitles in any language that YouTube supports.

Over the years we have had multiple people work on the Dragonframe user interface translations. We are very thankful to the work they have provided, allowing Dragonframe to be more accessible to non-English speakers.

Here are the translators:

• Spanish: Can Can Club
• French: Pierre-Jean MOREAU
• Portuguese: Pedro Iuá
• German: Juergen Kling
• Japanese: Baku Hashimoto
• Chinese: Beijing Ou-Lei Technology Com., Ltd.
• Korean: Kyungwon Song