Knowledge Base/Training Support - FAQs

I'm getting errors when opening project files. What can I do to fix this?

Dan LeFebvre
posted this on July 20, 2011 16:40

If you are getting errors opening project files, there are many variables that can play into the errors. Please choose from the options below for the issue that matches your situation.

I am using an older version than is listed in the "Software Requirements" for the course.
I haven't set up a project associated with the project files.
Neither of these are my issue, or I've tried this and it doesn't fix the problem.

 

I am using an older version than is listed in the "Software Requirements" for the course.

In order to understand why this may be an issue, it's important to first understand exactly what the "Software Requirements" mean. Every course has an associated "Software Requirements". Here is an example screenshot of where the software requirements are located at on the Course Details page: Software Requirements

The "Software Requirements" refer to the software and version number that was used to create the course. The project files associated with any given course are the same files that were used in the creation of the course. As a result, many project files may not open if your version of software differs from the version that the project files were created with. This is beyond anyone's control and is solely due to the many changing factors in any given software's development.

For example, the course in the screenshot above was created in Maya 2012 and showcases many of the new features in Maya 2012. Attempting to open the project files in an older version of Maya that was created when the features used in the course didn't even exist can potentially cause issues and will almost always cause errors and warnings upon opening the project files. In many cases the errors and warnings due to version differences may not cause any problems. In other cases it may be enough to cause the files to not open at all. The severity of the errors all depends on how heavily the project files rely on the features that are newer than the version you are trying to open the project files with. For example, if attempting to open project files created in Maya 2012 within Maya 2011 you are far less likely to have errors that cause serious issues than you are if you were to attempt to open project files created in Maya 2012 within Maya 4. This is simply because there are fewer differences between Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 than there are differences between Maya 4 and Maya 2012.

If you'd like to learn more about how to ignore version warnings in Maya, please click here to watch a free tutorial on how to do that.

 

I haven't set up a project associated with the project files.

Many software applications require "projects" are set up in order for the project files to work as expected. "Projects" typically refer to a series of folders so the software knows where to look for specific items. For example, a project in Maya is simply a series of folders so that Maya knows where things like textures are located as well as where to put rendered images. The project files that are downloaded for any given course will typically include the folders that make up the project for that software.

The process for setting up the projects in different software varies, so please refer to the following links for more information on how to use Digital-Tutors project files within your software.

 

Neither of these are my issue, or I've tried this and it doesn't fix the problem.

If neither of the above situations applies to you, or if you're still having issues then please feel free to post in our forums for assistance. Our Connect forums have thousands of helpful members as well as DT staff and instructors. When posting your question to the forums, please be as descriptive as possible as this helps our members, staff and instructors better answer the question. Please refer to this Helpdesk article for some recommended guidelines for posting to the forums.
 
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