ASSET Frequently Asked Questions

My sunpath shows shading where there's open sky on the panorama. Why?

The ASSET software uses contrast in the picture to determine shading -- light areas are considered not shaded, dark areas are considered shaded. Occasionally, a dark section of sky may incorrectly register as shading, or, vice versa, a window or light-sided building may register as unshaded.

This can be corrected by opening the panorama (not the sunpath) in a photo editor, such as Paint.net provided with the ASSET software, and brightening unusually dark sections of sky or darkening light colored obstructions. Save the panorama with the same name and location, then hit the Update button on your ASSET software. A new sunpath will be generated. More details can be found in our online Instruction Manual.

Can I use Open Office Calc instead of Microsoft Excel?

You may open the spreadsheet.xls file from your project folder manually with Calc, or you can create a Excel.bat file in your ASSET directory to automatically open Calc. The Excel.bat file may need to be modified to specify your Open Office version and location.

Excel.bat is simply this text saved with the .bat extension:

• C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 2.4\program\scalc" %1 %2

I'm getting Jvm errors when I try to run the software. What do I need to do?

Download and install the latest version of Java from www.java.com.

Where are my pictures?

You must download pictures from your camera to the computer - they cannot be read directly from camera. When you download, specify a download location which can be easily found.

The City and State information does not update on my spreadsheet. How can I update it?

Be sure to close the spreadsheet and csv file, then hit the update button on your ASSET screen. Re-open the spreadsheet. Software version 1.27 and earlier may not update properly.

The pictures won't work with camera set on panorama setting. What do I do?

Do not use panorama setting; use standard ("auto") setting without any zoom.

How do I get new software?

If you are within one year of your purchase date, or have purchased an additional year of support ($50/yr), you may download the latest revision of the software from our website. Contact our office for the link and password.

Paint.net V2.5 is not running on Vista. How do I fix it?

You may download the latest version of Paint.net from www.getpaint.net.

Alternately, install Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1. The installer is available for download on our website, on ASSET software CD V1.30 and later, or from Microsoft.

I get error "msvcr71.dll" when I try to open ASSET software. How do I fix it?

"msvcr71.dll" is a Windows file that the ASSET software requires to operate (located in C:\windows\system32). Download the file from Microsoft to the specified folder.

During install, the installer cannot access My Documents because it is located on a network drive. How do I install?

Install the software on a local drive. If the installer cannot access "My Documents" it may fail before you can select the download location. Move "My Documents" to a local drive temporarily, run install, select C: for install location. After install, return "My Documents" to the network. Alternately, you can install V1.29 until a new software version is released to correct this.

My panorama is scrambled. How do I fix it?

ASSET sorts the pictures based on the numbering of their filenames. It will give you a warning if the numbers are not consecutive (numbers longer than 11 digits will cause an error). MS Publisher may change filenames when downloading files from a camera. Manually rename the files consecutively or use a different download program such as Windows Explorer or Kodak.