I would really appreciate any help you guys can give, let me lay out the scenario.
First I tried the free online version of both the standard and pro versions.
I liked TFP HL Pro and purchased that one directly from IMSI, Boxed version.
I designed some basic buildings and tried to use the "Render 3D Real View" and couldn't get it to work.
I uninstalled the downloaded versions of TFP.
Clean install of the boxed CD of TFP HLP and applied the update off the website (ver. 12.01.C2.586)
Tried again, no luck.
Tried to use a pre-built sample project, rendering still didn't work.
Called tech support, under Program Settings we deselected Hardware Acceleration, no luck.
Changed quality settings from Low to Mid to High, still didn't work.
He submitted a trouble ticket, hopefully someone here has some insight.
So here are the specifics:
Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit (Service Pack 1)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3GHz/3GHz)
RAM 4GB High Quality
NVIDIA GEForce 8800GT Video Card.
System is homebuilt and ultra stable, good temps and clock speeds, not currently overclocked.
I walked through the TFP tutorial booklet and built a house, everything worked perfectly.
The last step is to render the project.
So I click to go into 3D View and then select Render 3D Real View.
The Render pop up screen appears and I click "RENDER"
It starts and says "calculating shadows", don't see anything move on the status bar.
And then says "Done!"
Unfortunately, nothing is done, I get a blank white screen when using a TFP sample project or just about 1/4 inch of blue sky and cloud at the top of the screen when trying to render my basic tutorial house.
Well, that's it... it just won't render.
Anyone else experienced this?
Suggestions on what I can try?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!!
Roger L
F15DOC
We have all probably experienced that at one time or another....tho very rarely from a standard wizard construct.
Yes, very often it is a hardware acceleration problem. Also a construction with a fault such as a mismatched/poorly connected corner will fail.
Best bet is for you to post your .bld file and some others here can try to render your design and determine if its the file or the PC.
Could be either. Few here use Vista tho. Otherwise your system should be OK....not that Vista is bad; some users use it just fine....just that most users seem to not have upgraded from XP to Vista yet...me included.
In mean time you can try these steps....might help, might not....
- use "repair file" (file menu I think, have not used it in months)
- before a render, move the camera little...sometimes an odd position makes problems and a very small change helps
- are you rendering indoor or out? do you have a light on inside? Could be all dark from no light source? (we have all done that before too). Also there are a few render problems in/out vs with/wo indoor lights etc. . . . search this forum for problems uncovered.
- insert a new camera....on rare occasion the default cameras break a render.
- have you inserted anything from outside the program...either an object or a .jpg image? it could be a damaged file??
- did TFP install OK? did you have an AV program on during install? "could" be a install failure of some file....and a re-install "might" fix it but if no other symptoms I'd assume the install is OK.
Basically you need to try the most simple design and try simple changes one at a time searching for issues/problems/success. Try a basic as well as advanced renders...basic almost always works where advanced may not.
Let us know what you tried and post a failed file along with a failed render .jpg if you have it and explain what render settings you used....."detectives" here love a challenge
More thinking....you do need to run a basic render after you do an advanced render....usually set to auto by default....check for that too.
Also try render to different size and also different file type (jpg and bmp) as both were an issue but were fixed in the update to newest version which you have...but just in case??
egads.... for gods sake.....
Hi Roger,
Yes agreed it does sound a bit daunting but Doug has simply listed a number of things that could be the problem for you to try. The basic point is that rendering does work for everyone else, both Basic and Advanced, indicating the problem may be something to do with your PC setup or a problem with the model itself. Posting the model here will soon prove if it is a corruption in the model itself that is causing the problem, as someone else can see if it will render. If it does, they you know there is a conflict somewhere in the PC.
The only situation where the program has been responsible for a model not rendering that I can recall, is if the patch has NOT been installed, but you said you had done that, so it should work. The patch fixed two rendering issues, one was a failure of the Advanced render if hardware acceleration was on and the second was a totally white image IF it was saved as a JPG. The BMP was OK. As mentioned this was fixed also, so I am unaware of any other bugs that stop it from rendering. Have you tried just drawing 4 walls on a new project, or even just one piece of furniture and see if that renders?
The quickest way to narrow down the cause is to post a model that fails, so we can check it out.
Allan
Thanks, I strongly doubt it is the model as we tried several of the TFP samples and had the same results.
I changed the camera angle and it seemed to complete the rendering, but it doesn't look any different than the 3D view.
RL
The Basic render may not look very different except that it has shadows, but the Advanced render, especially internal views, can be dramatically different - very realistic with graduated lighting and shadows. I assume you must have just done the Basic render. Try the Advanced - it is much better than the 3D View.
I have added a simple comparison of the three, Screen 3D View, Basic Render and Advanced. As you can see the Advanced is much more realistic, but of course takes longer to produce the image. This example also illustrates a slight bug, previously reported, that the sun angle is slighly different between the Basic and Advanced - not sure which one is correct. If you do experiment with Advanced, do a Search for Advanced (or Radiosity) and, as Doug suggested earlier, read the various posts as there are still a few little bugs to work around.
Allan