Error message when rendering

[Draft Patrick]

Pat, thank you for the info, maybe you have hit the nail on the head, perhaps the video card is the problem as the computer is some 4 years old (top of the range when purchased) maybe time to invest in a new one. Rendering time with advanced level 3, 500 steps is just under 50 seconds, which is not bad for the age of the computer.
I tried Allan's suggestion to try a supplied sample and while TFP didn't crash basic rendering didn't work.

Please, post a file (the simple one will be OK) so we can compare the results
In addition, please, post thhe specs of your computer --> chip, memory, videocard specs, etc. Sometimes, the age of the computer is not important, but the specs are. For example, I have an old XP computer, that I bought in 2003, and I have a new Win 7 computer that I bought last year and in both cases, TFP works flawlessly

Pat

[Doug.S]

snip
to try a supplied sample and while TFP didn't crash basic rendering didn't work.

Did you try render with and w/o h/w acceleration on/off?  With it "off" you eliminate graphics card use; may take longer but may work....you can turn it on/off for design or renders as needed.

If always on, does display always work OK?  different when "off" (other than slower)?

I had a 6 yr old PC that handled TFP16 OK.

[Burgo]

Jack, plenty of ram memory but a bit short on brain memory. Attached is a zip file of a basic drawing that failed basic render on my machine, would be interested if it succeeds on yours.
Regard Bob

[Burgo]

Doug & Pat, thanks for your reply. I have posted a simple plan that failed on my machine, so have a look and see what you can come up with.
Doug, tried render with video card HA on and off, but not difference. I have noticed that the display on the screen in much better and sharper when turned off, so I will leave it off in the future.
Pat, computer specs show on the attached screen dump.
Regards Bob

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Bob,

Well I tried Rendering your model and had no problems, Basic or Advanced. Added a bit of landscapeing for effect and still fine.
I did not ice that the window glass was very blue and not from the normal Glass/Mirror group but  another one was added to my catalogue. It rendered Ok (although I did changes it as it looked odd) but this just made me wonder if you had imported other materials etc, although I don't think that would cause a render issue. Even with the blue glass it still rendered OK.

My PC is a Core i7, 4GB RAM, 512 Nvidia graphics. Basic took 18 Seconds, Advanced just over 3 min 10 Sec.

Obviously there is nothing wrong with the model itself - will leave further diagnosis to Pat or other computer experts.

Allan

[Doug.S]

I too had no issues rendering either basic or advanced...see images

I ran render with defaults in the file, nothing added nor changed except camera position/view
made 1.4MB .bmp files reduced to .jpg using "RIOT" prog.
Basic = 5 sec.
Adv = 19 sec.
win7pro x64 i7-3.4GHz 12GB-RAM 1GB-Radeon6870

If HA = no diff, then not likely to be vid card. 1GB RAM w/XP (if nothing else running) should be OK...I used to run 2GB XP with TFP just fine with several other apps running too.

If you want to investigate further (since it is not the model)...I'd have XP OS perf-mon (performance monitor) and task manager running when you do a render to see if a spike/max. in CPU and disk use or over-run of RAM or other issues. Long shot it is a virus scan prog issue...try disconnect with www and turn off antivirus program...and try renders.

[Burgo]

Allan & Doug, thanks for your help, much appreciated. I think I will just give up with basic rendering. I have tried all your suggestions but still get the same result, frustrating. Just a simple render results in TFP crashing or the results below.
Lately I have been getting the attached warning when I close the program settings dialogue box, could there be a connection.
Bob

[Draft Patrick]

 Hi Burgo,

Don't give up. Try these steps --> these are the same steps I recommended to you back in November (program crash) --> I still think that your videocard is creating some type of interference

1 - Check the website of your video card manufacturer and update the drivers

2 - Go to the video setup on your PC (may be different for different versions of Windows and video card); for most, click on an empty part of the windows Desktop, click on Settings->Advanced->Troubleshoot). Back the accelerations slider to the left, one level each time and see if the problem disappears.  Now, if you the accelerations controls are not available, this means that you don't have a dedicated memory for video. In this case, go to the control panel of your video chip / adapter --> performance --> move the control and set down the performance. This may help

3 - Right click on the wallpaper (look for a place without icons)--> Properties--> Settings--> Advanced--> Open GL--> Compatibility Settings--> Force 16 bits--> Apply--> OK

4 - Some NVidia card users reported additional problems--> in this case change the color settings from 32 bit to 16 bit 

5 - Go to www.microsoft.com/directx, and see what version is current and check if you have this version installed in your computer

Let us know about the results

Pat

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Bob,

Please follow through on Pat's suggestions, as he has sorted out many users problems in the past, so hopefully can narrow yours down also.

I would just like to take up the point about the error message as you close down. I would suggest that you go to the same set of folders as appear for Catalogue etc and create a folder with the name Projects. First that should stop the error message but the Projects folder is the default location for your files and where the AutoSave backup files are automatically saved. Do you have AutoSave turned on? It is probably wise unless you are very disciplined in saving at regular intervals.

Unless you have allocated to same an image with a specific name in a differetn folder TFP will usethe Projects folder to save a TGA file, which is a temporary file for the image you are generating. It disappears when the image is finished. This file first appears a few seconds into the render. Whether the non-existance of this folder is causing an issue here with the render or not I do not know, but the folder should be there and it MAY (stress MAY) have something to do with the termination of the basic render. It won't hurt to try it anyway.  More sgnificantly, it may mean you are not getting a backup of your projects and that could be a disaster!

I presume you have Render To File ticked in the Render settings? What address does it show as the Location where it will be saved?

Allan

[Burgo]

Pat, no joy, 
1.updated the video driver to current,
2. moved the acceleration slider to the left one level each time, no difference.
3. Got to settings - advance, no open GL on the tab .
4. Color setting was already 16 bit.
5. opened website and was directed to X Box web page. Is this the correct web page?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[Doug.S]

I sense the problem has been revealed....TFP does not know where to save the basic render (although this idea fails because why would it know where the adv render gets saved?)

In any event....when you have a successful render...do you find the file OK?  Does that location match where in prog settings TFP saves renders?

And TFP seems to want a specific kind of location that is not "read only" as it must write to that location to save your files and TFP must have authority to write to there....so the default location established when TFP is installed is a safe and OK place....I know, I have tried and run into pseudo read only locations (even tho they are not read only) and TFP gives write errors.

So once you have the save to location set....open explorer (for folders, not internet) and watch the folder when you render...it will after a while make a temp file until render is done and then finalize and remove the temp file.  Basic renders set the temp file partway through rendering and if temp file cannot be established it will stop rendering.

[Draft Patrick]

3. Got to settings - advance, no open GL on the tab .
5. opened website and was directed to X Box web page. Is this the correct web page?

3 --> Open GL --> in your case, perhaps you will find it the the NVidia Control Panel
5 -- > yes, it seems that the page was moved --> try this page --> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179113

An additional suggestion
Run these 2 free programs (run both)
- Malwarebytes --> http://www.malwarebytes.org/
- Spybot --> http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

Pat

[Doug.S]

also consider going here to download a free open gl viewer/tester to get info on your graphics card capabilities

http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/

easy to run and understand

Only downside is that IMSI does not specify what capabilities are needed to run TFP

[Draft Patrick]

Only downside is that IMSI does not specify what capabilities are needed to run TFP

http://imsidesign.com/Products/TurboFLOORPLAN/TurboFloorPlan3DProv16/SystemRequirements/tabid/1657/Default.aspx

Pat

[Doug.S]

OK, clarification, as we were talking about vid cards...

IMSI does not specify requirements of what level of OpenGL driver is needed...

like 1.7 min. as an example, and shader model level ? ....

detailed such as provided by Adobe for Photoshop along with list of tested/approved vid cards etc.?