v10 textures to materials doesn't work in raytrace

[cgirerd]

I used the convert textures to materials command for a folder of my textures. Then I look at them on an object in a vector and render camera views and the material looks fine, but when I do a raytrace view, it just shows as the solid color. If I go to the edit material dbx and look on the raytrace tab, the sample sphere also shows as the solid color. This is the same for all the textures I converted using the texture to materials command.

However, if I do the "Create Material" command on an individual texture, it converts properly and shows fine in raytrace.

Anyone else having this problem of the batch conversion not working in raytrace views?

Christina

[John Pallett]

Hi Christina -

This is very strange - are they jpgs?

Make sure the texture name in the texture tab is in fact correct... also, there may be strange characters (such as ~ ) that work in a Render View but not in a ray-trace.

If you can post a sample texture name that doesn't work (with the full path) maybe that will shed some light on the situation.

[cgirerd]

Thanks for answering John. They are jpgs. And they are in a "-My Textures" folder in the Materials section. The odd thing is, I apply one of those materials to an object, it doesn't show in raytrace, so I open up the material thru the "plan materials" dbx, and select Edit, go to the Textures tab, and hit Browse, and reselect the exact same jpg file in the exact same location, and now it will show fine in raytrace - both in the raytrace tab sample sphere and in the actual raytrace. I'm not sure why that triggers something that then makes it acknowledge the raytrace part of it, but that's what happens... These are all textures I used just fine in 9.5.

Christina

[cgirerd]

Oh yeah - and there are no odd characters in the texture names - just stuff like "Fencing2.jpg"

[DL Drafting]

Christina,
Myself and an architect out east had the same experience with textures in raytrace. The posts were made about a week ago. It has been reported to Chief in an incident report, and the following reply was sent to me by Dan Park:

"We have identified this as a problem that was introduced in 10.01. We are currently looking at a resolution for this. "

******************************************
Dan Park,
Technical Support Coordinator,

[cgirerd]

Okay - glad it's being looked into.

Christina

[DL Drafting]

Christina,
Well, I guess I need to keep up. The 10.01a update was the correction that was noted from that incident report. I just hadn't visited the user forum for a few days and missed everything. Please forgive.
When I downloaded and installed the update, the texture on the model that I had sent to Chief in the incident report did, in fact, render out correctly in both render and raytrace views. I then went back to the message and filed the report. However, after going back to work on other plans last night and this morning, I see the same old thing recurring. I am still not clear on why some textures work and some don't. After opening and closing many texture files in the material window and then from the plan folder, it all gets so confusing, it's hard to tell where you are. Then, there are times when I swear that I had opened and reassigned a texture size and coordinate value as well as a pattern to a texture only to go back into the plan and find those values missing. I'm still not satisified that this issue has been resolved and am filing a copy of this report to you also to Dan Park at Chief. Dan in Sedalia

[cgirerd]

About your comment on some textures work and some don't in raytrace... I found all the textures that came with Chief work fine. Only the ones I brought into Chief by doing the folder conversion from Textures to Materials don't work in raytrace. Any of the ones I created individually work fine.

Christina

[DL Drafting]

C,
Yes. That has been my experience today. I opened some stock Chief textures as well as those that I had imported and converted. My results compare to yours. It was my understanding that the files would be converted in their entirety. It now appears each individual texture will have to be reintroduced to the new Chief. Dan

[Helavagal]

Christina,

I have had the same problems as you have been having. One of my plans raytraced fine in 9.5 but the roofing material in 10 is nothing but a solid color. If you hear of anything that has been fixed, please pass it on!!

Thanks

Angela

[Tommy Blair]

Christina,

You are correct. The only way I can get imported textures to work is to open them using the "plan material" tab and browsing to find the texture. Then they do work in raytrace. This means that I will have to use the CD that I have all the textures on OR put all of these textures on the hard drive to get them. It currently doesn't do any good to import them into CA and then convert the textures if you plan to raytrace. It works just fine though if you converted the textures and do basic renders. I don't understand this.

Tommy

[Tommy Blair]

Christina,

I'm also having a hard time getting the ceilings in raytrace to look other than black. I've used settings that would blow the picture out with light in 9.5 but still have dark (blackish) ceilings. Are you having this problem?

Tommy

I need to add that I have this problem only when I use radiosity....which is what I like. Otherwise I would do just a standard render. To me there is not much difference in the raytrace and standard render if you don't use radiosity.

[Jason Troye]

The problem has been identified and fixed. The fix will appear in a future update. The issue was that the filename did not have the correct drive information (e.g. "C:"). If you open a material that you created using this function and look at the pathname under "Texture File" on the texture tab, you will notice that the drive information is not there. Appending the correct drive name, in most cases "C:", should fix the problem.

[cgirerd]

Jason - Yep - that was it. I stuck the "c:" in front of the file path and that did it. At least that's quicker than having to browse and find the file again. Thanks for figuring that out.

Tommy - about your ceilings being so dark - I haven't noticed any difference from 9.5 in that regard. And I always use radiosity, too. But I also haven't done any of the more detailed interior shots yet with 10...

Christina