X5 3D View Issues

[HumbleChief]

Good video as usual Scott. Happy Labor Day BTW!

One more thing that was different between your model and Keith's was that Keith had RayTrace>Lighting> Ambient Lighting> "Use Camera View Settings" Checked in the RayTrace dbx - your model did not.

When you check "Use Camera View Settings" for ambient light Chief uses the 3D Default ambient interior and exterior settings that you looked at. Even though those settings were virtually the same, Keith's model was using them to create the RT's ambient lighting, your model was not.

Sometimes, if you have that box checked, you can lessen those shadows by upping both interior and exterior ambient lighting in the 3D defaults dbx - or just turn it off.

Also ANY kind of environmental light will get rid of them but it's too slow for me.

I'll download the plan (should have already doe that) and check the theory.

[HumbleChief]

Yeah as I expected.

Here's a view with the "Use Camera View Box" checked and 9% exterior ambient

[HumbleChief]

Here's a view with "Use Camera View Settings" checked and 80% exterior ambient lighting.

[HumbleChief]

If you uncheck the "Use Camera View Settings" box then the 3D defaults for ambient (interior and exterior) have no effect on your RayTrace and ALL the lighting comes from your Ambient Occlusion settings. If you want more light in a RayTrace up your AO max to around 6.

Here's the result.





I think the thing that Keith ran into most of all is the 3D default setting for ambient exterior. Just up those values till it's not so dark, then save that as a template for the next plan.

Hope that helps

[HumbleChief]

BTW I had really bad z fighting on the roof until I upped the thickness of the roofing material from 1/8" to 1/4"

[dshall]

BTW I had really bad z fighting on the roof until I upped the thickness of the roofing material from 1/8" to 1/4"

interesting, this surprises me, but if it works, that is good.

[dshall]

If you uncheck the "Use Camera View Settings" box then the 3D defaults for ambient (interior and exterior) have no effect on your RayTrace and ALL the lighting comes from your Ambient Occlusion settings. If you want more light in a RayTrace up your AO max to around 6.

Here's the result.





I think the thing that Keith ran into most of all is the 3D default setting for ambient exterior. Just up those values till it's not so dark, then save that as a template for the next plan.

Hope that helps

Not sure if I got the same results, I did part 2, thanks Larry for throwing in your 2 cents....... you know what? I think photom mapping throws a curve ball into the whole equation.

[M.Construction]

I ran into a lot of this z fighting when I had really thin wall layers.
The two things I did were thicken the material (same idea that has already been said),
and use the full camera versus the perspective overview. Sometimes with the perspective overview it grabs the full terrain, and cameras, yadda yadda, and has the distance quite far away which always made the issue worse the farther away it was.

Hopefully a lot of these other guys advice has been helping you. Even if some are (self acclaimed) a-holes, the fact that they help so much is to be commended. Have a great labour day.

[Doug Park]

I'm joining this thread late and am appalled at the behavior of Scott. I know he can be rather caustic and insensitive at times, but this type of response is wholly undeserved.

Scott, please don't post unless you have something constructive to add. We expect people to behave like adults here.


The issues described are not normal.

I would suggest the following.

1) Look for a new driver for your video card. We have seen some driver versions that exhibit the issue that lighting is off.

2) The issues you are seeing with z fighting can occur if your camera is very far away. While making surfaces thicker helps other things like moving the front clipping plane of the camera closer should help.

For the video card you are running the out of box settings for X5 should be OK, but sometimes the video card manufacturers release drivers that don't work correctly.

You shouldn't have to turn off advanced lighting to make it look better. Mostly this feature is there for old cards that don't support the newer features of OpenGL.

If you are still having issues I would suggest contacting our support team on Tue. when they are back from the long weekend.

[HumbleChief]

I'm not saying DON'T use "Camera view settings" I'm just saying that if you do, then the lighting values are controlled by the "Camera View settings" in the 3D dbx.

When this box is checked...



Then the lighting values are controlled from here...



It's set to 9% and that's why this bad boy is so dark.

[dshall]

I'm not saying DON'T use "Camera view settings" I'm just saying that if you do, then the lighting values are controlled by the "Camera View settings" in the 3D dbx.
......................

I got it Larry, I think, but don't you think using GENERAL MATERIAL with some EMISSIVITY vs. a MATTE material gives you more flexibility? I really don't know, I am just experimenting.

[HumbleChief]

....up it to 80% and you get what I posted previously.

Again, with that box checked...



the lighting is being controlled from here...



Giving this new 80% 3D Default Ambient lighting result...



So you can use the "Use Camera View Settings" with no problem but you need to know what it does and means. It means use the 3D settings to control the lighting.

When the box is unchecked it means use the other ambient light controls in the RT dbx, like Ambient Occlusion.

[HumbleChief]

I got it Larry, I think, but don't you think using GENERAL MATERIAL with some EMISSIVITY vs. a MATTE material gives you more flexibility? I really don't know, I am just experimenting.

Absolutely but a user should NOT have to mess with material properties to get a decent RT!!! [/rant]

Keith had some setting left over from X4 that were messing with his X5 views and RT's - ANOTHER thing a user should not have to mess with to get a decent view, either render or RT.

BTW I JUST figured out what the "Use Camera Settings" dbx meant so I'm not dealing with a ton of experience here but once I understood it, it makes perfect sense.

[HumbleChief]

Here's another thread where I ran into some dark shadows too.

http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread.php?t=60411

It's a long thread but deals with a similar issue. Jintu has traced this behavior to properties as well. The hardwood floors are 'polished' and it messes up the RT's. Change it to 'reflective' and it works great.

[dshall]

....up it to 80% and you get what I posted previously.

Again, with that box checked...



the lighting is being controlled from here...



Giving this new 80% 3D Default Ambient lighting result...



So you can use the "Use Camera View Settings" with no problem but you need to know what it does and means. It means use the 3D settings to control the lighting.

When the box is unchecked it means use the other ambient light controls in the RT dbx, like Ambient Occlusion.

Got it, so 80% ambient light on the outside, I wonder how that effects the RENDER VIEW for editing purposes... what I am referring to is, as I edit a model I typically use RENDER MODE, so would the 80% setting work for me as I edit the model, I don't know yet. That is the beauty of the program, there are many different settings that we can use depending on how we use the program.