Help with RW...

[3x3x3]

i just purchased a dvd of some really great concrete textures-

i opened the .png files in photoshop, reduced their size and saved as .jpg files. i mapped 'diffuse' to 'color', 'specular' to 'reflectivity' and 'bump' to 'bump'.

rendered a simple model using opengl and it looks great (besides the lighting which i've yet to get right).

the problem is i discovered that opengl does not cast shadows. so i decided to render with 'rw with shadows'. suddenly the image renders as a grainy black mess rather than the great textured opengl version...

any guesses/suggestions?

[3x3x3]

forgot... using vw11.5, osx 10.4

ibook g4

[islandmon]

Twiddle with the texture 'scaling' & 'mapping' in the OIP.

[CipesDesign]

If I remeber correctly (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong), in version 11xx the user must provide a LIGHT SOURCE. You do this by going to the SET SUN POSITION in the VIEW>LIGHTING menu. Without a light source everything will be dark!

FYI: in version 12xx, in the absence of a user set light(s), a default light is automatically created. Just another reason to upgrade...

[3x3x3]

thanks both for the replies... i've actually tinkered with a wide variety of lights as well as the scaling and mapping but still haven't had any success. i assume since the scale and map look great in opengl, they should appear good in rw. correct?

and by the way i have ram envy with both of you...

[mike m oz]

3x3x3 - try rendering in Final Quality RenderWorks.

[JBC]

3x3x3, In 11.5 I would often see something similar to what you describe. In most cases it turned out to areas where 2 or more objects shared the same space. For instance if I had accidentally pasted a wall in the exact same place as another. Again, looked fine in OpenGL but not in RenderWorks. The problem would often change as I turned the direction of the light. The solution was to make sure that all of my objects did not overlap.-Brendan

[Dave Donley]

Hello 3x3x3:

OpenGL doesn't render bump mapping, just the color image. The amplitude value of the bump shader is probably too large. Also, final quality will probably look better because the bumps will be antialiased, i.e. smoother.

HTH,

[3x3x3]

hi all- thanks for the advice. still can't figure it out though... i tried final rw and the bump had been only set to .1.

same results- opengl looks great, rw is grainy seems to be almost b&w (i.e., no grays).

looks like i'll be trying cheetah...

[propstuff]

One of the curious things with lighting in RW is that the lighting levels in Open GL and Final don't seem to have any relationship.

I.E. Just because there is enough light in Open GL, doesn't mean there will be enough in Final.

Bump the light output by a factor of 10 and see if that does anything.

[Dave Donley]

Hello again 3x3x3:

Using a JPG for bump mapping can be problematic because the compression artifacts (which are subtle when looking at a color image) become obvious stair stepping in the bump map. It is better to use a format that will not add these artifacts. PNG or uncompressed TIFF would work better for a bump map.

You can also use the Smoothness slider in the image bump shader to smooth out noise in the image.

You might also try the texture without the image reflectivity shader. Any contrasty noise in the image will be amplified by this shader.