Gobos not rendering

[Mike Wright]

I have a Spotlight fixture with a gobo applied. I cannot get the gobo to appear in renders in the file that contains it.  If i copy the light and focus point into a new file then import the renderworks style and background then the gobo appears again.

 

Anything obvious?

 

VW 2017, Windows 10

 

 

[BSeigel]

Could be a number of things. I would check the light properties for the light object and make you you have cast shadows enabled and soft shadows disabled. Have you tried just using Fast or Final Quality renderworks?

[danm01]

This happens to me fairly regularly. I render custom gobos frequently for one particular client. It's been happening since at least v2016. I've never been able to pin down exactly what makes it break, so I've never filed a bug report. Sometimes it happens when I move the fixture, other times it seems totally random.

 

My general solution is:

1) switch the gobo to something different (any generic stock object)

2) re-render

3) switch back to the gobo I actually want

4) render it again

5) repeat until it works

 

If you're using multiple fixtures, good luck! Sometimes you need to touch every single one to get it to stick.

 

-Dan

[Mike Wright]

Thanks Dan, I tried those steps a couple of times already, file is with VSS tech support just now, see what they come up with. 

[Andy Broomell]

Gobos have been buggy for me the last couple versions of VW. But I don't use them quite enough to nail down when/how things go wrong...

 

They definitely need some attention.

[Mike Wright]

So the official line is that the problem was caused by a corrupted renderworks camera.  I have had this before, the solution is to create a viewport with the camera active and render that instead.

[danm01]

Thanks Mike. I'm not sure that I buy that official explanation, though. I *always* render using viewports with linked RW cameras. Sometimes the gobo mysteriously disappears, and I can make it come back without re-creating the viewport and linked camera. But until I can pin down exactly what causes it to break, I guess the official line will have to suffice.

 

-Dan

[Oliver Hauser]

Still having this problem in VW2019. Has anyone found a solution by any chance? For me it's pretty random, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Tried pretty much everything in this thread plus replacing fixtures and playing with beam angles and focus. Nothing really works consistently.

[BSeigel]

This attached pdf might help. Check over the settings in the document and let me know how it goes. 

Spotlight Rendering Cheat Sheet.pdf

[BSeigel]

To eliminate some variables, I would also recommend testing on a design layer without using a RW camera. (using a normal perspective is still encouraged) Once you get it to work, start working with viewports

[Oliver Hauser]

Thanks so much. Yes, totally, I have been doing so but still not much luck unfortunately. Will let you know if i find anything.

[BSeigel]

For sure, feel free to send over the file if you cant get it working and I can look it over

[Mike Wright]

I've had the same occur in the past few days but with VW2020

 

In my case (and this has happened a couple of times) the gobos came back when I un-hid a certain class in the viewport.  The fixtures were NOT in this class. I duplicated a sheet layer including its' viewport, changed some class visibilities to hide some video screen objects and rendered - no gobos, no fixture geometry BUT the light was 'on' and casting shadows. I checked that the lights were not in the hidden class in the design layer, moved the video screen objects into a new class, enabled the original class in the viewport and the gobos and fixture geometry rendered.

 

very strange

 

 

[scottmoore]

I just ran into this as well.  I had my scene set up, with 11 fixtures using gobos.  Adjusted light levels, changed colors, moved focus points, all with no issue at all.  I made one last color change to five of the lights and now no gobos at all.  I've removed the gobos, re-imported them, selected different gobos, refreshed fixtures (selected and globally), restarted the file.  Still no gobos.  Of course, I am on a deadline.  (hard to believe in our current pandemic shut-down)

[Oliver Hauser]

Unfortunately I have not found a work around yet, I've tried all sorts of methods. I hope the VW team resolves this soon. I would love to use gobos in my renders more often.