errors in 3D visualization of models - RealWorld forums

Hi all!
I´m experiencing some visualization problems when rendering a model in a rastered image. In the snapshot view of the image renderer window the snapshot looses some 3D triangles. When changing the view e.g. to Z-axix and back it is refreshed again. The same problem arises in the preview window when trying to generate the icon. Is this a graphics card problem (128 MB) or what else?
Thanks a lot,
GRML

It could also be a problem with rounding errors. If the detail level (LOD factor) is very high and the triangles' size nears 1 pixel, there can occasionally be a problem when a ray does not hit the triangle.

If large triangles are missing, then it could indeed be problem with graphics card (or its driver) or with the camera setting. If a triangle is too close to the camera, it is clipped.

Hi Vlasta!
Thanks for the fast reply!
My renderer configuration is always the default one. That means:
output device = Ray-Tracing
LOD computation = Object pixel size LOD
LOD factor = 20
Culling method = Field of view culling
Samples per pixel = 1
Gamma correction = 1
use multiple processors = tagged
shadows = tagged

What can I do to solve this problem? Are 128MB to few?
BTW: The help in the trial version is not complete. Do we get a complete help when purchasing the editor?

Your graphics card is not used with the ray-tracing renderer, so we can leave this one out.

One more thing: are you using the 2006.2 version (look in the About box)?

Could you send me the image and possibly the .u3d and r3i files to info@rw-designer.com ? It will be faster if I see the problems myself.

As for the documentation, there are blank spots. To describe all features will be an enormous effort. The most useful things are in the tutorials and there are also a couple of tutorials online.

I received the files and I will reply here, because the answer may be useful for other people facing the same problem.

An icon usually has non-rectangular shape in a sense that you can see the background behind some parts of the object on the icons.

The source images used when creating icons from images sometimes do not have the transparency specified and the tool attempts to automatically determine a background color and then deletes it. This is what happened here. The image had black background and some parts of the 3D objects were black and were deleted together with the background.

There are multiple solutions (all simple) to solve this problem:
1) check the "Transparent" checkbox in the "Image Properties" panel above the "Renderer Configuration" panel. The rendered will produce transparent results, but it takes a bit more time.

2) change the background color (also in the "Image Properties" panel) to something else that is not in the image, such as green in your case.

A recommendation: turn off shadows if you do not need them.

One more thing: when creating Vista icons (256x256), increase the image size in the "Image Properties" panel to something like 2000x2000 to get smooth results.

Thanks for the tip with the 2000x2000 px size! That was a huge improvement of quality. Also with "transparent" tagged the problem did not occur anymore!
But I´ve got another problem (I sent you the screen shots) when using textures (btw: I did not find a tutorial about texture making. Is one planned?). Can you also help me with this one? (For other readers: I wrapped tank objects into each other, using a self made texture for the outer one and a normal color for the inner one. When creating icons the colors of the textured tank object are some kind of reversed, all in all not the ones shown in the renderer image.)
Thank you very much for your support!!
GRML

Texturing works a little different in the raytracer and in OpenGL. The OpenGL used when designing is optimized for speed and compatibility and image quality is considered not that important. This will be improved in one of the future versions and hopefully the result will be the same in software as in hardware (safe for a few features that cannot be implemented by today hardware, such as true ray reflection or lens).

Right now, the raytracer considers the texture to be define details and the final color is computed as material + texture - 0.5. The OpenGL renderer instead uses the very old formula material * texture.

You can use OpenGL renderer when creating icons, but it does not work with transparent objects when rendering in bitmap.
Better solution would be to modify the material used. Setting it to 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 will in effect turn it off and only texture colors will be used.