3ds Max - Troubleshooting & General Discussion

[Hyak 0]

Thanks for all this good tutorials on 3dsmax. You all helped me a lot

But one thing I don't understand in the BAT-Mega FAQ.

When I want to make nightwindows with spots, the spot will be on on daytime.

I`ve titled the spots with nite_xx, xx_nite, nitexx, xxnite, night_xx, xx_night and so on, but nothing worked properly.

In the Bat4Max-rollout I`ve checked the boxes with nite_ and _nite pre- and sufix, but nothing changend.

I think it will be very easy, but I didn't check it yet

Ohh, I`ve 3dsmax9

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Remember that the "preview" renders in 3ds max are not really previews, they are just raw renders.  It doesn't take into account anything about night or day.  So if you want to simulate a day export, you would have to turn off the lights (there's a little checkbox for it at the top of the right hand menu).  To do a night render, you would turn the lights back on, and you would change the environment settings to how the BAT FAQ says.  The off/on setting doesn't matter for the actual export though, if the lights are off, they will be turned on when appropriate. 

[SimRabbit123 6]

Thanks Jason, just what I needed!

[Hyak 0]

Thanks for your attention and help, Jasoncw

The night preview in 3dsmax itselves works good, but the problem is the night lightning in Sim City 4.  Here you get two screenshots of what I am meaning :

The spots works fine on the day screenshot, but it isn't that what I want.

Perhaps you have a trick on this,

Greets,

hyak

[Jasoncw 11,840]

hmmm.  Try just making a new one.  I know that there are some issues with lights switching on and off depending on how and when you name them and if you change their names and things along that line.  I don't know exactly what, but yeah, just try remaking them.

[Hyak 0]

It happens every time when I make a spot.

Are spots in the Bat4Max automaticilly ready for night-views in SC4 or must I do something before ?

[autoVino 26]

wait, you want a spot light durring the day and off at night?  Try making a light with intensity of zero and call it nitelite_fake or something, this should render the night view without the day lighting (I hope, I'm not too sure how it works)

If you want the light at night but not durring the day, make sure it has the prefix of nitelite_  in front of it.

[Hyak 0]

Thank you for your help, but when I put a nitelite_ in front of the name of the spot it says "Export failed" Code=2

Or is it possible to send me a functional spot ?

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Can you tell us what the properties of your light are? Some settings have bad side effects.

[Hyak 0]

I`ve used a Target Spot:

It

[SimRabbit123 6]

I have been trying to render a BAT from 3ds Max but I keep getting this message



I rendered the LODs shell in GMAX and they are in the plugins foleder as a sc4model,


Am i doing something wrong here?

[Hyak 0]

Did you call your account on Windows Owner and is the link to the SC4-Plugin-Folder in your BAT4Max.ini correct ?

[SimFox 802]

if I may...

Generally if you use lights to simply illuminate you night texture it is absolutely pointless to set all those attenuation values for them. You just add calculations to the process that wouldn't serve any point at all. Generally it isn't the best way to get night window emulation altogether. Much better and faster solution would be to use night libraries fro that purpose. But in for some reason you really want to use lights then instead of spots you should use directs - one per side of the building. There is no such thing as Spots in BAT. Bat is just a collection of scripts it has no lights or anything else for that matter. Lights HAVE to be named with nitelite (spelled exactly like that) prefix. that is a code for BAT to turn then off during render of day view and to turn them on during night view. More then that presence of lights with such a prefix is on of the prerequisites to do the night render at all!

From picture you've posted I can't quite get what is exactly you sight as a problem. The fact that your lights are on during the day as well? or that fact that they aren't white but purplish?

[SimFox 802]

SimRabbit123:

you have copied incomplete name of your model file! You HAVE to include file extension - the part after "." (SC4Model)

[Hyak 0]

Everytime when there is a prefix like nitelitexxx oder nitelite_xxx in front of a direct or spot I get Code 2 Export failed

[SimFox 802]

Well that's could mean only one thing - that you're making mistake somewhere... Dozens of people do it and it works fine, meaning that there is no problem in software itself. 99% of all problem with software are just alike of one SimRabbit123 described in his last post here - users missing something. You can send that not working file to me I could try to find what exactly is wrong with it...

[SimRabbit123 6]

SimFox: So far I have tried .sc4model, .SC4MODEL, .SC4M, .SC4Model but nothing new happens. Im lost now ???

[autoVino 26]

is it supposed to be 111Numb-...

when I have problems with this it is usually when I remake an lod and when retyping the name I don't delete all of it, so the name is incorrect.  Make sure that the name is correct with .sc4model at the end... if that doesn't work then I'm completely stumped.

(did you specify the correct path for your plugins in the batformax.ini, it looks like you did)

[SimFox 802]

SimRabbit123:

You shouldn't "TRY" anything. You should simply copy-paste the model file name in it's entirety, that's all. The screen capture you've provided in your previous message is clear indication that you've failed to do so. Is your system set to display file extensions or is it not??

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Yeah, you know, you right click on the file, click on rename, and copy the name of the file.

[autoVino 26]

If you look at the top of the building there is a bunch of red reflection/light coming out of nowhere.  It doesn't show up in the final gatherer pass, btw, only in the final one that makes the image clearer.  Anyone know why this happens/how to fix it?

edit: looked across the internet, and I'm not the only one with these artifacts.  It seems that the mr materials cause this and I didn't find a fix, but adding a normal modifier seemed to fix it.

edit again: nope, the christmas lights managed to come back again... 

edit third time: just in case anyone else has this problem, to fix it download and install the latest service packs for 3ds max...

[Hyak 0]

You`ve got a PM, SimFox

[SimFox 802]

Hyak:

the file you've sent me works fine - no problem what so ever...

If its export fails on your machine there must be some issues with settings of either MAX or may be bat, but it definitely not an issue with light naming be it nitelitedirect or nitelite_direct.

[josefmayor 8]

So basicly here's whats up, Jason had me set up his camera rig. Change the renderer from gauss to lanczos bounce render samples 1/4 and 4, changed Indirect Illumination to enable Final Gatherer: Multiplier 15, Bounces 5.

Now my renders show up with way too much light and I can't figure out why. I did exactly as he said in the scene and I still can't figure out why.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Can you post a screenshot? That would help figure out what's wrong.

You changed the rendered to mental ray, right? I don't remember if I said to or not. Something like mental.ray.gi.high or something like that.

[josefmayor 8]

mental.ray.gi.no.high

It takes forever for it to render. Like no joke probably an hour. When it finishes I'll post it.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

In the Final Gather rollout in the render dialog window, Samples should be something like 15. Max. Bounces could be something like 5. Judging from your building, it should not take very long to render. Is the render getting stuck anywhere? Or is your output size just big, so you're trying to render a really huge image? Your width should be 795, and height however tall it take to fit your building.

[josefmayor 8]

my output size is as you said. I don't know why its taking forever, it doesn't stick, it goes very slow. Bounces at 5, Samples at 15

It is not my comp, I'm running a X2 2.33Ghz, 512mb vid card 4gb ram

[SimFox 802]

oh my!! That is way to bright!

What Max Version do you use? What are your light sources in the rig?

[josefmayor 8]

3DSMAX9

I'm using Jason's Chasetower rig... so Jason... what are the light sources?