Render is only a Black Screen

# 1 21-10-2011 , 02:44 AM

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Join Date: Oct 2011

Posts: 9

I'm having an odd issue

I've been working on a project for a couple of months (with only the normal maya problems).

and then today after working and rendering all morning, I hit render:
using mental ray I only got a black screen.
tried maya software and also got a black screen.
Tried maya vector and got a black screen.
tried maya hardware and it rendered.

worse now I can''t even render a simple ball over a surface with one light.
Just comes out back...

All the previously fine files I've tried will not render (unless is maya hardware mode)

I tried resetting to defaults
I tried repairing maya using the install menu.
I tried uninstalling reinstalling.

Nothing is working.

If i show materials all the shaders look fine in the modeling panels.
UV's are fine
shaders are all connected.

Could my lights have spontaneously become disconnected from the render engine?

I've opened this file up on a different computer and am having similar issues - but it hasn't broken everything - scared me at first until I tried another file and Mental ray rendered it fine.

I'm in the process of uninstalling and regedit-ing every and any registry mention of maya out of my computer and will try another reinstall.

Any Ideas?

I'm at a loss

Thanks...

Win 7, i7-930, geforce 9800 GTX+ Maya 2011

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# 2 21-10-2011 , 10:03 AM

The thin red line
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Can you see your lights in your scene?............dave

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# 3 21-10-2011 , 10:37 AM

The Nurb Herd
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Location: London

Posts: 2,381

do you get an alpha when you render?

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# 4 21-10-2011 , 10:51 AM

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Join Date: Jan 2005

Location: Livingston, Scotland

Posts: 1,701

Slack,

First thing I would check is by chnaging the views in Maya, by pressing:

4 for wireframe
5 for shaded
6 shaded with textures
and finally 7 for 6 with lighting

If any of these do not change or 7 shows a black screen instead of what you expect and 4, 5 and 6 are all OK. Then there are issues with your lighting set up, and if thats the case then I would remove all objects from all render layers and try again. If there is still an issue then:

1) Export the object or any other objects you want. One would be good enough (with all materials and textures)
2) create a new project
3) import exported model and copy over your sourceimages to the new project
4) create a new light and see if that lights anything up by pressing 7

If this does not solve your issues and you have done a clean install then I am going to have to say there is a graphics issue.

Also, I need to ask:

1)how long is the render taking? Has there been a huge drop off in time to render since you got the problem
2)have you click the alpha button in the render view to see if it is rendering any objects?

All I can say is Good Luck

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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# 5 21-10-2011 , 11:29 AM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

2)have you click the alpha button in the render view to see if it is rendering any objects?

Originally Posted by publicFunction

Yeah this is why i asked if there was an alpha. I would do this first. If there is an alpha you have a problem with your lights.

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# 6 21-10-2011 , 07:47 PM

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Join Date: Oct 2011

Posts: 9

First - thanks for so many responses
I really appreciate it
So i just did a complete reinstall

Opened a new scene and did a sphere lite by a spot light scene.
rendered fine in all 4 modes
hit alpha and it is fine.

then I opened my problem project.
I hit render in maya software - rendered black screen in render time: 0.001 (Publicfuntion, this is the time it was taking yesterday for all black renders..)
and no alpha.

--- but tried mental ray anyway -- and it rendering fine.
rendertime: 10:50

weird.

So problem semi-solved with a full Regedit purge of anything Maya related and a reinstall.

Maya software still doesn't work on this file (worked for new project)
...but mental ray does.
maya hardware and vector both render in 1:35 and are ugly but visable.

Still wondering what the hell happened

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# 7 21-10-2011 , 08:10 PM

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Join Date: Oct 2011

Posts: 9

here are some screen shots

Maya software - just black and really quick -- 0:001 min
user added image

Maya hardware - doesn't render well because of lots of quadratic fall off and ray trace shadows..
but does render
user added image

Mental ray - renders as expected.
I obviously have a lot of work to do on this scene, but at least I can now continue.
user added image

But why isn't it rendering in Maya?

btw davarave -- 4,5,6, and 7 all work fine

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# 8 21-10-2011 , 08:44 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

Posts: 4,472

Are you using MR shaders if so they will not render in maya software I think.........dave

Avatar Challenge Winner 2010

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# 9 22-10-2011 , 07:31 AM

Senior Software Developer
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Posts: 1,701

Good point Dave. MR shaders will only render with MR settings.

---
I am here: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.899002,-3.530670
publicFunction (Chris) - Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
Twitter
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will truely know peace - Jimmy Hendrix

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# 10 22-10-2011 , 11:04 AM

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Location: Manchester Uk

Posts: 6,300

There is one thing that I have noticed in the labs here at work. If you open a file by double clicking in say windows explorer, which then open maya and then the file it will not render (Maya 2012). Probably not what the problem is but its worth keeping note.

Granted it's not really what you should do to open a file.

I'm also not too sure if it may be a PC setting thats on.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 11 22-10-2011 , 05:40 PM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Aug 2008

Posts: 78

check your outliner. if there are unused transform nodes or unused group nodes delete those. then go to file optimize scene size and make sure remove duplicate shading network is checked. keep all other checked and hit optimize. after doing these steps save your file in maya's native name.#.ext format . close maya and then reopen it and open your new saved file.

happy rendering user added image

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# 12 25-10-2011 , 06:40 AM

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Join Date: Oct 2011

Posts: 9

thanks everyone.
I seem to be fine now.
the re-install seems to have fixed my issues.

(I did go through and clean up unused nodes and transforms etc...)

I have some other questions that I'll ask in new thread

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# 13 09-01-2013 , 08:43 PM

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Join Date: Feb 2011

Location: Republic of Moldova

Posts: 6

Hello!

I had the same problem which you had too. And I found it, so it wasn't something wrong with computer or with Maya. It is a little mistake which Maya is doing while we try to render something. So to fix this little issue you need to open "Render view" and where is "Render" take away the click from the checkbox of "Render selected objects only". For me it worked great, hope that for you too.

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# 14 31-01-2013 , 06:39 AM

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do you get an alpha when you render?

WoW Gold Kaufen|Cheap Diablo 3 Gold|RS Gold|Swtor Credits

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# 15 08-04-2015 , 11:22 PM

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Join Date: Jun 2014

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I had the same problem which you had too. And I found it, so it wasn't something wrong with computer or with Maya. It is a little mistake which Maya is doing while we try to render something. So to fix this little issue you need to open "Render view" and where is "Render" take away the click from the checkbox of "Render selected objects only". For me it worked great, hope that for you too.

Originally Posted by olegcotuna

Thank you! Thank you, olegcotuna. I to had the same problem as the previous post and knew that my version of Maya was running fine. I was loosing hope until you commented on the "Selected Object" check box, and immediately, slapped myself for forgetting to deselect it when I was trying to save time by running test renders of specific objects in a very complex scene. You saved me! Oh, by the way, did I say THANK YOU.

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Render is only a Black Screen

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