Maya for 3D Printing - Rapid Prototyping
In this course we're going to look at something a little different, creating technically accurate 3D printed parts.
# 1 25-08-2011 , 12:35 PM
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No alpha present in batch render!

hello,
I have cut my scene down to the basic elements, a plane with 'use background' shader, a light and a sphere. i can hit render current frame, and on the alpha channel i can see my shadow. however when i batch render, the alpha channel has gone.

Ive tried all sorts to isolate my problem. i had it all working fine before but not sure where i went wrong.
i know this is a little vague but does is sound familiar to anyone. using tiffs/alpha checked under cam setting

if anyone can shed light on this, i would be very grateful
j

# 2 25-08-2011 , 02:04 PM
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Not sure what the problem would be without seeing the actual file.

When this happens, and you need the renders right away, you can run my script here, which will render a batch out of the render window.

https://simplymaya.com/forum/showpost...7&postcount=23

Just change the following to what you want.

Code:
string $filename = "render";

int $startFrame = 3;
int $endFrame = 24;
int $nFramePadLength = 4; // eg name.0000.ext (4 zeros)


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 3 25-08-2011 , 06:09 PM
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hey, i would really appreciate if you could take a look.
This has been bugging me all day, the issue is with the render layer called shadow_floor. i started from scratch checking my renders in nuke and all was fine, and then it happened again, round about the time i was changing the texture of the main object to include some self illumination.

there aren't any linked assets of importance.

thanks in advance
j

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File Type: zip shadow_issue.mb.zip (943.3 KB, 272 views)
# 4 25-08-2011 , 11:51 PM
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Taking a look at it now.

EDIT: Hey mate. Why are you even using those render layers? The mental ray ones should take care of them automatically. Load your masterlayer into nuke, and look at the SHD_setPassShadow_persp layer, and you'll see your shadows.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Last edited by NextDesign; 26-08-2011 at 12:11 AM.
# 5 26-08-2011 , 12:56 AM
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I do try and keep all the passes wrapped in an exr, but for this I was planning on creating several different shadow passes. its easier for me to kinda visualize the scene when i can separate the scene objects into the render layers.

Did you have any joy. i ended up starting again for the third time, saving and rendering at every change to try and catch the error. had no problems so far. Although I did abandon the AO render layers this time. so I wonder if i had accidentally placed the ao shader on something.

can you see the issue with that scene or am i going mad? I have something working now so you can leave it if its proving fruitless.
once again thanks for your help. il try and steer clear of those render layers.

# 6 26-08-2011 , 03:41 AM
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One idea of mine is that you're assigning the use background shader to all objects in the scene on that layer. The casting object should have a lambert assigned, with primary visibility turned on. Use background shaders (to my recollection) do not cast shadows.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 7 26-08-2011 , 12:53 PM
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no i did check, the useBackground is only applied to the plane for the shadow. I tried replacing my casting objects with simple lamberts but still no shadow. I don't know if this is relevant but a file I had, that was batch rendering correctly, crashed on me while i was saving. when i recovered it(extension needed changing) it started doing the same thing. Is there a particular plugin that enables the usebackground that might be disabling itself.

Maya does crash on me quite a bit because of the file being of student copy origin so i am plagued with reminders when saving my file. do you think the crashed could be doing something?
thanks
J

# 8 26-08-2011 , 02:31 PM
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well i was pretty certain tiffs could cater for an alpha channel but ive switched to exporting targas and the render seems to work fine.. really dont know why tiffs are being so inconsistent, is there a chance ive being changing the tiff exports settings by accident. bah this has caused me too much inconvenience already thanks for your help
J

# 9 26-08-2011 , 02:42 PM
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Ahh... Yes, never use tiffs from any program. Tiff's are just a container file format, and they don't have a standardized structure. Therefore each program has the potential of working with them differently. *end nerdism* user added image

Glad you figured it out.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
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