Sudden Lightworks Issues?

[Anonymous]

Hi there, I could really do with some help!

I've been building a model of a design of mine, and been using lightworks rendering engine to render some nice images of the interiors. This tends to take considerable periods of time (aaprox 8-10minutes most of the time), which I can live with... and have been doing so for the last couple of weeks or so.

However today for some reason every time I try to render an image with lightworks, it takes the same period of time i.e 8-10 minutes, yet when it has finished I have no image, just a blank white photorender screen. Can anyone suggest what the problem might be? I've tried resetting lightworks to the factory settings but it doesnt seem to make a difference. I even tried making the image size very small and of very limited dpi, incase I was asking too much of my laptop, but still no luck! I checked that using the internal engine still works and the other rendering engines similarly still work... so its just LightWorks (the one I desperately need!) that isnt working at all.

This is really quite important as I'm using these images in a major university project at the moment and still have many more to generate...Help!?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately our esteemed colleague, the grand master of all things rendered, Dwight "funny man" Atkinson has been transported to the outback and seems to be having difficulty making regular contact with the outside world.

I lack Dwight's depth of knowledge in this area, but my guess is that the total lack of any image suggests that the rendering engine is simply not working. Have you tried reinstalling ArchiCAD?

The only other explanation I can think of would be that you somehow duplicated or multiplied some sun objects (or other light sources) and the image is completely burning out - but I would expect that this would show at least some image however overexposed.

[Anonymous]

Reinstalling is really my last resort at the moment, as I dont have access to my software disk at the minute as I'm staying away from home where I left it.

I've now discovered that it seems to work in some rooms but not in others...its totally bizarre!!!! I can view the image in 3d and pan and turn the camera etc but when I render I get a big fat nothing, I'm so stressing!

[Anonymous]

If reinstalling is not an option, perhaps trying a clean merge would help. Create a new file and merge the old one into it. This often cleans up mysterious problems. You can try this into a "New & Reset" file (hold down the option/alt key) and/or into a file that has been purged of its attributes using Attribute Manager. In the former case any matching attributes of the merged file will take on the defaults of the new and reset file. In the latter the attributes will merge with their previously set values.

Another strange idea would be to save the building as a library part and place it in a new file (be sure that this file is based on the latest settings - a new & reset would likely mess up your materials). This latter approach has problems with trying to place cameras for interior renderings so it is not a very attractive option (as far as I know there is no way to transfer cameras from one file to another).

Since you say it is working in some rooms and not others perhaps there are some problems with parts of the model. Try a binary search by turning off half the layers and see if one of the problem views will render. If not try turning off the other half. If you can get the view to render this way keep turning off half of the remaining layers until you isolate the one containing the problem elements.

I have no idea why you are having this problem so I am just suggesting things to try. The main thing right now is to get something to work so you can get the renderings done. (If the whys and wherefors show up along the way they may or may not turn out to be useful.)

[David Maudlin]

Matthew wrote:
(as far as I know there is no way to transfer cameras from one file to another).

Matthew:

Cameras can be copied and pasted between files. A bit easier if you are running 2 copies of ArchiCAD, but can be accomplished by copying the cameras from one file, opening the other file and pasting.

David

[Anonymous]

There was a thread awhile back that might shed some light on this problem, try here: http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=8373

HTH,
Daniel

[Anonymous]

David wrote:

Matthew wrote:
(as far as I know there is no way to transfer cameras from one file to another).

Matthew:

Cameras can be copied and pasted between files. A bit easier if you are running 2 copies of ArchiCAD, but can be accomplished by copying the cameras from one file, opening the other file and pasting.

David

Really? I tried that just before posting and it didn't work for me. I guess I'll have to check it again when I get the chance.

[David Maudlin]

Matthew wrote:
Really? I tried that just before posting and it didn't work for me. I guess I'll have to check it again when I get the chance.

Matthew:

Yes. I just tried it again and it worked as I described. Select the camera(s), copy, open the other file, paste. If you have set up more than one path in the Camera Tool, then open the Camera non-modal dialog box and select the path you want the camera(s) in. This function goes back to ArchiCAD 6 or maybe earlier (when the Camera Tool was added). I have used it when archiving projects so I get the same perspective view in the Project Preview window for different phases of the same project. Let me know if I can provide more information.

David

[Anonymous]

Hi there, what a flaming drama!

I've wasted so much time its unbelievable! I still don't have a clue what the problem is, I've pasted it into new projects, practically rebuilt the problematic areas... switched back to standard archicad gdl objects (incase my imports where causing issues)... basically everything I can think of as well as everything that has been suggested!

The only way it seems to work it when I isolate the part that I want to render and paste that room for example into a new window and render that alone, pretty annoying considering theres supposed to be other spaces visible on the other side of the glazing.

Particular thanks to Matthew for the great help, appreciate it! Thanks Daniel also the thread was helpful.... good to know I'm not the only person who's had such misfortune!!

For now I'll just have to do it this way, I cant really waste any more time, its so infuriating... I have much more complex models render before!