Subdivision Rendering - Cropped Exterior Surfaces

[Tony_Sterba]

So I posted questions about this before I started in regards to "what to charge".  I tried to add this update to that post, but couldn't figure out how to add the attachments - so I started a new post.

 

Having said that - I have three main concerns with my overall subdivision rendering that I need some advice on.  The concerns I have are as follows:

 

#1 - Does anyone know why - in vector view - my exterior patterns are being cropped?  They do NOT do this on an individual file basis - but now that everything is inserted into one file - I am having crop issues.

 

#2 - I really do not want the shadows casted across the street from the buildings.  I Googled my longitude and latitude and inserted that info in my drawing for my location.  Is it just a matter of goofing around with the months and time of day to eliminate the large shadows casted?

 

#3 - the rendering seems dark.  I have the direct sunlight turned up to 6.0 - which is higher than I usually do. I don't want any white blow outs - so I am trying to keep the direct sunlight to a certain level.  I do have tone mapping turned off.  It seems to look better (brighter) when turned on - but still not that great.  For some reason, when I do individual renderings of single buildings - I have my normal settings that typically work.  For some reason, in this overall subdivision view - I can't get the sun/shadows correct.

 

Any help, comments or insight to the above three issues would be greatly appreciated.  This is only a starting point.  Once I get the above three question figured out - I think this could potentially look amazing when done.  Thanks in advance for any input from other users.

 

[Gawdzira]

1. No idea but try checking your clipping planes in the camera view. Maybe they could be adjusted and clear that issue.

 

2. You may need to do 2 passes of the rendering. One with shadows and one without shadows. Then composite the renderings in an image editing program.

 

3. I can't remember the name of the setting but in Ray Trace there is a button for "Use Tone Mapping" . After you start the render, open the "Adjust Image Properties" and uncheck the button. That will brighten the overall look. But, again, I would refine this in an image editing program since this is a big money rendering.

[Doug_Park]

Your second image appears to be showing what is known as a z fighting issue. It is caused because of the way OpenGL does rendering. Imagine that your scene is composed of very thin slices starting at the front clipping plane of the view and extending to the back. In these large scenes the distance is so great that you hit the limit of precision of the video card to distinguish the layers.

 

If you move the front clipping plane of the camera closer to the scene the problem should go away. This is set in the camera specification for the particular view you are using.

[Tony_Sterba]

So I still can't seem to get this to work properly - even though I have been given advice.  My new issue is that I have extended the terrain to the north, and added a pond, a trail around the pond, and some nearby roadways.   I do all this in plan view and it is no problem.  However, when I do a 3D overall view - nothing has been updated.  All my layers are turned on, and I can't figure out what the problem is.

 

Any advice out there form the experts?

 

Also, I have created 7 multiplex buildings (all different), and inserted them as symbols.   My basic file size is 65 MP.  Is this normal?  That seems awfully huge to me.  I know there is a lot of information in there.  Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

[lbuttery]

Tony:

 

perhaps the pond is under the terrain ???

 

turn off the terrain layer to see what is there

 

you may need to post the plan using Dropbox or other cloud service

 

If you meant 65 MB then that is not too large for this much detail

 

Lew

[Tony_Sterba]

So I purged out any unwanted/un needed info of my *.plan file, and compressed into a RAR file for fast downloading.  It is about 8 MB compressed.  If anyone out there wants to take a peek and see what I am doing wrong - your input would be valuable. 

 

As for turning off the terrain, the terrain is turned on - but ends where you see in the overall 3D view.  In plan view, it extends way upward.  It is almost as if the 3D view is not being regenerated.  I did click the "rebuild 3D", but I am still have the same problem.

 

Thanks

 

P.S.  I have never used drop box before, so I am hoping I sis this correct.

 

 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mluc755lol5kw1m/Subdivision%20Plan____Rev%231%20purged.rar

[KilgoreTrout]

Did you turn off auto rebuild terrain?  I didn't download and checkout your plan but this is one obvious reason why your camera view would not match the plan view.

[lbuttery]

As for turning off the terrain, the terrain is turned on

 

Ok,  so turn off the terrain layer so you can see what might be hidden by it

 

if the pond is there you may need to raise its height ???

 

Lew

[Tony_Sterba]

Kilgore Trout..... thank you soooooo much!!  That was my problem.   I did what you said and it worked perfect.  Everything is up to snuff.  Thanks again!!

 

Just for the record - I have never done a subdivision before - so I will probably be posting a lot of issues on this board. 

 

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review my concerns and post a response.  It is appreciated!

[KilgoreTrout]

You're welcome. 

 

Also, just as an FYI, if you are working with a big terrain model like this, you may actually want to work with the auto rebuild terrain turned off and manually rebuild it anytime you need to update it because rebuilding the terrain all the time may slow you down.  The tool to manually rebuild terrain is under the terrain menu.  You should get a special cursor whenever your terrain is out of date (unless you turned these cursors off in your preferences).

[GerryT]

I imported your plan and it seems normal to me.

 

Perhaps you could further explain what you mean by "cropping". Ray trace only builds whatever is shown on screen. If you zoomed in, that's what you get .

To get higher resolution, zoom out to full &  just uncheck "use screen size" in Ray trace and increase pixels or units. When you export the picture, it will export at that resolution and you could zoom in in any photo program

 

To control the Z- fighting I increased "clip Plan" from 24" to 6000" -- the necessary setting is somewhere in between?

 

For lighting -- adjust lighting setting under Ray trace.-- worked well for me but tripled trace time.

To adjust & select the other stuff -- unlock your layers. -- Rebuild if you see a terrain symbol by cursor.

 

IOW -- we need more info..

[Tony_Sterba]

GerryT,

 

Thanks for posting your settings.  Truth be known, my model s starting to look really cool.  I put your settings above into my file and everything seems to be working smooth.  By cropping - I meant clipping - and having my exterior finishes disappearing, etc.  Your solution worked really slick and everything is as it should be.

 

Thanks for downloading my file and letting me know what setting work.  I am an amateur user so when I get professional tips, it really helps.

 

Thanks again!