Solving Common Rendering Problems

This section covers how to solve some common rendering problems.

Rendering Problem	Solution
Screen remains blank	Lighting illuminates the image. If there are no lights shining on visible surfaces, the image stays "dark." First, try increasing the Brightness and Contrast controls. If the screen still remains blank, turn on Flashbulb and render the view again.
Image is too dark	This may be due to either or both of the following: Screen Gamma — Make sure that your monitor display gamma value is set correctly. For photorealistic rendering, with Vue, it is vital that you set the gamma correction value for your monitor correctly. With incorrect settings, you will not get the best images possible. For PC monitors, good results usually are achieved with a gamma setting somewhere between 1.8 and 2.2. The exact setting is not critical, so a good starting point is a value of 2.0. Brightness/Contrast controls — you can adjust the Brightness/Contrast of the rendered image interactively.
No shadows	Shadows are cast only if shadows are on for the light sources and materials.
No transparency	Objects are rendered with transparency only if the material has Opacity set to less than 100. Transparency must be on in the Settings tab of the Render Setup Manager dialog.
Noise in images	Noise, in the form of spots or other odd shadows, in your rendered images can occur for a number of reasons. For example, if they appear: Having constructions turned on in the view. Correct this by turning off constructions in the view being rendered. Having a spotlight placed coincident with a surface. You can correct this by moving the origin of the light source slightly away from the surface. When shadows are off, you should not see any noise from a light source. Another possible cause of noisy images may be coincident surfaces in the model.
Missing pattern/bump maps, or IES lighting data	When the rendering process encounters materials that have missing maps, or source lighting that has missing IES data, messages are generated in the Message Center. The messages note the missing file, the material/light and, where appropriate, the reference and model. This information is useful for correcting the problems.