Rendering: Why would changing the view make DAZ crash?

carpevis_ed37b0713a

I've been having a weird problem with Daz for a few weeks.

I've done thousands of renders in the past without any issues, but this cropped up about three weeks ago and I've been chasing it down since.  Without going into all the gory details about HOW I figured this out, I've discovered that if the viewport angle on the model is below -35 to -45 degrees (looking upward with the angle going to -90 looking straight up), when I render (iRay, with default settings, though I occasionally rotate the dome for better lighting instead of adding lights), it will do about 30 or so iterations, then kick out a blank results window for saving.  But if I move the viewport to between -35 to +90 degrees, the model renders perfectly normally.  I can literally go from a good render, to an aborted render, to a good render without closing DAZ or altering the model, JUST by changing the angle of the model in the viewport.

I've also discovered that if you lay the model down on the "floor" and shoot the render from above the floor looking down, getting the scene view I wanted in looking up at it, it will render normally as well.  I turned off draw ground to avoid shadows in weird places.

So, while I can get the view I want by rotating the model accordingly, there is no scene in the scene.  Just a Genesis 8 female and the features added to it (the features themselves were added and removed in trying to chase this down, and had no effect on the results - the viewport angle seems to be the issue).  If I added a scene, it would be awkward to rotate THAT accordingly, too.  So I'm wondering if anyone out there has ever encountered this issue, and if so, what solutions you came up with.  My solution is...  inelegant.  

Anyone out there experienced with this Daz quirk?

WendyLuvsCatz

have you got the ground plane turned on?

if so, you are looking up through it so black

carpevis_ed37b0713a

WendyLuvsCatz said:

have you got the ground plane turned on?

if so, you are looking up through it so black

You know, that might be it.  I did have the ground turned on (the default for iRay), but unlike what you describe, there was no "black" - it just didn't write anyting to the render file or results window.  When I got shadows where I didn't want them in the successful renders, I turned off the "show ground" option, and the shadows went away.

But when I was demonstrating the flaw to my wife, I could suddenly render from any angle again like I used to be able to.  Did the "show ground" option get switched to default on in 4.15?  Because I never had this issue in 4.12.

...runs off to check the theory...

Yeah, that's the problem.  Ground on, but not visible in the viewport doesn't obscure the image, but the real world physics of iRay apparently doesn't see anyting below the viewport ground level.

Thanks for that insight.  It explains why for the first time in ages, my renders are normal again.  I'd've been scratching my head for the next three weeks trying to figure out what changed.

Phatmartino

carpevis_ed37b0713a said:

Thanks for that insight.  It explains why for the first time in ages, my renders are normal again.  I'd've been scratching my head for the next three weeks trying to figure out what changed.

Glad you got this figured out, just wanted to pipe up to thank you for your use of a written double contraction. In an online world where so many can't even be bothered to use periods between sentences, it very honestly made me smile broadly. Silly, but true. :D

carpevis_ed37b0713a

Phatmartino said:

carpevis_ed37b0713a said:

Thanks for that insight.  It explains why for the first time in ages, my renders are normal again.  I'd've been scratching my head for the next three weeks trying to figure out what changed.

Glad you got this figured out, just wanted to pipe up to thank you for your use of a written double contraction. In an online world where so many can't even be bothered to use periods between sentences, it very honestly made me smile broadly. Silly, but true. :D

Glad I could make your day.

I got into 3D graphic art because hiring an artist for my cover art was more money than the royalties my books typically earned.  So out of a sense of self preservation, I began doing my own cover art, first with Photoshop, then adding Poser and Daz.  But I'm a second-rate author first, and a graphic artist wannabe second.  There's something karmically symmetric in that.

But I'm with you regarding the  (how should I put it?)  casual use of the English language online.  It bugs the hell out of me, too.