Quick question on using Instances versus real geometry objects -- Solved
Knittingmommy
Posts: 8,191
So, I have a scene set up and it has a mix or real objects and instances of those objects. I'm wondering if the instances are suppose to act exactly like their real object counterparts when it comes to lighting and how it hits the instance version. I know I can't change surfaces and all of that because they aren't really there or they are just copies, but is the lighting still suppose to bounce off of them and react as if they are a real geometry object?
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Yes, it should...at least when rendered. I'm not sure if they will react 'properly' in the viewport.
Are they not for you? (render or viewport)
I'm just getting a weird thing where I have digital specks that aren't rendering out where the light is hitting an instanced plant. It is probably a lighting issue, but I wanted to rule out everything. I asked the question about the instanced plants because I haven't worked with them much yet and this was the first time I had actually made any myself (used InstancesPlus). The spots are totally ruining my render so I'm trying to figure out what might be causing it. My next step was to hide all of the plants and see if I still have the problems.
Screenshot?
You can crop to just an affected area.
Both areas are in a section where the DOF for the camera is fuzzy, but I get the same thing with the DOF off. I haven't had this happen in a render yet so I'm not exactly sure what the cause is or how to fix it.
edit to add: This is from the final render. The problem doesn't show up in the viewport. Rendering in Iray with Iray Skydome..
Looks like something with the specular response/glossiness...
That would be from the original, right? So, I would probably have to track down the original and stick it there instead of an instanced version because I can't change surface settings on an instanced version, right?
So, I tracked down where the original prop was which happened to still be at zero and move that into the position where the instanced plant was, fixed the Glossy Layered Weight in the surface settings. Found out that despite having zapped it, some of the Ruins parts hadn't gotten zapped with the Iray Uber Shader and they were part of the problem. So, now everything appears to be rendering correctly with no weirdness going on. I'm going to let it render overnight while I get some sleep and see if that totally fixed everything.
Thanks, mjc1016! I think you may have saved my render! I'll update in the morning.
Right...although changing the settings on the original will change all of them. So if you have the Iray Uber on the original, try changing the glossy roughness a little and see if it changes (it should make the hotspots a little less intense/more spread out).
Ah, I didn't know changing on the original would change all of them! Thanks for that info. It should save me from having to rework quite a bit. I had originally set this up to make a complete jungle and I didn't know where my camera would end up so I lost track of the originals in all of the instances. So, now I know I shouldn't have to move anything so that will help! I'll play with it a little more depending on what the render looks like in the morning. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it!
Just wanted to say thanks again, mjc1016! I managed to get rid of all of the spot by changing those surface settings on the originals and my render looks great this morning. It's still going, but no weird spots anymore! Thanks!
You can't select instances with the surface select tool, so I often use that to help find the original.
Luckily the little icon by the item in the scene tab is also different. The instances icon is that little Y thing with the circle around it and the real item has the little cubed box. It was just a matter of going through the list to find the real ones. I have to admit to getting a tad carried away when I made my jungle and I had a lot of instances there which I then had to hide once i knew where my camera view was going to be. I had put in so many instances, it was starting to affect my viewport maneuverability a little. So, I ended up hiding anything that wasn't actually in the camera view! But it was a nice big jungle until then!