Hi everyone! I noticed that in some cases my preview render has blank shadows or no shadows at all. What I noticed is that when the issue occurs, there are few blank RenderPasses which normally they contain some shadows. If you may know how to solve that problem I would be grateful. (I have latest Zbrush version 2022.0.5)
Can you please explain what you mean by “Preview Render”? Are you talking about:
The scene viewed in real time in preview render mode? In this case shadows behave differently from how they will be rendered with BPR
The scene rendered with BPR with either reduced quality settings or resolution? The difference in settings may be affecting your output.
Otherwise there are simply far too many variables when it comes to rendering a scene for me to speculate here. There are many features in many nested menus that could be affecting your lighting.
It’s possible you adjusted something that is causing your issue. You could try bringing your tools into a new scene at the default settings with the Tool> Load Tools from Project function. Set up your render again step by step and check it after every change you make. If this is the problem you should be able to identify what is causing the issue.
Otherwise you would need to contact Support, document the problem and provide us with the file to examine in order for us to identify what is going on.
Thank you!
Hi @SPYNDEL
Thanks for your reply!
By “Preview Render” I mean BPR Render with Preview mode turned on. The thing is that this problem occurs only in visibility set 1 and 2 (all subtools in solo modes or many subtools in different visibility sets don’t have that issue - after rendering everything looks good).
I also tried to bring tools to the new project as you suggested but the problem happened again.
This is the default setting in the program and required for the proper functioning of BPR. I’m curious why you’re identifying this as your “preview” render? Are you changing this setting at all? The “best” render mode is something entirely different and will produce different results.
Otherwise it is some setting in your scene that is responsible for the shadows or lack thereof. Again please note that the shadows you see when working in real time in ZBrush are an approximation, and do not reflect the result you will see with a full BPR render.
Things to check:
Make sure your light source is at such an angle that it will cast shadows in the desired direction. Note that any Global Illumination feature or Lightcap features may greatly complicate and scatter the lighting environment. Shadows may be complicated or difficult to discern.
Both your ray count and angle are set fairly high in the program. This will diffuse the appearance of shadows to the point of making them disappear almost entirely. Set each of these to the minimum value to discern what a simple hard edge shadow looks like from a particular light source, then adjust these upward gradually for a softer look until you find the result you’re looking for. If you adjust the angle too high you can make the shadows disappear.
If nothing I’ve mentioned so far helps you find your problem, you will need to contact support and provide the file for examination as I suggested previously. There are too many variables involved in scene renders to make guessing based on limited information practical.
Thank you!
Thanks for the reply I will try to experiment with the settings and see the results tomorrow morning.
I solved this problem by deselecting all subtools from the visibility set (in which problem was - as I mentioned earlier, the problem occurred only within certain visibility sets) and select them again to be visible. Sorry for bothering and thanks for your assistance.
