[another_bryan]

Hey Gang, Long time lurker, first time poster.
------------------------------------------------------
Ive got a huge problem that is about to cause me to miss my deadline - I really hope you guys have an idea for me.

In studio, my camera insists on refocusing itself to a Focal Distance of 0.001 the moment i click in a view port. Once this happens, zoom and pan become useless and all of my renders come out totally black.

Lets say I open the Sim ball that was included with Maxwell. The camera (as you know) is locked by default so it shouldn't screw up right? Wrong! The moment i click in the viewing area the camera reverts to [FD] of "0.001", [Near] Becomes "0.000", and [Far] Becomes "Inf.". Now lets say I Manually enter 0.18 into the FD setting, now the settings are right but the focus gauge goes deep red. There is something clearly wrong with the camera focus and I dont know how to get it back on track.

Here is what Ive tried:
-Auto focus (same result]
-Focus-To [same result]
-switch to shaded, cartoon, or textured view modes [same result]
-Open pre-fab scenes that were installed with maxwell [same result]
-open pre-fab scenes from the Maxwell Download area (same result]
-open my old past projects where the camera was known to be fine [same result]
-Uninstall Maxwell, reinstall with latest patches [same result]


Though this sounds trivial, the only way I can focus a camera is through repeat manual focal-distance entry and rendered trial-and-error. This takes a huuuge amount of time and yields sketchy results. There are no lens readings to help me find the right FD value and we all know moving the camera to get the right shot is a must.


Help!!! Im beginning to panic!

[Bubbaloo]

What is your computer setup?

[another_bryan]

What is your computer setup?

Its XP (non-64 bit) on a Quadcore (overclocked to 3Ghz per core) Dual screen and 3Gig of usable memory (4 gig installed but 32 Bit XP cant use that last stick).... all patches applied

Video Card is a 8800 GTS - 640 Meg EVGA Card

I actually changed out my mouse and keyboard in the hopes thast it was some sort of macro - but to no avail..

Hope this answers your question..

[Bubbaloo]

It answers my question, but I just can't think of why it would do that. You've already reinstalled, and that's the only thing I can think of.

What app do you use for modelling?
Any chance you can render/set up cameras from a plugin?

[another_bryan]

It answers my question, but I just can't think of why it would do that. You've already reinstalled, and that's the only thing I can think of.

What app do you use for modelling?
Any chance you can render/set up cameras from a plugin?

I use Solidworks for my models, but this problem seems to manifest itself specifically in Maxwell Render's own Studio. I havent tried using the Solidworks Plug in Yet but let me give it a test tonight.

Doesnt it seem silly that Maxwells own studio tools (without outside influence) seem to be the source of the problem? I would expect this kind of weirdness more from an imported object, but not from within Maxwell itself

[Bubbaloo]

There are things that work correctly rendering straight from the Max plugin, that do not work in MXST.
I look at it like, MXST is for those who want to render with Maxwell but do not have a plugin available for their 3d app.

[Mihai]

If you switch to only using a single screen, does it help?

[another_bryan]

If you switch to only using a single screen, does it help?

Good thinking, changing this setting and had mixed success....

I opened my display properties and turned my Nvidia "dualview' mode off (2nd monitor is now off) and tried the Cups skydome scene. The autofucus still reverts to FD:0.001 but the Focus to... button now works great. Im now seriously wondering if something in these dial view settings is to blame. my driver version is:

Nvidia Control Panel :1.5.30.38
Geforce 8800 GTS Driver: 6.14.11.6921

Regardless I am going to spend this weekend doing a fresh install to make sure its not some corruption - will if i find anything new on sunday night...


[Update: Wasnt able to do the fresh installation afterall; il try to get it done soon]

stay tuned

[Cloudman]

I am having the exact same problem!! I posted about this a few months ago, but there didn't seem to be a solution. All worked fine in previous versions but as soon as we went to 1.6 "focus to" turns all the values to 0.000 and produces black renders!

I'm running bootcamp so fired up the same version in OSX and it all works fine. This seems to be a serious problem....I've not found a workaround other than using ridiculous f stop values that put everything in focus.

We really need a fix for this.

Setup: Macpro (8core) running Bootcamp, Nvidia GeForce 8800GT

[Cloudman]

Very odd....I've also tried turning off my duel monitor setup and "focus to" now works.

Any idea what's going on here?

[Eric Lagman]

This was encountered on a system here in our office also. Turning off one of the monitors fixed the problem, but that is not a good long term solution.

[purCAB]

I am also experiencing a problem with auto-focus/focus to in Studio. I'm running a single monitor system so the issue is not related to dual-monitors / second screen. For me, this "problem" started with the introduction of 1.7.

I export the part from SolidWorks into Studio and any attempt to re-focus the camera within Studio yields significant problems. I am forced to close Studio and re-export. Since the last post date was more than 2 months ago, is any one else experiencing this problem?

---
Ken

MaxwellRender 1.7, WinXP-32

[Eric Lagman]

I am also experiencing a problem with auto-focus/focus to in Studio. I'm running a single monitor system so the issue is not related to dual-monitors / second screen. For me, this "problem" started with the introduction of 1.7.

I export the part from SolidWorks into Studio and any attempt to re-focus the camera within Studio yields significant problems. I am forced to close Studio and re-export. Since the last post date was more than 2 months ago, is any one else experiencing this problem?

---
Ken

MaxwellRender 1.7, WinXP-32

Yes we are all having the same issue on my team now with 1.7 and focusing in studio. Even on single monitor setups. It is very flaky. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. It seems to be mainly when the camera is zoomed fairly close to an object. This did not start happeing until 1.7. I will try and upload a simple file to the NL folks and see if I can have them confirm. Its a major workflow problem lately.

[formzizzle]

could it be the scale? I remmeber having the same problem and being able to solve it by playing with the scene scale and the f-stop / shutter combo

[ernchesto]

I'm having similar problems here. I'm on a 64 bit XP pro with a single monitor. I've been having the issue in studio that is messing with one of my contracts, where despite the f-stop I provide, I can't seem to get any depth of field. Auto focus creates a total blur, and I've created countless new cameras to try and get a part of the shot in focus - to no avail.

I'm shooting from approximately 25cm away with a 50mm lens - f-stop up to 22 so far and it's not coming in focus. Other parts in the scene (15ish cm away are in focus).

After hiding the focused parts and focusing only on the remaining ones doesn't seem to be working. Now a new deadline is creeping up on me!

I hope there's a solution soon!

By the way 1.7, in Maxwell Studio.

Thanks,
Ernest