3D Max and Vray geometry disappearing and views changing on their own when rendering

[JeremyRamsay]

Hi, In every job I'm working on, there comes a point at render time when the renders are of any bloody angle from my interior model as Max/Vray so chooses. But not even a proper view, sometimes there's walls missing, sometimes there's no geometry at all, sometimes it's a mile away from where the camera should be, sometimes it's actually moved objects out of the scene completely, sometimes there's only a road remaining where there should be a whole housing estate in the render. If I start a new Max file and merge all, everything's fine but having to do it ten times a project is becoming tiresome.

 

Any advice would help, thanks.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Never heard of this issue. But you can go through some of these workflow tips.

I usually work with a camera with NO target. I Would only use Targe when doing animations that need it. This target sometime creates issues mostly when you are working on large scenes and your Geometry is far from Zero coordinates.

 

Try to place your scene closer to the zero coordinates, this is usually the reason for many 3D Max viewport issues.

 

Check your scenes and geometry scale.

 

Geometry disappearing, check your video card drivers, also you can put a mesh modifier two times over the geometry, to rebuild polygons, also try placing a Normal modifier. This also can make your geometry invisible during render time.

 

Check the camera correction options, this will make the vertical straight. in some cases, it will distort your scene if the settings when wrong or you accidentally change them.

 

After placing your camera you can always lock the camera for any movement or rotation using the hierarchy panel under Link Info

Other than that, we will need more details regarding your scene and setup.

[JeremyRamsay]

Nice one, thanks very much. Most of what you do I also do as standard but you've mentioned a few things I hadn't considered so I'll look into them. I am actually using targets so that might be something, and the drivers could be an issue.

 

 

 

Hows the weather in Cali?

[Francisco Penaloza]

Weather is a little chilly today, I rather like it like that, but it will warm up tomorrow. The groundhog said early spring and it seems it will be that way

[JeremyRamsay]

Hey Francisco, just an update on my re-appearing weird rendering issue. These are two images from my current project, one a screen grab and one a render. I reinstalled Vray and the problem stopped though now it's back. Just thought you'd like to visibly see the issue. It actually looks like it's rendering an earlier image, there's no materials or foliage.

Thanks

Edited March 6, 2020 by JeremyRamsay

[akshayarora]

Other than everything mentioned by Francisco - I would recommend updating the service pack once.

It happened with us while using Max2015, and updating the service pack sorted the issue.

[John Dollus]

Does it behave that way in both CPU and GPU engines?

[JeremyRamsay]

Other than everything mentioned by Francisco - I would recommend updating the service pack once.

It happened with us while using Max2015, and updating the service pack sorted the issue.

 

 

Hi Akshay, yep, just checked, we're running the latest updates.

[JeremyRamsay]

Does it behave that way in both CPU and GPU engines?

Hi, only tried with the CPU engine.

[akshayarora]

Hi Akshay, yep, just checked, we're running the latest updates.

 

If you can share your max file with us ? Let me see will get back if I manage to sort out on this.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Yes that look very strange, maybe just share the main building, no furniture or details, leave the floor plane, the grass plane and concrete slab.

If you can share that so I or some one else can take a look, it is a very strange behavior.

 

 

Have you tried placing a Rest X-Form modifier on the geometry?

Did you modeled that in 3DMax or it comes from other software?

 

 

Also check your animation timeline, maybe you animated the geometry by mistake. There are some shortcuts that will activate the timeline recording so if you move something, it will record that as animated and render those frames.

 

 

But without looking at the file is very hard, never seen something similar.

[JeremyRamsay]

Yes that look very strange, maybe just share the main building, no furniture or details, leave the floor plane, the grass plane and concrete slab.

If you can share that so I or some one else can take a look, it is a very strange behavior.

 

 

Have you tried placing a Rest X-Form modifier on the geometry?

Did you modeled that in 3DMax or it comes from other software?

 

 

Also check your animation timeline, maybe you animated the geometry by mistake. There are some shortcuts that will activate the timeline recording so if you move something, it will record that as animated and render those frames.

 

 

But without looking at the file is very hard, never seen something similar.

 

 

Have you got an email I can send a WeTransfer to? The allowable attach extensions don't include Max or Zip files

[JeremyRamsay]

If you can share your max file with us ? Let me see will get back if I manage to sort out on this.

Hi Akshay, Have you got an email I can send a WeTransfer to? The allowable attach extensions don't include Max or Zip files, although the site says they can, I can't get them to upload.

[JeremyRamsay]

Hey fellas, I think I've found the cause of for my strange renders. Over the weekend I had my computer flattened to see if that helped. Yesterday I needed to convert some materials from Corona to Vray materials so I installed a trial Corona, (oh! the irony), and imported the relevant geometry so I could convert. My renders IMMEDIATELY started to go wrong as they had previously. In the past I remember getting a 'Scene Convertor' window pop up asking me which renderer I wanted to convert my scene to? There is an option to choose Vray, which I did then I closed the window down though I never understood why this window appeared in the first place. After this window was closed down the weird renders started to happen though I'd, stupidly, never made the connection because it always seemed a legitimate 3D Max window. Anyway, the short of it is, it looks like messing around in anyway with my renderer triggers a bug in my genuine licence software. I've no idea why I'd be getting this Scene Convertor window all of a sudden, if anyone has an idea why I'd love to know. but it seems that might've been the cause. I'd like to thank you for your advice. Cheers

[Tom Sproule]

Hi, I'm wondering if it's a virus.

 

Here's a link to where it's talked about on the autodesk forums (its mentioned in many other places):

 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-programming/is-this-an-alc-virus-in-max/td-p/7991084

 

The ALC Betavirus has these effects:

 

• Crashes or fails to open
  
• Corrupted scene data
  
• Empty helper nodes (¡¡×ý×û and ×þ×ü)
  
• Unable to save the scene manually
  
• Unable to use the Undo function
  
• Displays various MaxScript errors
  
• Corrupts or removes cameras, lights, and/or materials
  
• Forces an auto-save after breaking the scene or when choosing "Don't Save" when closing
  
• Adds itself to an existing script in the MaxScript startup directory
  
• Force closes 3Ds Max
  
• Unable to save V-Ray lights
  

The CRP Bscript virus has these effects:

 

• Undo function is broken and no longer works after switching to different viewports
  
• Scene lights may disappear or be deleted
  
• Scene materials may deleted
  
• Damage scripts in MaxScript startup folder
  

The ALC 3 Alpha virus does this:

 

• Crash 3Ds Max when open
  
• Empty helper nodes
  
• Unable to use the Undo function
  
• Displays various MaxScript errors
  
• Change render settings (V-Ray): VFB size, materials, GI settings etc.
  
• Tiny save your render from VFB and send to remote e-mail
  
• Gather system information and send to remote e-mail: IP, MAC, HDD info, Memory, CPU, 3Ds Max version etc.
  
• Send gathered data from fake e-mail sss777_2000@126.com (nfkxovtedspjgedv) to rrr888_3000@126.com
  
• Download from remote address and update itself from http://www.maxscript.cc/update/upscript.mse
  

One of the solutions is to download the prunescene script and install it in max. It's here:

 

https://3dground.net/manual/prune-scene

 

Seems like it could be one of these to me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought it could be a possibility.

 

Best, Tom

[JeremyRamsay]

Hi Tom, well that sounds it could very well be the issue, it did seem very virussy. Thanks for such a comprehensive reply. I've got plenty of time to go through all the data your link leads to so I 'll have a thorough read. Thanks again.

[Tom Sproule]

Hi Jeremy,

 

Yeah, I've no idea if it's that or something else, I just thought maybe, and it's worth a look.

 

One of the viruses infected my computer and it corrupted any scene I was in whenever I closed Max. It would automatically overwrite the saved scene and corrupt it. It would also change some light properties and move the camera.

 

Obviously it does different things for different people. It also seems to just sit there for weeks or months dormant. I think to just spreads itself to different scenes and tries to infect as much as possible before starting to actually affect scenes.

 

Have a good Easter!

 

Best, Tom

[akshayarora]

On 3/10/2020 at 5:20 PM, JeremyRamsay said:

Hi Akshay, Have you got an email I can send a WeTransfer to? The allowable attach extensions don't include Max or Zip files, although the site says they can, I can't get them to upload.

HI Jeremy,

Sorry I could not see your post, hope the issue has sorted as I can see Tom's post is pretty much helpful.