Inventor 2014 Renderings Look bad

[tsreagan]

I have searched the forums for similar issues but have not seen any posts on this, so maybe it is just me.

I was excited about 2014,  couldn't wait to see how wonderfull the rendering improvements would be.

I fired it up and rendered something....   ugg... that can't be right.  The renderings looked awfull  see attachment.

I tried this on two different machines with differing video systems. (latest drivers on both)

Played with every Inventor video option. (all 2 or 3 of them anyway)

Is this just me or is anyone else having similar issues.

They do render faster,  but what good does that do, when they look like... well... (Censored)

Should I export everything as a step and send it back to 2013 for rendering?

Thanks.

T.S.

[Bill.Schmid]

Looks like they tested the "fix" about as well as they tested the original release.  Someone should lose their job over this.  It's totally unacceptable.

[stefan.bunke]

Is there a possibility to get money back for not working software ? free subscripten increasement?

[mark.young]

I have to agree that this is unacceptable.

They bring in the new materials and appearances - it's a pain but I can see the potential so I spend a long time updating my parts and tweaking materials until everything looks more realistic. I love it, my boss loves it, clients love it...then.... BAM! the little render button I press now makes things look bad instead of good.

VERY frustrating

[danielw88]

I have been playing around with Ray Tracing, under the beta of SP1, in order to try and get a render to a level that i used to be able to get and i think i am pretty close.

I have been ray tracing under the 'good' setting, because interactive isn't quality enough and best takes too long for nothing.

I had found that using the standard 'Two-Lights' lighting setup worked the best for my needs, as i often delete the backgrounds of my images made for use elsewhere. Matched with a white background, this makes photoshopping images a breeze.

Under the Two-Lights setting, i had found that using only lights 1 and 2 provided with a rendered image that was too dark. (See image 'Test001') Activating lights 3 and 4 made the rendered image brighter and nicer. (See image 'Test002')

Furthermore, i had to mess around with the lighting 'positions' in order to get a lighting on the object that didn't create intense shadows in areas as the shadows that are cast are usually much darker than they should be, or really grainy, with the light i am 'shining' on the object. The lighting positions i used are '0' x-axis and '0' y-axis.

As far as speckling on the good setting, it still exists. Particularly in areas where there is shadow and also in areas where there is reflection. Its not as perfect as renders were in 2012, but i will now be able to continue creating rendered images that i feel comfortable letting others see.

All in all this is a step in the right direction, but there still needs to be a ton of work done on this feature to bring it back to what it used to be.

[MikahB]

My quick and dirty testing was A/B between 2013 "Good" and 2014 "Good" with SP1.  SP1 definitely made "good" better, but as evidenced here it was more of a slight of hand than a real fix, apparently.

Also agree completely with the lighting comments above - to get 2014 to render a semi well-lit scene, you have to have so many lights that in any other view (like my normal Shaded With Edges) it's completely washed out and hard to look at.

It is frustrating, especially as I prepare to shell out my annual subscription dues for software that I just now started using.

[tsreagan]

Sigh,

Not to liquify a dead horse, But...

Someone, somewhere, severely miss prioritized the importance of Rendering to Inventor users.
Probably too many engineers and not enough artists(if any) are making these decisions.

I guess we shall await 2015 and hope we are not forgotton.

T.S.

[Bill.Schmid]

I think Autodesk owes all Inventor users five days free training in 3ds Max so we can still produce ray-traced images from our models.

That makes me think, could you imagine if they had goofed up the rendering in Max this badly?

[mrattray]

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@tsreagan wrote:

Probably too many engineers and not enough artists(if any) are making these decisions.

---

I think that's the first time I've ever heard that complaint here!

[Bill.Schmid]

More like too many accountants who don't know what engineers OR artists want or need.

[LT.Rusty]

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@Bill.Schmid wrote:

I think Autodesk owes all Inventor users five days free training in 3ds Max so we can still produce ray-traced images from our models.

That makes me think, could you imagine if they had goofed up the rendering in Max this badly?

---

Why are you guys even using Inventor for rendering anymore?  Showcase renders better, has much better options for  texturing and lighting, and is just all around a much better product than Inventor Studio.

Time spent fixing Inventor Studio is time wasted.  Just kill it already, and make Showcase the default rendering solution.

[mark.young]

In the 5 minutes it takes Showcase to import, convert & then set up an environment, Inventor can  could produce something half decent. Without the faff of missing decals and going back and forth every time I tweak my design.

We are not referring to Inventor Studio here. This is ray tracing mode which, as you suggest, has made Inventor Studio pretty obsolete.

[Bill.Schmid]

First, we're not talking about Inventor Studio.  You're right though, it's worthless.  The ray-tracing is done right from where ever you are in Inventor, just by changing the view type.  It's fast and it USED TO look good.  No waiting to load everything into Showcase.  No learning another program.

I'll try an assembly I've been working on - an electrical substation - in Showcase.  I'm wondering if it'll even load it.

[danielw88]

For one when an inventor Assembly is imported into Showcase, any decalling on the Assembly turns into a grey or white box. It doesn't translate.

[MikahB]

I do like Showcase when I need to do a particularly nice/challenging render, but for quick, high-quality shots doing it right from Inventor was light years better.  In addition to the decal issue already mentioned, Showcase has problems with bringing in small details - even on the "Small Details" import setting.

[LishuangLu]

Hi Tobias,

Yes, please wait for AIP2015 for better ray tracing without white speckles with image based lighting on.

Thanks,
-Lisa

[Ajcraig99]

No, will not be continuing subscription because of this ongoing issues with auto desk making products look nice but function worse

[terje.antonsen]

I expect it to be fixed in the next SP: If not, Inventor will be replaced.

[danielw88]

I haven't had the opportunity to test out 2015 yet.

Can anyone confirm that 2015 has the rendering (ray tracing) issues fixed? I am terribly eager to start using the new software if it is fixed.

[mrattray]

Looks much better to me, but you don't have to take my word for it. You can download it from here and give it a test (assuming you don't already have it available in your sub. center): http://designandmotion.net/autodesk/autodesk-2015-products-download-links-including-suites/

[ajcraig99]

I will be testing 2015 against 3 pages of bugs that made 2014 unusable for
us, hopefully tomorrow.