Publishing an image results in ugly visual artifacts in the image

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I wanted to try publishing a raytraced image out of Showcase 2014. Well, thats easy, you might say. I thought so too. So, no problem, I decide to test the waters. I click publish image, let Showcase process it using the default render settings (ambient shadow - interactive @ level 6), and then opened the finished file. It looks like this. These horrid lines crossing over the entire picture are obviously unacceptable. So, what's going on? The reason this is such a problem for me, other than the obvious fact that its ugly, is that without the publish image command being utilized, I can't save an image of my render at any resolution higher than my monitor's native output of 1920x1080. Its very easy to just click the save button on the raytrace panel on the bottom right but this just saves to whatever resolution my monitor is currently running at. 

These lines aren't visible during hardware rendering or during a regular raytracing operation (that is, raytracing done not using the "publish image" command). So, whats going on here? I tried publishing to .tiff, .jpg, and .bmp, and all give the same results as the picture I included in the link above as a sample.

I'm hoping that there is an obvious reason for this and that the fix is a matter of tweaking this or that setting. No other program I've used to output renders with at resolutions higher than my monitor supports (and the target output in this case happens to be 2560x1440) has given me this kind of unwanted visual artifact. I'm not happy using other software packages to get what I want, since I find Showcase to be so easly accessible and capable of giving extremely beautiful results. Please help!

[cikho]

does this happen at every resolution /proportion?
does this happen with every scene or only this one?

[Anonymous]

Yes, regardless of resolution or scene. Like I said, I can save the image with the save button on the raytrace panel but that limits me to a max image size of 1920x1080, which is not what I need.

Did you see the example picture I linked and added as an attachment? 

[cikho]

yes i saw the image and honestly i understand your frustration..

i'm using 2013 and never had similar artifact..

maybe is a problem with some driver..

did you tryed also various image format?

[Anonymous]

Yes, .tiff, .jpg, and .bmp, all of which resulted in the same thing. If no one working for Autodesk will respond I guess I'll just re-install the program and hope it will fix the problem. Its hard to tell whether or not this problem is software related, like you said, or related to unsupported hardware. Either way, it would be nice to know if others using 2014 have experienced this issue.

[MarionLandry]

Hi,

to help you I need more information.

What are the Raytracing settings you are using? 

Would it be possible to share the scene with me so I can test it on my side. 

I Never encounter such things but I have seen it in the past. In my experience, it was sometimes related to the RT settings or the graphic card. 

Are you, by any chance, using a ATI card? 

If you could share the component of your computer, it might also give me some pointers.. 

But sharing your scene would be best so i can run some test on my side. 

Let me know.

Marion

[Anonymous]

As stated in my original post, I was just running a test to try publishing at higher than 1920x1080 using the default settings (ambient shadow - interactive @ level 6). I use an Nvidia GTX 560M GPU with an intel i7 CPU, and 16GB of RAM. This problem occurs regardless of the scene. I was just importing 2013 .dwg files from AutoCAD into the program for my tests. I never saved them as Showcase scene files before trying to publish.

[MarionLandry]

Hi,

what it is starting to point to me is that it is most likely a graphic card limit.. but let's not give up yet and try few more things:

1)      Make sure that you video card is update with the latest drivers - this is really important

2)      After he updates the drivers,  completely remove the Showcase 2014 user prefs folder from my documents - C:\Users\t_landm\Documents\Autodesk Showcase 2014 Delete that folder completely and restart Showcase. 

If you don't have the latest drivers then still do step 2 and restart Showcase.

Let me know if that helps at all. 

Marion

[Anonymous]

Well as far as graphic card limits, I have no idea; but I will note again that I can get perfect, artifact-free results when not using the publish image command, but being limited to 1920x1080 output is a little annoying.

As far as drivers go, as stated in a newer thread on this forum, the latest drivers unfortunately prevent Showcase from even starting. So, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'll try your second solution and see if that helps. Thanks for your diligence here Ms. Landry.

[MarionLandry · Accepted solution]

Yes, there are other treads on the forum about Driver not working and making Showcase crash. I am very sorry to hear that and there is not much I can do on my side. I am running the NVIDIA K5000 and don't have any of what you are mentionning.. so it's hard for me to help, understand and find a solution. 

Hope clearing the pref folder helps.. 

Marion

[MikahB]

Was there ever an actual solution for this?  Just fired up Showcase for the first time in a while and I'm getting exactly the same things on every "Publish Image" I do.  Really maddening.

Tried the 2 suggested fixes here, zero difference.  Anyone seen and solved this?

[Christian_Garimberti]

What version of the driver you use?

now the best version is the 347.XX.

Bye

[MikahB]

Running 347.88.  Upgraded from 337.88 as a troubleshooting step, zero change.

[afroese]

I'm using 2017 showcase and my published images always turn out the same quality, which is poor.    I don't what else I can do in the settings to make this more clear.  If anyone can offer me any tips I would appreciate that.