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Showcase viewer data not carrying environment

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Message 1 of 11
drjohn
677 Views, 10 Replies

Showcase viewer data not carrying environment

Actualy, I have 2 questions but the first one is most important.

 

1.  When I do a save with texture (or whatever it's called) and move that file to a USB and take it to a system with only the viewer on it it fails. I'm very new to Showcase but not new to computers and AutoDesk. This one has me stumped. I saveas with textures and transfer that to a viewer only system and it shows a "no environments" warning and telling me it's going to subsitute empty environment instead. Fine. Does this about 4 times cause I have 4 diff environments in the file. Then it fails to import the empty environment models although it says it is doing just that for a long time but fails to finish.

 

I have even tried to copy the .a3s file (saved with textures) with it's sub-folder and still it fails.  I'm pretty sure it'e operator error but I'm just not sure what error I am making.

 

 

2. Does Showcase always show shadows of hidden or sectioned objects? 

 

eg: I have a model with a door on it, I try a section of it and the door is cut off in the section but still it shows shadow.

 

 

TIA for any advice, gents/gentesses. Smiley Happy

 

Regards,

DJ

 

10 REPLIES 10
Message 2 of 11
cikho
in reply to: drjohn

1. strange behavior actually, if you take both the file and the folder it should work..
are viewer and editor the same version?
did you try to save as .zip package? (save scene and texture, under the file name there's a dropdown menu and chose compressed archive) and then open the .zip in the editor?

what kind of environment are you using?
does this happen with every file or with a particular one only?


2. yes, that's how it works. section doesn't actually cut the geometry, it simply hide part of it..
but the hidden part still exists, it project shadows, it can be selected and, worse thing ever, it appears in raytracing making raytraced section something impossible to create directly in showcase...

personally i think it's one of the biggest flaws in this sfotware.. but still it does its job and requires almost no calculation so it's good for showcase's purpose and ease of use..

a possible workaround is to avoid the sectioned object to project shadows manually..
go to

appearence -> directional lights and shadows
go at the bottom of the window.

here you can select "specified object" in the drop down menu, select your object, push the "choose shadow casters" button and select "stop selected objects..."

this will solve the problem, but do it after saving, because messing with the shadow casters can screw the whole objects' shadow setup

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/general/object-not-reciving-shadows/td-p/5300109

_________________________________________________________

almost a showcase PRO user 😛

if you find my post useful, please give kudos or mark as solution 😄
Message 3 of 11
drjohn
in reply to: cikho

The viewer issue is with 2 files that I have tried so far. I don't know if I said it correctly in the OP but the models fail to load as well.

 

The version thing might be an issue.  I am running 2014 Showcase @ the full Showcase system and the viewer is the current one available for d/l at the AutoDESK site.

 

I will follow thru on this this eve.  Thanx much for your info. You seem to be a wealth of information.  Appreciate it.

 

Regards,

DJ

 

Message 4 of 11
cikho
in reply to: drjohn

i'm running 2013, so i'm not sure about this, but have you installed the 2014 various service packs and hotfixes? sometimes it creates some errors..

may i ask what's the geometry source type? (ie inventor, alias, solidworks whatever)..
_________________________________________________________

almost a showcase PRO user 😛

if you find my post useful, please give kudos or mark as solution 😄
Message 5 of 11
drjohn
in reply to: cikho

I  just checked.  Showcase prog is 2014 and the Viewer is 2014 so that eliminates that variable from the equation.

 

I have not checked for any hotfixes or updates.  I will do that this afternoon.

 

Geometry was derived from AutoCAD v2014.

 

 

TYVM

 

Regards,

DJ

 

 

Message 6 of 11
cikho
in reply to: drjohn

another quick check:
open the folder that comes with the file when saving, does it have inside it the environment named folders, and several .a3g files?
_________________________________________________________

almost a showcase PRO user 😛

if you find my post useful, please give kudos or mark as solution 😄
Message 7 of 11
drjohn
in reply to: cikho


@cikho wrote:
another quick check:
open the folder that comes with the file when saving, does it have inside it the environment named folders, and several .a3g files?

I just re-ran Saveas with Textures to get a fresh set of everything.

 

I have a _root_ dir with the [filename].a3s file in it and a sub-dir called the [filename]-files

 

In there I have 2 sub-dirs and a bunch of .png files and a .a3g file.

 

 

In the IDHardwood-files sub-dir (I removed all environments except IDHardwood and Empty). It has .hdr, .tif and .apf files.

 

The other sub-dir is Empty-files with the the Empty environment in it.

 

 

Regards,

DJ

 

Message 8 of 11
cikho
in reply to: drjohn

well that feels very strange then..
looks like everything is set to work properly 😞
_________________________________________________________

almost a showcase PRO user 😛

if you find my post useful, please give kudos or mark as solution 😄
Message 9 of 11
drjohn
in reply to: cikho

This time I saved straight to the USB so I have the correct dir structure.  I'll give it another try with the viewer today.

 

DJ

 

 

Message 10 of 11
drjohn
in reply to: drjohn

cikho,

 

It would appear that it was a PEBKAC issue.  Problem Existed Between Keyboard and Chair.

 

When I saved the file directly to the USB the viewer handled it correctly.

 

I appreciate all your help.  Made me look at the dir structure to find MY error.

 

Thanx again.  All is working well.

 

Regards,

DJ

 

Message 11 of 11
cikho
in reply to: drjohn

rofl i like the PEBKAC term, never heard before 🙂
anyways, glad it helped 🙂
_________________________________________________________

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if you find my post useful, please give kudos or mark as solution 😄

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