Ground Shadow in Render Does not Appear

Ground Shadow in Render Does not Appear

Anonymous
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Message 1 of 23

Ground Shadow in Render Does not Appear

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi everyone! I am new to Autodesk Fusion 360 and I have a problem in rendering a model. I am using the most update version now (2.0.2676) running on Windows 8.

 

I have a block model here that I want to render. If I look from the tutorial video, there should be a shadow of the model on the ground.

Capture4.JPGHowever in my Fusion 360, the shadow of my model does not show up? I have tried rotating the lighting position but nothing happens. Capture1.JPG

 

 

Capture2.JPG

 

  Capture3.JPGWhat's going on here? Is there any way to fix this?

 

Thank you very much for your help.

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Message 2 of 23

colin.smith
Alumni
Alumni

Hi @Anonymous,

 

Check your render settings and make sure that you have the ground plane turned on.  

If the box next to Ground Plane is not checked there is nothing to project a shadow on.

 

Hope that helps, 

 

Colin

 

 Screen Shot 2017-01-23 at 10.58.18 AM.png

 

 

 

Colin Smith
Sr. Product Manager
SketchBook
Alias Create VR (aka Project Sugarhill)
Automotive & Conceptual Design Group
Message 3 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@colin.smith

You can see in his posted screen shots that the ground plane is turned on. I wonder if the ground plane in the render is above his part.....



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 4 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@Anonymous

Can you post your model file here so we can look at it?



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 5 of 23

colin.smith
Alumni
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@PhilProcarioJr, That shouldn't happen.  The ground plane is not locked.  It moves with the objects in the render workspace. 

 

Colin Smith
Sr. Product Manager
SketchBook
Alias Create VR (aka Project Sugarhill)
Automotive & Conceptual Design Group
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Message 6 of 23

colin.smith
Alumni
Alumni

@Anonymous, As @PhilProcarioJr suggests, it would be useful to see the file. 

 

Thanks

 

Colin

 

 

 

Colin Smith
Sr. Product Manager
SketchBook
Alias Create VR (aka Project Sugarhill)
Automotive & Conceptual Design Group
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Message 7 of 23

colin.smith
Alumni
Alumni

@Anonymous, also if you are using an environment that only casts a light down on the part (like cool light, grid light or soft light) and you move the environment up you may lose the shadow.

Screen Shot 2017-01-23 at 2.22.44 PM.pngScreen Shot 2017-01-23 at 2.22.25 PM.pngScreen Shot 2017-01-23 at 2.22.34 PM.png

 

 

Colin Smith
Sr. Product Manager
SketchBook
Alias Create VR (aka Project Sugarhill)
Automotive & Conceptual Design Group
Message 8 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@colin.smith

I know it shouldn't happen but it does.  I just had it happen the other day twice.....



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 9 of 23

Anonymous
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Hi @colin.smith and @PhilProcarioJr  thank you for replying my post. Sorry I was a little busy a few days ago.

 

I'm sorry I have deleted my file, but I created a new one and still the problem persists. This is the link to my model : http://a360.co/2jl02QC 

 

@colin.smith, I have ticked the ground plane as you can see in my screenshot. The environment lighting that I use is "Sharp Light" I don't know if it only casts a light down on the part. This is the image of the new model I have made, I have lowered the ground plane so you can see if the cast-down-lighting is working well, the shadow should appear (but it doesn't)Capture6.JPG

 

 

Capture5.JPG

 

 

 

 

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Message 10 of 23

Anonymous
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I’ve never been able to render a ground shadow no matter what I try

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Message 11 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@Anonymous

Can you post your gfx diagnostics here? The reason I ask is because the shadow showed up right away for me.

Untitled.png

 

 



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 12 of 23

colin.smith
Alumni
Alumni

@Anonymous

 

I see the shadow also.  What type of machine are you running on?

I'm going to see if someone from our graphics team has any ideas on this.

 

Colin

 

Colin Smith
Sr. Product Manager
SketchBook
Alias Create VR (aka Project Sugarhill)
Automotive & Conceptual Design Group
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Message 13 of 23

Anonymous
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@PhilProcarioJr I copied my Graphics Diagnostics and here is the result:

 

[GPU Information]
GPU Device: NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
GPU RAM: 128 MB
GPU Driver API: DirectX 11.0
GPU Driver Version: 1.5.560
GPU Driver Date: 08/07/2015

[Graphics Effects Settings]
Anti Aliasing: Off
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Object Shadow: Off
Ground Shadow: Off
Ground Reflection: Off
Selection Display Style: Simple
Transparency Effect: Better Performance

[Limit effects to optimize performance]
On

 

Seems we found the problem, in the Graphic Effect Settings, the Ground Shadow is off. Now how can I turn it on?

 

@colin.smith I think the information is provided above. Is there anything I still miss?

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Message 14 of 23

Anonymous
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@colin.smith @PhilProcarioJr I think I have found the solution.

 

 In that Graphics Diagnostics window, under the Troubleshooting dropdown, there is an option to "Limit effects to optimize performance". In my default setting, that option was ticked so the Anti Aliasing, Ambient Occlusion, Ground Shadow, and Ground Reflection was OFF. Now I unticked that option and all of those parameters are turned ON and I can have my ground shadow now. I think that solves the problem.

 Capture8.JPG

 

 

Capture7.JPG

  

Thank you very much for your help!

Message 15 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@Anonymous

Even though that fixed your problem.

Is your GFX card memory correct? Because that's not much at all.....and if this is correct switch to directx 9

Next update your GFX driver it's way out of date.

 



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 16 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@Anonymous

Also you can find the shadow settings at the bottom of your viewport.

Untitled.png

 

 



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 17 of 23

Anonymous
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@PhilProcarioJr Yeah the GFX memory size is wrong there. I'll update my graphics driver and let you know if that parameter changes.

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Message 18 of 23

Anonymous
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@PhilProcarioJr I have updated my NVIDIA driver however the GPU memory size still does not change. I tried to open dxdiag and the result there is pretty strange.

 

In the Device segment, my Nvidia Geforce GT 740 is not detected, however the total memory size is about 2 GB (which is correct compare to the Nvidia GeForce GT 740's specification).

On the other hand, in the Fusion's Hardware information, the memory size is still 128 MB only.

Capture.JPG

 

 

 Do you know how to fix this? Is this a problem for my rendering process? I wish I could run the render in my graphic card's full performance which is 2 GB.

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Message 19 of 23

PhilProcarioJr
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@Anonymous

Renders don't use your gpu memory or your gpu so that doesn't mater. Your gpu and gpu memory are only used for viewport display and performance.

Does your system use shared memory for the system and gfx?

 

@colin.smith

ANY ideas why his gpu memory is wrong but it says it is using his gpu?



Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations

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Message 20 of 23

Anonymous
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@PhilProcarioJr , sorry, what do you mean by "shared memory for the system and gfx" ?

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