environment backdrop/background not visible in render
WillowRaven
Posts: 3,787
in The Commons
For years, I've used pics as backdrops under the environment tab with the 'visible in render' setting on. But for some reason, suddenly, the images are not visible in render. Anybody know why?
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3Delight or iRay? It doesn't work in iRay as I remember.
Deleted (not relevant). Background pictures do work in Iray though.
The screenshot is 4.7 so it must be 3DL -
The backdrop does work in 4.9 in both Iray & 3DL but thats no help to the OP :(
What is in the scene? Is there maybe a dome or skybox that would block the backdrop?
4.7 ... 3DL .. nothing else in the scene except for the small outcropping in the foreground (visible in second attachment), not even lights, which shouldn't affect the environment background, anyway.
Like I mentioned, been doing it for years and it's just this week been a problem and I can't figure out why.
Can you upload the screenshots? I don't see them in your original post. I've also noticed recently that the backdrop gets stripped from the environment tab after you add a figure, prop etc. to the scene. Seems to have started with the latest update to DS. I'm using the latest version of 4.9 so not sure if it effects 4.7.
Strange that the attachments are no longer there :(
Here they are, again.
The viewport image doesn't look like a backdrop. It looks like a plane that has an image in it. Behind it and to your lower right I see the green grass area, which is consistent with the render.
This is very odd. Since you're not far into your project, can you start a new scene, select a different image for your backdrop and render? Maybe there is something about that image, but I can't tell what it would be. Sorry, I'm grasping at straws. Can't think of anything else other than make sure your camera's headlamp is off.
There is no camera headlight in 4.7 ...
It's not a plain with an image, either. Nor is it this scene. This is the second project I've had this weirdness happen to this week. I though it may have been the image, too, until I started this second project with a whole new background image.
There is, but it isn't directly configurable. In order to run it off you need a light in the scene, even if it isn't doing anything towards lighting the scene.
I had lights in the scene, a set I use for most of my outdoor scenes, but I deleted them thinking they may be causing the problem.
Do you normally save as .png?
I tried it both as a jpeg or png. And normally it works either way. I just don't understand why it hasn't for this and the last project.
Does it work with just the background image and nothing else in the scene? Have you tried images that have worked in previous projects?
It's not the image. Like I said, this is the second project to have this problem this week, or so. There is nothing in the scene except for the outcropping in the lower part of the scene.
I'll just do it the old way by rendering on a clear background and put it together in photoshop. I just wanted to avoid the extra steps by fixing the problem if possible.
Was this ever figured out? Because I have the same issue. My backdrop image shows fine in the viewport but doesn't show in the render. What settings *for sure* usually need to be on for it to work? I have "draw dome" and "draw ground" set to off, since I don't want the dome to render.
There is this setting, I imagine that some kind of error somewhere in DS settings files or wherever might keep it in Off mode (may possibly happen even it it says On in DS). Toggling the setting may possibly fix it, I have seen this in other contexts.