ChuckGram

Robcat, tried your advice on version 18 and it's working. Thanks so much!!! I can stick with this till the problem is solved. :-)

With toon render, that shadow on the ground looks fine but the shadow on the sphere has a golfball dimpling effect. Also, most of my models can't ne opened in version 17, since I've updated them or created new ones over the last year or two.

Thanks Robcat. It worked as shown but I need to tweek it for toon render. Will post back :-)

I'm currently getting that in version 18 as well. I believe it started after a Windows 10 update last years.

The shadows haven't been working correctly for my spot lights for a while now. I cannot soften or lighten the shodows cast from any model onto another. Any idea what's going on here? I have the shadow softness set to 100% in the project. Spot Test.prj

Still can't get a soft shadow against a surface, no matter what settings I use on a kleig. Does anyone have an idea what may be wrong?

I apologize for the long running thread. I still can't figure out what is going on with the shadows. This is a simple 8 patch sphere in the basic choreography window. The lighting is set as: Light settings - Spot = 90% Fill = 12% Key = 0% I cannot get rid of the harsh shadow cast by the sphere. Have a look at the setting for the spot light. I checked my old choreographies going back several years. The problem shows up in them as well now. Is it possibly a problem with my graphics card?

I thought you ascertained that this was an A:M bug, no? We really need to see an example. There is so much going on here, it's difficult to explain. I recently discovered that part of the problem is part of the Windows 10 update. As Rondey mentioned, the folders that you are saving to must not be set to "read only". After turning that setting off, they immediately set back to read only. This has something to do with the Cloud (which I don't even want). You can turn off Cloud but the problem still persists. The Windows update makes it so Cloud can't be removed. I've been looking around and there are many people having problems with this and quite a number of class action lawsuits going on because of it. I discovered I can render files directly to my desktop and move them to other folders. As far as the shading problems, I have a feeling it directed towards the Cloud as well.

Unfortunately I have no other option other than to purchase a new computer. Are any of you having these problems with these crashes? Also, has anyone noticed odd shadows when using a klieg as a main light source?

Another thing that is probably related, when toon rendering, there are now extremely harsh shadows when using a kleig as a main light source. The shadows remain 100% dark and sharp no matter how you adjust the kleig properties.

Thanks again for the help and reporting the bug. I'm certian they will figure the rest out. Hash on, my firends!

VERIFIED: The slider bars are the cause of the crashes. I deleted the sliders and rendering works.

I'm deffinately on to something now. I reinstalled, and ran several successful renders. I changed one setting at a time and eventually got to my usual "Toon Render with falloff". It rendered without a catch till I tried adjusting the slider bars as shown, then the crashes bagan. I'm certian this is causing the crashes.

Well, gentlemen, I checked the folder settings and that's not the problem. There hasn't been any new hardware added. Both AM verions (18 & 19) are the 64 bit release. I am only attempting to render in uncompressed and the crash occurs no matter what folder I try to sace to. Mind you, I'm still trying to render the default coriography with no models imported. I did scan the hard drive for errors but none were found.

Okay, I reset everything back to the factory settings. a 100% reformatting. I installed Windows 10 and ONLY hash animation Versions 18p and 19d. Everything seemed to be working till it tried Toon render with falloff. Now the program crashes at rendering no matter the settings. I hope this narrows it down.