Strange translation errors with conforming items and props when using Advanced Spotlight... very wei

nowefg

This is mighty strange problem, that only occurs when I'm using AoA's Advanced Spotlight:

A figure in the scene with parented items, clothing or props, or a prop alone is selected to be rotated. This can be the entire figure, or a part, like a hand with a conforming sword prop in it, or a nonparented prop like the flame on a torch, which I've been using a lot, lately.

When the figure is selected, not the conforming clothing, instead of the figure turning, only the clothing or props turns and the selected figure remains in the original position. There is no way to rotate the actual figure, although it is the only item in the scene that is selected. It doesn't respond at all, only the items parented to it.

This is a huge drag, after spending some hours arranging and test-rendering a scene, and seeing that the figure needs a slight, necessary turn, but that it won't respond when selected.

In the case of a prop, with the actual prop selected, the bounding box clearly repositions, but the visible prop doesn't move at all.

The actual lighting in scenes when this happens generally includes Advanced Ambient, and Advanced Spotlight, and most times additional daz default lights, but the translation errors don't start until the Spotlight is loaded. If no Advanced Spotlights are loaded in the scene, everything behaves and rotated normally. As soon as the Spotlight is loaded, the problem starts.

Obviously, I only notice it if something needs to be repositioned, but it's such a consistent, frustrating problem that I really shy away from using the Advanced Spotlight at all, which is a shame, because it's so versatile.

I'm not saying it is definitely the Spotlight. I have no idea what drives this translation error, but the only clue I have is that it never occurs at all until I load the Advanced Spotlight into any scene. Some constellation of factors must be involved, and the Spotlight itself might not be the culprit, but a kind of last straw or something. I know that's it's not coincidental. if I don't load the Spotlight, I don't get these errors. if I do load the Spotlight, these errors happen every time I try to rotate something.

I have tried several times redownloading and installing the Advanced Spotlight, but it hasn't helped.

Has anyone else seen this? Especially, if a bounding box moves but the prop itself doesn't, does that ring any bells?

CypherFOX

Greetings,

nowefg said:

This is mighty strange problem, that only occurs when I'm using AoA's Advanced Spotlight:

A figure in the scene with parented items, clothing or props, or a prop alone is selected to be rotated. This can be the entire figure, or a part, like a hand with a conforming sword prop in it, or a nonparented prop like the flame on a torch, which I've been using a lot, lately.

When the figure is selected, not the conforming clothing, instead of the figure turning, only the clothing or props turns and the selected figure remains in the original position. There is no way to rotate the actual figure, although it is the only item in the scene that is selected. It doesn't respond at all, only the items parented to it.

This is a huge drag, after spending some hours arranging and test-rendering a scene, and seeing that the figure needs a slight, necessary turn, but that it won't respond when selected.

In the case of a prop, with the actual prop selected, the bounding box clearly repositions, but the visible prop doesn't move at all.

The actual lighting in scenes when this happens generally includes Advanced Ambient, and Advanced Spotlight, and most times additional daz default lights, but the translation errors don't start until the Spotlight is loaded. If no Advanced Spotlights are loaded in the scene, everything behaves and rotated normally. As soon as the Spotlight is loaded, the problem starts.

Obviously, I only notice it if something needs to be repositioned, but it's such a consistent, frustrating problem that I really shy away from using the Advanced Spotlight at all, which is a shame, because it's so versatile.

I'm not saying it is definitely the Spotlight. I have no idea what drives this translation error, but the only clue I have is that it never occurs at all until I load the Advanced Spotlight into any scene. Some constellation of factors must be involved, and the Spotlight itself might not be the culprit, but a kind of last straw or something. I know that's it's not coincidental. if I don't load the Spotlight, I don't get these errors. if I do load the Spotlight, these errors happen every time I try to rotate something.

I have tried several times redownloading and installing the Advanced Spotlight, but it hasn't helped.

Has anyone else seen this? Especially, if a bounding box moves but the prop itself doesn't, does that ring any bells?

Yes, but I could only replicate it on one computer, so I withdrew my bug report.

For me it was the Delilah warm light set. I could load Genesis or G2F (didn't try G2M or V4), then that light set, and I'd turn the head and the dial would move but the head wouldn't turn. (Oddly enough you could see shadow changes on the face, as if it were turning, but it wasn't actually doing it.) Then, when I let go of the mouse, the character would EXPLODE, with polygons pointing to random spots, but mostly contained within the bounding box of the character.

I dialed a shaping dial and it sheared the character into pieces, with nipples sliding off as separate pieces, and hands having jagged disconnections from the arms. It was really messed up. You can see an image here, from one of the times I was trying to deal with it: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/42708/

It still happens on that computer (a Mac desktop), but I couldn't replicate it on my Mac laptop or Windows desktop, so I withdrew it as a bug report.

And yes, if I have a hair fit to the character, and I turn the head, the hair turns, but not the head.

Don't know if it's the same problem as you're seeing, but the behavior sure sounds similar, except for the post-action corruption that I saw.

-- Morgan

fixmypcmike

If you render when this happens, does it show the same issue as the viewport?

nowefg

Thanks, Cypherfox,

And yes, if I have a hair fit to the character, and I turn the head, the hair turns, but not the head.

It does sound just like what I'm seeing. Strange. Limited to specific machines, even. I don't have another computer to test on, but my current one is a PC laptop, pretty underpowered for what I use it for. Your experience makes me wonder about how Studio knows something has been selected, or parented; like, is there a buffer or something that it uses to track what's attached to what.

Speculating, but the problem is bizarre, like when V4 morph packages conflict, trying to use the same channels and stepping on each other's morphs and the result is distorted and crumpled. For example, using Posermatic's NGM V4 with X&M's Perfect V4 almost always causes crumpling and collapsing of mesh parts at some point, especially on a REM of the NGM morph. No where to go from there, that I've found, except to start a fresh scene and reload everything again.

Somehow Studio is acting like the parented item is actually the parent itself, and that the actual parent isn't even in the scene, so no way to select it; or something like that. That really sounds like two resources stepping on each other in some buffered location. But, what do I know.

Thanks, fixmypcmike,

If you render when this happens, does it show the same issue as the viewport?

I don't usually take these scenes to render, if I can't position the scene elements properly, but the one time last evening that I did attempt a render after a light intensity change, I did see that, in this case, the hand with a sword in it didn't render the sword in the same position as the preview showed it to be in. And I had, prior to the render, tried to reposition that hand. Sorry that's vague.

If there is a difference between preview and render, what does that point to?

fixmypcmike

Possibly the graphics card not correctly updating the viewport. Since it's rendering as if the figure has moved correctly, the scene information is correct, but it's not being displayed properly. What does Help > Troubleshooting > About your video card say?

nowefg

Thanks, fixmypcmile,

What does Help > Troubleshooting > About your video card say?

Certainly possible. Odd thing is that if I don't load the Advanced Spotlight, I don't see this problem occurring at all. A better machine is advised on other points, and I can try updating graphics drivers.

In the meantime, it seems like it's going to have to be a workflow solution. If I need Advanced Spotlights in a scene, setting up everything except the Spotlights, saving that scene; then, setting up lights and saving them separately; then, combining the first-saved scene and light preset to render. It's hard to visualize exact results that way, especially with shadows, but at least I won't lose the whole thing. I haven't found a way yet to delete the problematic lighting that takes the scene back to before the problem happened. Once this odd translation error starts, it persists with the scene regardless of changes or save-reloads.