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Element 3D – Everything Is Dark!
I’m new to Element 3D and so trying various tutorials. I’m having a weird problem that I can’t seem to figure out.
Anytime I create an object in E3D they turn out MUCH darker than in tutorials. Across the board. I follow the instructions exactly but mine turn out totally different. Even from the first step, say clicking “create sphere”, I can tell it’s already shaded much darker.
I’ve attached a couple images to show the difference. Just a basic black sphere. Mine you can barely see other than the highlight while the tutorial version is much more visable.
Tutorial:
Mine:
Could there be something in the basic preferences or default settings that I have wrong?
Thanks!
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5 Replies
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There was another poster earlier today with the same problem. With a basic primative object & no shader applied, it should be quite apparent & normal looking though. In you sample, it seems the tutorial has an additional light or environment. Not seeing that in yours of course.
Only thing I can suggest is to make sure your system meets Element 3D’s requirements, particularly the video card. Perhaps update the drivers if you haven’t tried that yet.
Also, check the suggestions made earlier today & see if those are applicable.
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My suggestion earlier about purging your cache was from experience – the first time I threw a sphere with a texture into Element all I got was black – after a half hour of stamping QWERTY into my forehead I purged all the caches and then all was well.
What version of AE and what version of Element? The new Element may not be compatible back to AE6 which a lot of users are still on.
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[Steve Bentley] “What version of AE and what version of Element? The new Element may not be compatible back to AE6 which a lot of users are still on.”
No, it is. I’ve been using E3D ver 2.22 (the last available) with CS6 for several years.
But, one needs to be aware of other hardware requirments, specifically video cards. Here’s the list:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kqQP_Okzn_PEJsn0_CstMJUKyXw3VUJPz9-zX85dDag/pub
And at the bottom of this page is the general requirments:
https://www.videocopilot.net/products/element2/Also, there is a patch out for AE CC 2018
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Thanks for the responses. Still haven’t figured it out. My versions of AE and Element are all up to date. My graphics card is the FirePro D700 which Element appears to support. Purged my AE cache.
The above photos were after applying a material to the object. Below is literally just after clicking “create sphere”. See how the tutorial version has a nice, soft shading while mine is just black underneath? Weird.
Tutorial:
Mine:
Here is my computer info…
Any other ideas are appreciated. Might be one of those things that remains unsolved!
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Maybe you got some problems in your instalation and the default HDRI maps are missing. So you’re just seing the default light. and not the “ambient” light. What happens if you click on the Environment button, Is the default Basic_2k_03 (or something like that) selected?
Cassius Marques
http://www.zapfilmes.com
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