Glitch - Lights do not Light 3D layers
by Dan Maher
on
Aug 27, 2008 at 2:15:17 pm
The lights in After Effects on one of our systems here are acting a bit buggy.
Here's the problem: I will create a new project, setup a new composition (HDV/HDTV 720 29.97 preset), create a colored solid (something other then black or white), set the solid to 3D, rotate the X axis of the solid and slide it down a bit (so as to create a floor). I will then create a new spot light, and the floor will go black. No matter how I position the light, the floor remains black and shows no indication that it is being lit. Interesting enough, I've created an additional layer and applied Lux to it. The Lux-Light works fine, except on the floor layer. If I turn on the 3D switch for the Lux layer, it too goes black (like the floor layer), though you can still see the gradient of the light fading out from the source.
The system is a 2x 3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (first generation) with 16 GB ram and running OSX 10.5.4. After Effects is CS3 version 8.0.2.27.
Our other systems in the studio are not having the same problem. They run the same software, but are running 2x dual-core chips with 8gb ram.
Re: Glitch - Lights do not Light 3D layers by Dan Maher on Aug 27, 2008 at 3:41:45 pm
Additional Weirdness: On another system, I created a project going through all the steps above and saved it. I opened it on the 8-core system described above and the light (Light 1) worked fine. I created a new light (Light 2) in this saved project and ran into the same problem again. Through the process of elimination, I discovered that if I copy the color from Light 1 to the color of Light 2 that Light 2 would then function normally. However, if I went in and copied the Parameter Color # from Light 1 into Light 2, it did not work. This is looking like a serious glitch rather then me being silly and not toggling the right setting. Does anyone have any advice? Should I go ahead and reinstall After Effects? This glitch has not always been the case, but I can't pinpoint when it happened.
