Render Results in Blank Grey Screen

[Captain_Buff]

Greetings,

i’ve checked around these posts and have tried to make adjustments but I can’t seem to get my project to render properly.

Here’s the deal: I’m running on a MacBook, OS 10.6.8, using Blender 2.64.0 r51232. Because the MakeHuman version for this Mac OS (MakeHuman 1.0 alpha 6) doesn’t work well, I had to use a PC, running Windows 7 and MakeHuman 1.0 alpha 7 to create my character. I ensured that my Import/Export User Preference in Blender on my Mac was checked to accept .mhx files. I then imported my MakeHuman character into Blender on the Macbook, moved the light and the camera to where I wanted them, and tried to render. At first I got a quick black and white ghost image of the character (which looked a little funky, as if there were two images or two angles of the same image), the screen went blank, and then when the rendering process continued, grey tiles began to cover up the black screen leaving only a grey blank screen.

Here are the things I’ve checked:

1. That the camera is pointing at my character
2. That the light is pointed toward my character
3. That Restrict Renderability in the Outliner Editor Window is deselected

I haven’t used Blender in quite a while, so my learning curve is once again quite steep. So no doubt I’ve done something rather nooby with my settings, or have forgotten some important step. But I’m hanging in there and am looking forward to geting this project working. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

If needed I can try to upload the file. It’s 19MB and I’m not sure if that’s too big. The project is in the beginning stages so I’ve done no real adjustments to the character. Before I do a lot of tweaking I wanted to make sure it would render.

Thanks for any assistance.

Cpt. Buff

P.S. The PC is not mine. I only borrowed it to create my MakeHuman character. Otherwise I might have been tempted to do the entire project on the PC vs. my MacBook.

[Richard_Marklew]

Please attach or post a link to your blend file. Ensure any textures are packed in the file. It makes it much easier for other users to find the specific problem in your case

[Captain_Buff]

Please attach or post a link to your blend file. Ensure any textures are packed in the file. It makes it much easier for other users to find the specific problem in your case

Greetings Richard,

Thanks for responding. But, after some more toying around with the file, and after viewing the YouTube tutorial by Infinite Oasis on creating characters using MakeHuman and Blender, I figured out my problem. Hopefully this answer will assist other noobs who may have a similar problem with rendering only a blank, or in my case a grey screen.

Apparently, when I transferred my file from one computer to another, I did not place the original file in a location that Blender intuitively knew where to find all its components. Instead I nestled the new MakeHuman character file in one of my many project folders and gave it an appropriate file name. Consequently, when I imported the MakeHuman file all the textures were NOT linked to my character. I could see the character, the rigging tools, and the clothing when my character was viewed in the 3D windows as I worked with the model, but once I went to render it, there was no skin or clothing for the rendering engine to work with. Hence, a blank grey screen.

Once I went ahead and linked each individual texture to the appropriate file on my HDD, voilà! I was able to see my character once rendered. But, I had to redirect the textures of each item in my model and it’s clothing to the appropriately named file, (i.e. skin, shoes, shirt, pants, and their associated textures, masks, etc.).

I recommend that if anyone is having a similar problem to view Infinite Oasis’s YouTube tutorial, especially part 2 of 4. Dan Ogles (sp?) does a pretty good job of explaining that problems may occur like this when transitioning form MakeHuman to Blender and he sort of shows and tells how to deal with these texture issues.

Hope this helps. And thanks again for responding Richard!

Respectfully,

Cpt. Buff

P.S. Richard, I originally tried to attach the file, but it appears that it was too large, and I didn’t know how to make it smaller than the apparent 15MB limitation. Sorry.