Inability to Print or Export Images - Come out as Black

[Katalyst777]

Article Number 897: How to resolve most 3D camera view display problems

The article states: The 3D camera view displays correctly on screen, but shows only a black screen when exporting the image, printing it, or sending over to the layout

Also, this prior post from a member of the company.

If the send screen as image is not working, this is most likely the result of a problem with your video card or it's driver. I would recommend trying to update your video card driver to see if that solves the problem.

If not, then you can always use the "PrtScn" button on your keyboard to capture the screen image and try pasting that onto the layout page. If that does not work, then you could try pasting the screen into a "paint" type program, saving it as a file, and then importing the file onto your layout page.

So it looks like it is a video card issue after all.

If you read through to the end of the article, and still have the problem, you will see that you need to check to make sure that you have a video card that meets the minimum system requirements.

You need at least 128MB of dedicated video memory for XP/Windows 7, and 256MB of dedicated video memory if you are running on Vista.

An integrated Intel chipset with shared memory doesn't cut it.


If you do have an Intel chipset on the laptop and you are using Vista, check out these threads by people who work for Chief Architect, if updating your driver doesn't resolve it, but keep in mind that you should look into upgrading your system to something that can handle a 3D intensive software program like this:

http://hometalk.homedesignersoftware...ead.php?t=7762

We have seen nothing but grief with the intel chip sets on OpenGL. Personally I think intel should either get it right or get out of the buisness. We see more problems on Vista than we do with XP.

If you are running Vista try right clicking the shortcut to launch the program and go to the compatability tab. On this tab check Disable Visual Themes and Disable Desktop Composition. This should help on most video cards but we have found that intel chipsets still don't function correctly in this state.

We do know that if you take the intel drivers off it will perform flawlessly but it will be much slower.

Here are the facts.

If you take the Intel driver completely off and use the generic Microsoft Drivers these cards work. They are slow but they work. This points the problem directly to the Intel drivers.

Lately some of the updated Intel drivers along with Vista SP1 have solved these issues for some of the Intel onboard cards.

Other graphics manufacturers, like Nvidia, seem to have done a much better job of getting their hardware to run on Vista.

If you have problems with a system contact the hardware vendor and see if they have any solutions.

http://hometalk.homedesignersoftware...ead.php?t=6004

Chief Architect and Home Designer users that have computers with Intel (and other manufacturers) integrated video chipsets and are running Windows Vista may experience problems generating camera views.

Since driver updates for these chipsets have yet to resolve the Vista issues, we have found a method that will allow these users to use these tools.

With your Chief Architect / Home Designer software closed, right click on the Chief Architect / Home Designer Icon and select “Properties” from the menu.

In the Properties dialog box, click on the Compatibility tab. Place a checkmark in the box for “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and from the dropdown menu, select “Windows 98”.

In the “Settings” section, place a checkmark in the “Disable desktop composition” box.

Under “Privilege Level”, place a checkmark in “Run this program as an administrator” if it is available. If it is not available to check, you have already turned off the Vista User Account Control.

Click OK and launch Chief Architect / Home Designer and try your render camera.