Troubleshooting Surfaces (Maya software)

To fix faceted surface edges or profile

1. Do any of the following:
   • Run Set NURBS Tesselation.
   • Make sure Automatic is set in the Render > Set NURBS Tessellation window.
   • Turn on Smooth Edge for the surface (or turn on Smooth Edge and increase Smooth Edge Ratio).
   • Increase Curvature Tolerance for the surface and U Division Factor/ V Division Factor for the surface (to the lowest values that produce acceptable results).
     

To fix aliased surface edges or profile (for Maya software and mental ray for Maya)

1. If you do not plan to composite the rendered image, turn on Premultiply in the Render options section of the Render Settings window.
   

To fix flickering thin surfaces (for Maya software only)

1. Do the following:
   • In the Render Settings window, turn on Use Multi Pixel Filter.
   • Turn on Geometry Anti-aliasing Override for the surface, and increase the Anti-aliasing Level (try 3, 4, or 5).
     

To fix flickering textures or popping displacements

1. For solid textures, make sure Use Min Screen is off for the surface and Mode U and Mode V are not set to Best Guess Based on Screen Size.

   For image file textures or textures with noise, Increase Filter Offset (to the lowest value that produces acceptable results).

   For image file textures, set Filter Type to Quadratic for the texture.

   

To fix outlines around 2D motion blurred surfaces (for Maya software only)

1. Do either of the following:
   • Remove transparent objects, fog, and, or glow, and set the background color to black. Render the scene, then composite the elements you removed with the rendered image.
   • In the Render Settings window, set Smooth Value to 0 and turn on Alpha/Color.
     

To fix grainy or flickering highlights (for Maya software only)

1. Do either of the following:
   • Make sure “Use Min Screen” is off for the surface and Mode U and Mode V are not set to “Best Guess Based on Screen Size”.
   • Use a Blinn material instead of a Phong or PhongE material.
     

To fix jagged edges or jagged or sharp textures on motion blurred surfaces (for Maya software only)

1. In the Anti-aliasing Quality section of the Render Settings window, set Presets to 3D Motion Blur Production.
   

To fix jagged surface edges, textures, or shadows in raytraced reflections or refractions (for Maya software only)

1. In Render Settings window, set the Anti-aliasing Quality to Contrast Sensitive Production (Highest) quality, then turn on Shading Samples Override for the reflecting/refracting surface, and increase Shading Samples (to the lowest value that produces acceptable results).
   

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