Lighting effects across tiled (PDF) print

Are there problems still with CC3+ and lighting effects across multiple pages? I recall this was a problem some years back and I think I'm running into it again. I have a 4x4-page tiled map (1:36 scale) where the first 7 pages (bottom row and the first three pages of the row above that) are correctly lit but the remaining 9 pages (fourth page of that row, then the two rows above it) print as if there were no lighting effects at all: brightly lit, no lights, no shadows.

Is this perhaps a memory problem? Or is something else going on? (I've determined so far that it doesn't happen with a 2x2 tiling. Trying a 3x2 tiling now...they just take a while to print.)

Comments

  • kmunozkmunoz Newcomer
    Confirmed that a 3x2 tile has the same problem with half the pages. So it's looking like a memory issue... not sure if it's on my end (I have a craptop) or something I can adjust in the CC3+ settings.
  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    The problem is that the lighting effects are a global effect and each band (or tile) is calculated independently from any others. If one of your tiles contains all of the light sources, then it wont' much matter for others because light sources only affect the tile that they are within, not any others.

    One option is to try to save the drawing to an image file and then send that image file to your printer using something like PosteRazor to slice it up nicely for printing.

    When you save an image file like BMP, the system may need to slice it up into a number of bands in order to fit everything into memory. The number of pixels that will fit onto a band for saved files has a default value of 4000000 (4 million) pixels. If your saved image file has more pixels than this, the system will automatically split your save into multiple bands. You can manually change the number of pixels that the system will save to a band by using Notepad to open the CC3PlusCfg.xml file in your Program data directory ( C:\ProgramData\ProFantasy\CC3Plus\CC3PlusCfg.xml in the default installation location ), finding the tag and changing the number next to it to a larger value such as 16000000 (or larger). Too large of a value will cause CC3+ to crash during the export and what constitutes too large of a value is system dependent. If you can get a value where your system is stable, is of a useful size for your needs, and saves as a single band, then lighting effects should work correctly. Not an ideal solution, I admit.
  • kmunozkmunoz Newcomer
    Posted By: jslaytonThe problem is that the lighting effects are a global effect and each band (or tile) is calculated independently from any others. If one of your tiles contains all of the light sources, then it wont' much matter for others because light sources only affect the tile that they are within, not any others.
    That isn't how it manifested, though. There are light sources on the pages that are not getting rendered.

    I may try saving it as an image file instead.
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