I've run into a problem trying to migrate from RDS to Carrara 4 (Pro). When I import a particular complex RDS scene into Carrara 4, a new distant light appears. I can see the light in the scene and I can see the resulting lighting in renders but I can't access the light any other way. I can't click on it or find it in the hierarchy. Even after I delete all the lights in the hierarchy this one remains. I tried importing some other RDS scenes and at least some smaller ones come in OK. I haven't yet tried comprehensive tests but but at least some other large scenes also come in with this ghost light. I didn't experience this with Carrara 3 on the same scene or a very similar one. My Carrara 3 has been replaced by 4 so I can't try it now, but 1.1 is still installed. I can import the same scene into 1.1 fine, save it as a CAR file and then open that in 4 without the ghost light. Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas on how to find and remove the ghost light? Thanks.

Must be your lucky day Michael! I just checked to see if I had any RDS files on my systems to test with but couldn't find any. You may want to Give Eovia a call or e-mail about it and see if they'd like to address it. They're very good about trying to iron out any bugs found. I don't know how much longer they'll be willing to support .rds file formats though...Amapi no longer supports it and Hexagon, they're new application, doesn't support it. My advice would be to do the Carrara 1.1 thing: convert all the files, have a moment of silence and call it a day. ;)

I wonder if it might be a 'Scene' thing. I forget if RDS had an 'Atmosphere" setting or not, but maybe the 'sun' came in as a light? Really reaching here, I know.... but... it is software... stranger things have happened.

Thanks. I have sent a note to Eovia. It does appear to be a new "feature" in Carrara 4. I tried a file I know I imported in 3 and his has the new light. I've tried a number of similar files - some don't have the ghost light (mostly small files but at least one large and complex one) but most that I've tried do. I haven't looked to see what may be different about those that work and those that don't. The 1.1 intermediate step is a pain but I can live with it.

I had that happen once. It drove me nuts for a week. I finally tried deleting all lights in the scene as well as all but the default camera, before importing to C4 Pro. This seemed to fix the problem. Now I do all the lighting in C4.

Thanks sparrow, I'll try that. I think I tried the lights but not the cameras and there are several of them. Incidentally, Eovia has responded to me and requested a copy of the file.

I'd like to take a look at it too if you wouldn't mind. I'd like to compare it to the original of the one that gave me trouble and see if I can find a similarity.