# ScreenCaptureToClipboard Raytraced/Cycles Problem

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756>\
**Category:** Rhino for Mac\
**Created:** [August 21, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756 "2019-08-21T03:36:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pablo2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pablo2/32/171289_2.png) [@pablo2](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pablo2)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/1 "2019-08-21T03:36:29Z")

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Hello everyone,

I recently moved from Rhino 6 Win on Parallels to Rhino 6 Mac and couldn’t be happier. Thanks for the great work!

I just found a small annoying problem. If I let a Raytraced/Cycles view render for a while (e.g. sample 50) and then try to ScreenCaptureToClipboard, it refreshes the view and the capture is very low quality (sample 1).

But ScreenCaptureToFile works correctly, and captures the viewport in high quality (e.g. sample 50).

Any help?

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**Author:** ![wim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/wim/32/747482_2.png) [@wim](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/wim)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/2 "2019-08-23T19:54:31Z")

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Hi Pablo - I’m able to reproduce that on my Rhino 6 Mac here. It doesn’t happen on the WIP of Rhino 7 for Mac, though. I can’t find any relevant entries in the bug-tracking system and so I’m not sure what was changed. Perhaps @nathanletwory knows more…  
Thank you for reporting.

BTW, just curious, what makes you use the `ScreenCapture*` commands over the `ViewCapture*` commands?  
-wim

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**Author:** ![pablo2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pablo2/32/171289_2.png) [@pablo2](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pablo2)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/3 "2019-08-24T11:17:14Z")

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Hi Wim,  
Thanks for your answer, I am just trying to make a quick capture of what I see on my screen. The ViewCapture\* will start a new render if raytraced is selected, so then I have to wait for the render to finish.

So what I do is a screenshot (cmd-alt-shift-4), but its a little bit messy…

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**Author:** ![wim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/wim/32/747482_2.png) [@wim](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/wim)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/4 "2019-08-24T13:01:53Z")

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> [@pablo2](#):
>
> The ViewCapture\* will start a new render if raytraced is selected

Hi Pablo - I think that the recommended workflow here is to set the `Samples` setting low in `Preferences > Cycles` and then, when you need a rendering, use the dashed version `_-ViewCaptureToFile` with samples set to your needed level.  
-wim

> [@Is anyone able to create renders using Rhino Raytrace that compare to keyshot or vray?](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/is-anyone-able-to-create-renders-using-rhino-raytrace-that-compare-to-keyshot-or-vray/87142/17):
>
> To get render files from the Raytraced viewport you can use \_-ViewCaptureToFile. I prefer the dashed version over the dialog version, since the dialog does preview rendering, which may be slow on larger and more complex models.

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**Author:** ![nathanletwory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/nathanletwory/32/482880_2.png) [@nathanletwory](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/nathanletwory)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 6:13am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/5 "2019-08-26T06:13:23Z")

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@wim it sounds like the ScreenCapture\* commands need some fixing to not trigger restarts of Raytraced - it’d do so for any engine integrating with the realtime RDK. Maybe you can create a YT item for that? Thanks!

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**Author:** ![wim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/wim/32/747482_2.png) [@wim](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/wim)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 7:11am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/6 "2019-08-26T07:11:41Z")

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@nathanletwory - I could do that, but the things is … this works as it should (i.e. without restart of `Raytraced`) on Rhino 7. So something already has been fixed. Are you saying that this fix should be ported to Rhino 6? I couldn’t find a YT for that fix and was wondering if you knew more about it…

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**Author:** ![nathanletwory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/nathanletwory/32/482880_2.png) [@nathanletwory](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/nathanletwory)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 7:20am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/7 "2019-08-26T07:20:35Z")

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Hmm, dunno. It is not something Raytraced itself can fix, it is the underlying pipeline through which a restart is signalled. Lots of changes already have happened in v7. It would be nice if the command didn’t trigger a restart in v6, though. It’d be for the ScreenCapture\* and/or display pipeline devs to figure out what is happening there.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/wim/32/747482_2.png) [@wim](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/wim)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/8 "2019-08-26T11:56:59Z")

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Hmmm… this is rather frustrating. It’s intermittent on the Mac, both RH6 and RH7.  
@pablo2 - do you also see that `ScreenCaptureToClipboard` sometimes works just fine?  
-wim

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**Author:** ![pablo2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pablo2/32/171289_2.png) [@pablo2](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pablo2)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/9 "2019-08-26T12:30:55Z")

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I just tried ScreenCaptureToClipboard a bunch of times and yes I got it working a couple of times. It seems completely random. Just using the keyboard and repeating the command, it works sometimes and fail most of the time.

Im on RH6 6.16

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/wim/32/747482_2.png) [@wim](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/wim)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/10 "2019-08-26T15:26:22Z")

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Thanks - I’ve filed this as [RH-54443](https://mcneel.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/issue/RH-54443).  
-wim

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/wim/32/747482_2.png) [@wim](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/wim)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/11 "2019-09-02T13:19:48Z")

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Hi Pablo - the developers looked at that issue and decided that it would be too much trouble to try to fix this. The recommended workflow is to either use the platform-specific way to capture the screen (on Mac the CmdAltShift4 combination that you provided above) or the Rhino `ViewCapture*` commands.  
-wim

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/philip/32/507608_2.png) [@Philip](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Philip)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/12 "2019-09-02T16:43:37Z")

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> [@wim](#):
>
> CmdAltShift4

I think you probably mean CmdShift4  
I personally prefer CmdShift5 which has more options - and also remembers the last used capture (or video) window 🕶

Philip

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pablo2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pablo2/32/171289_2.png) [@pablo2](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pablo2)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/13 "2019-09-04T14:45:26Z")

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Hey Wim, thanks for the follow up.

I just found out by accident that I can just CmdC the viewport and paste it as an image in photoshop or in any app that support images! It works fine with cycles too…

It’s mentioned in the help, but I never bothered to look:  
[http://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/6/help/en-us/commands/cut.htm#CopyToClipboard](http://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/6/help/en-us/commands/cut.htm#CopyToClipboard)

🤯

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![msmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/msmr/32/502914_2.png) [@msmr](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/msmr)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/14 "2019-09-04T14:58:18Z")

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There’s also **`ViewCaptureToFile`**. Maybe that is an alternative …

What’s better with that command:  
You can choose whatever pixel dimensions you want, it doesn’t belong to the actual screen size … 😉

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nathanletwory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/nathanletwory/32/482880_2.png) [@nathanletwory](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/nathanletwory)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/screencapturetoclipboard-raytraced-cycles-problem/87756/15 "2019-09-05T03:20:50Z")

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Oh wow, I didn’t know that 😮