Complex object appears as a cylinder in rendering

I've created a double helix style object for a wind turbine in my model, but when I render, it will only appear as a cylinder. Furthermore, I have several of these objects in my model, and they were all converted to cylinders in the model space. I was able to revert to a backup file and get the original, but I can't figure out what's going on. Does anyone know how to solve this problem??? Help!

They were converted to cylinders in model space?

Is this an Autocad question? Model space is not a term I associate with Max.

No, I misspoke. I'm just referring to the actual model as opposed to the rendering, though I am having troubles with both. I think I'm going to try splitting the model up into several files and see if that makes a difference. I've noticed other parts of my model disappearing as well...

So I'm a little confused. Are you saying that the actual model is turning into a cylinder or is it just displaying as a cylinder in the render? I have no idea why your model would just turn itself into a cylinder?

Can you post some screenshots of your model and the render?

Hi,

Yeah, the model turned the objects into cylinders (I think). I'm not sure why. I just started using the program last week so there is still a lot that I don't know.

I've already erased the cylinders from the main file, so I couldn't get a screen shot of that. I assume that it may have to do with file size (?) so I've broken the model into several files to be merged later.

I did get some screen shots from the new file and the rendering is still turning the object into a cylinder. I tried the rendering from several distances and different quality settings, and no luck... Take a look. Any ideas...?

Thanks

I'm not sure why this is happening. Any chance you could post the max file here for me to look at? You would have to put it in a .zip file in order to upload.

I've zipped the file, but it's still too large (900kb). Can I email it to you?

I won't post my address here in the forum, but you can send it to the address on the contact page of my website. Just follow the link in my signature.

I received your file and upon rendering it, I saw that only the center post appeared in the render. So I window selected the entire model, right clicked and Converted to Editable Poly. After doing that it rendered with no problem.

So I'm curious as to how you created these models. Did you create them in Max? Or did you create them in another program and then Import them into Max? The reason I'm asking is because they don't act like Max models. When I select them, I don't get anything in the Modify panel, and the only way to edit them is to add an Edit Poly modifier. Even after I converted them to editable poly, I still don't get anything in the Modify panel. This is very strange so I'm very curious as to how you created them.

Tried it, and it worked! Thanks a lot.

Basically, what I did to create them was I used the helix, line, and donut tools and then adjusted the thickness' in the rendering dropdown menu. Once I had them how I wanted, I just grouped them to create a unit, and then regrouped them when stacking. 'Not sure if that's the best way to do it, but I had just started using the program.