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8.5 Pro and stability issues


Andrew West

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I upgraded to the new release of 8.5 and have installed the latest Maxwell plugin.  I am now experiencing constant crashes and stability issues using Maxwell.  All my issues are related to the materials.  No real pattern to it..  If I take my Form.z glass and convert it to Maxwell Architectural Glass Clear the program crashes.  If I take a texture pattern and go to Maxwell Materials and try to mirror the texture while still in Form.z the program crashes.  If I take a material texture loaded in Form.z and then decide to convert it to a maxwell material and edit it the program crashes.  If I change a material to a Maxwell Material (best match)  and hit the Preview button the program crashes.  Curiously, this is not always the case.  Sometimes it works for 3 or 4 conversions and then........ crash.   Just enough to make the program unusable enough to abandon it once again. Is there anyone else out there experiencing stability issues with the latest release?

 

It should be mentioned that this is happening on all three of my computers which range from an old i7 960 with an old graphics card to a new dual processor 20 core xeon machine. What is amazing is that the older machine is actually quite a bit more stable with Maxwell.  The fastest machine with the $1000 graphic card crashes the most. 

 

I have examined the Maxwell Log and noticed lots of Texture Naming Warning Errors which I have tried to correct.  When reloading a texture that was named incorrectly the program crashes occasionally as well.  Other than that there is nothing else to report other than Fire is working about half a fast as in the old version.

 

I really wish my clients were sympathetic to my software issues but that is never the case.  They just want top quality images produced quickly and efficiently with no excuses for software glitches or computer incompatibility.  I am forced once again to resort to using the old ( ancient) RenderZone plugin with lots of Photoshop post processing.  This is truly a shame since I set up all three of these interior images  to be rendered in Maxwell which ate up a lot of extra time adjusting lighting and materials specifically for this plug in.  What a waste of time.

When Maxwell works it can be a great asset.  But only on those rare occasions.  Sorry Pylon.  I know you don't like to hear this.  It must be frustrating for everyone involved  when software changes dramatically and compatibility issues arise. 

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Andrew,

1.
We recently discovered a problem with the release version of formZ 8.5 that might lead to random crashes in any formZ plugin that uses a certain common function. We reported this to AutoDesSys; they responded immediately and have fixed the issue. The fix will be provided in the next patch to formZ 8.5 (in a day or two). Try this when it comes out; it may resolve your issue.

2.
Did you try all of the suggestions during our previous correspondence?

http://forums.formz.com/index.php?/topic/2384-model-issues/?hl=west&do=findComment&comment=6482

Please follow the suggestions we offered on that page, and let us know how what happens. It is impossible to provide proper guidance if you do not follow our recommendations or respond to let us know what works (as well as what doesn't).

3.
At any time, may go back to a previous combination of software that worked for you. So if the problem started upon switching to formZ 8.5, revert to formZ 8.0 temporarily, rather than converting files to Renderzone.

 

4.

You are using the release version of the Maxwell plugin, not the latest beta, correct? With each report, please run the command Extensions> Maxwell Render > Forum and post the resulting text here, so we can check your system info.

 

5.

If the update to formZ 8.5.1 does not help, please send us your formZ project and all dependencies so we can help. (Extensions> Maxwell Render >  Workstation Transfer)

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The project was due this afternoon so reverting to Renderzone was my only safe option.  Deadlines are often non negotiable.  However, I would still like to provide the sales team a better image next week through Maxwell if possible.

 

I have been backtracking to version 8.0.2 this morning and Maxwell seems much more stable and works generally as expected.  Unfortunately, I am still getting a few errors that I am not able to track down.  When I look at my Maxwell log it indicates that there are three objects that come up with errors.  ie: Error-Create Mesh Object- Object 185 [ERR].    I have so many objects in my model there is no way to find the object in question.  I have isolated it down to one layer.  Do you know of a simple way to find the offending piece of geometry without clicking on each one and searching its attributes?  Project doctor does not help.  I think it has something to do with Maxwell since the scene renders correctly in Renderzone.  Perhaps that is a question for Form.z support.

 

 

 

 

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I have been backtracking to version 8.0.2 this morning and Maxwell seems much more stable and works generally as expected.

It sounds like it is most likely the issue which will be addressed in the next formZ 8.5 patch.

 

 

When I look at my Maxwell log it indicates that there are three objects that come up with errors.  ie: Error-Create Mesh Object- Object 185 [ERR].    I have so many objects in my model there is no way to find the object in question.

 

Objects that Maxwell cannot fix upon export, have the text [ERR] appended to their names, so that you can quickly find them using the Select by Criteria palette. Once selected, you can rebuild them, delete them, or isolate them to a hidden layer. (The only time this error occurs is in geometry imported from Sketchup.)

 

Instructions on how to do this:

http://support.nextlimit.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16810299

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I look forward to the new release and the fix.  My select by palette was not working quite as expected.  I was not able to find any of the objects named by Maxwell as error objects.  I did eventually find the objects by backtracking on what was made in the model by sequence until I found the correct object number.  It turns out that the offending objects were simple straight lines that I used to sweep a circle to create a simple cylindrical shape.  In the old days when you swept an object the path object was deleted, ghosted or kept.  Now they are kept by default.  I am not sure why Maxwell was choking on a simple 2 point vector line.

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  • 3 months later...

I fully understand the situation you are in. The amount of software faults only grow in number. I make a point, and updates the hope that the situation will change, but only gets worse. I use the software for over 15 years. Today more than ever it is unstable. I was forgiving the years and hoped it would be an improvement. Working with MAXWELL only worsens the situation. The amount of time required is not logical. Today, I am required to render 10-12 hours for a miserable group of Render.

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Dubi,

 

I do not see the report in your post above. Can you provide some detail as to what you are experiencing? If we can’t even understand what it is you are reporting, then there is no way we can fix it.

 

Or, instead of writing, please make a screen capture video of what you are experiencing and send that to us via dropbox. That would be extremely helpful.

 

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