Topic: Zoom and Objects Disappear (visually)

[ronjonp]

I think I've posted this before, but I've been banging my head on the wall trying to figure this one out. Here's the issue, sometimes I'll be in a drawing (large or small) and zoom, and everything disappears or turns blocky (like Atari)! If I is use cntrl+a to select all objects, they are all still in the drawing as I can see the grips. I've tried different video card drivers, only loading one lisp (with subroutines) to rule out any of my other routines are causing this to happens...and still the same  :realmad:.

All I'm looking for is a nudge in the right direction for figuring this out.

Thanks,

Ron

[Lin-Z]

Just tossing ideas out there - What are your 3DCONFIG settings at?

[ronjonp]

Degrade when FPS is below: 5

Degredation order:

 Fast Silhouettes
 View-Dependent Objects
 Line Antialiasing
 Lighting
 Transparency Quality
 Full Shadows
 Transparency
 Discard Backfaces
 Ground Shadows
 Edge Styles
 Facet Edges
 Textures
 Materials
 Lighting Quality
 Backgrounds
 Intersection Edges
 Faceted Display
 Wireframe Display

[Lin-Z]

Is this the default order (still using 2007).  And what about the Manual Tune option?

[craigr]

This is a setting in your CAD.

I don't remember which it is, but will give it some thought.

I'm pretty sure I have seen this addressed on the Swamp before.

craigr

[M-dub]

Don't shoot me if this was the first thing you tried, but what about viewres?  Something like that happens sometimes with our Raster / Vector hybrid drawings, solved by draworder and / or a quick regen.

[Josh Nieman]

REGENAUTO?

VIEWRES? wooops, MDub beat me to it

For poops and giggles, try setting your FPS limit to 1.  See if anything changes... if it takes longer for it to switch to that, or what not.  My first thoughts were similar to Lin-Z's

What type of objects are they?  FACETRES (can't remember -exacccccctly what that affects but it's another "res" setting I can remember off the top of my head)

[ronjonp]

Is this the default order (still using 2007).  And what about the Manual Tune option?

I'd imagine this is the default setting since I've never messed with it before.

[ronjonp]

This is a setting in your CAD.

I don't remember which it is, but will give it some thought.

I'm pretty sure I have seen this addressed on the Swamp before.

craigr

That would be great if you've figured this out already. 

[ronjonp]

Don't shoot me if this was the first thing you tried, but what about viewres?  Something like that happens sometimes with our Raster / Vector hybrid drawings, solved by draworder and / or a quick regen.

All my drawings viewres are set to 4000 with fast zooms enabled. Regen and draworder has no effect after the objects disappear. The only thing that brings them back is closing and reopening the drawing.

[ronjonp]

REGENAUTO?

VIEWRES? wooops, MDub beat me to it

For poops and giggles, try setting your FPS limit to 1.  See if anything changes... if it takes longer for it to switch to that, or what not.  My first thoughts were similar to Lin-Z's

What type of objects are they?  FACETRES (can't remember -exacccccctly what that affects but it's another "res" setting I can remember off the top of my head)

Regenauto is on. I'll try fiddling around with the adaptive limit to see if that helps. I draw nothing in 3d....

[craigr]

This is a setting in your CAD.

I don't remember which it is, but will give it some thought.

I'm pretty sure I have seen this addressed on the Swamp before.

craigr

That would be great if you've figured this out already. 

Sorry about not answering sooner.

I was thinking of the 'viewres' as mentioned by M-Dub.

I didn't feel the need to re-post the same info. I never thought about leaving you hanging waiting for me.

craigr

[Josh Nieman]

I hate to resort to these tactics, but does a good 'ol restart do anything?

Is this a drawing you can upload for us to try and recreate the problem?  One of the hard things with me troubleshooting odd things like this is that I'm usually a "Try stuff until it works" heh..

[ronjonp]

It's multiple drawings on multiple computers....I'm at a loss. We're all running AutoCAD 2008 SP1.

[M-dub]

I hate to resort to these tactics, but does a good 'ol restart do anything?

One of the guys here likes to lock his computer for the night instead of logging off or (what I do) restart before going home.  Causes all kinds of little gotcha's here and there.  I've almost drilled it into his brain that he should be restarting every night.  Locking does no good, logging off is better, but restarting is the best bet.  We have to leave our PC's on to receive updates from IT... company policy.  Otherwise, I'd say shut down every night.

[Josh Nieman]

I hate to resort to these tactics, but does a good 'ol restart do anything?

One of the guys here likes to lock his computer for the night instead of logging off or (what I do) restart before going home.  Causes all kinds of little gotcha's here and there.  I've almost drilled it into his brain that he should be restarting every night.  Locking does no good, logging off is better, but restarting is the best bet.  We have to leave our PC's on to receive updates from IT... company policy.  Otherwise, I'd say shut down every night.

I notice Autocad gets particularly buggy if I've had my computer up for a week or so without a restart.  I don't think I've done a hard shutdown in.... months.  Other than power outages where we frantically save and shut down before the battery backup kicks out.  I restart at least once a week, though, lately.

[ronjonp]

I hate to resort to these tactics, but does a good 'ol restart do anything?

One of the guys here likes to lock his computer for the night instead of logging off or (what I do) restart before going home.  Causes all kinds of little gotcha's here and there.  I've almost drilled it into his brain that he should be restarting every night.  Locking does no good, logging off is better, but restarting is the best bet.  We have to leave our PC's on to receive updates from IT... company policy.  Otherwise, I'd say shut down every night.

I notice Autocad gets particularly buggy if I've had my computer up for a week or so without a restart.  I don't think I've done a hard shutdown in.... months.  Other than power outages where we frantically save and shut down before the battery backup kicks out.  I restart at least once a week, though, lately.

This bat file runs on my computer every morning @ 4am so I always start from a fresh reboot  :kewl:.

:Reboot Computer
%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -f -r -t 00

[M-dub]

(Sorry about the mini-hijack, Ron)

Josh, I tell the guys here that just locking his PC every night is like staying at work, but with the lights off.  Logging off would be like staying at work, but napping.  Restarting is like going home for the night to return the next day, refreshed, but shutting down would be like going home and having a nice long sleep.

.........I know... over-simplified and far from acurate, but I'm just trying to get him to restart his machine every night.

[M-dub]

This bat file runs on my computer every morning @ 4am so I always start from a fresh reboot  :kewl:.

:Reboot Computer
%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -f -r -t 00

What happens if you happened to forget something up and running without saving?  I'm assuming you lose it?

[Josh Nieman]

(Sorry about the mini-hijack, Ron)

Josh, I tell the guys here that just locking his PC every night is like staying at work, but with the lights off.  Logging off would be like staying at work, but napping.  Restarting is like going home for the night to return the next day, refreshed, but shutting down would be like going home and having a nice long sleep.

.........I know... over-simplified and far from acurate, but I'm just trying to get him to restart his machine every night.

Take that .bat from ronjonp and 'plant' it

[ronjonp]

This bat file runs on my computer every morning @ 4am so I always start from a fresh reboot  :kewl:.

:Reboot Computer
%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -f -r -t 00

What happens if you happened to forget something up and running without saving?  I'm assuming you lose it?

I close out of everything before I go home 

[M-dub]

Take that .bat from ronjonp and 'plant' it

I would, but see concern above / below

What happens if you happened to forget something up and running without saving?  I'm assuming you lose it?

I have a little application that I use to shut down our large format scanner every night from 5:30pm to 6:30 am to extend the bulbs' life.

[M-dub]

Not that it matters, but when you're zooming, do you use the wheel or is this a zoom window / dynamic / in / out?

[ronjonp]

I zoom with the wheel.

[kentium3k]

I think I've posted this before, but I've been banging my head on the wall trying to figure this one out. Here's the issue, sometimes I'll be in a drawing (large or small) and zoom, and everything disappears or turns blocky (like Atari)! If I is use cntrl+a to select all objects, they are all still in the drawing as I can see the grips. I've tried different video card drivers, only loading one lisp (with subroutines) to rule out any of my other routines are causing this to happens...and still the same  :realmad:.

All I'm looking for is a nudge in the right direction for figuring this out.

Thanks,

Ron

I have this happen to me, and only when using True Type Fonts.  If I change to SHX I will never see this problem.  Some have said they feel it was fixed with SP1 in 2008 but I can still make it happen.

[ronjonp]

I think I've posted this before, but I've been banging my head on the wall trying to figure this one out. Here's the issue, sometimes I'll be in a drawing (large or small) and zoom, and everything disappears or turns blocky (like Atari)! If I is use cntrl+a to select all objects, they are all still in the drawing as I can see the grips. I've tried different video card drivers, only loading one lisp (with subroutines) to rule out any of my other routines are causing this to happens...and still the same  :realmad:.

All I'm looking for is a nudge in the right direction for figuring this out.

Thanks,

Ron

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one out there with the problem. Thanks for the reply.

Ron

I have this happen to me, and only when using True Type Fonts.  If I change to SHX I will never see this problem.  Some have said they feel it was fixed with SP1 in 2008 but I can still make it happen.

[David Hall]

Ron, are you on subscription?  If so, log it w/ adesk

[mjfarrell]

Nultiple drawings, multiple computers...Can you forward one of the afflicted drawings my way?
Otherwise it might semp that your front/back clipping planes may have been turned on and adjusted by some user.

[CADaver]

I zoom with the wheel.

Sounds like and MS vs hardware issue.  What happens when you use the zoom command??

[M-dub]

What happens when you use the zoom command??

That's what I was going to ask next...

[ronjonp]

Ron, are you on subscription?  If so, log it w/ adesk

We are on subscription. I will log it...thanks.

[ronjonp]

I zoom with the wheel.

Sounds like and MS vs hardware issue.  What happens when you use the zoom command??

I'll have to get back to you on that...it's hard for me to type in "Z" to zoom when the functionality is built into the mouse wheel. 

Thanks for the reply.

Ron

[CADaver]

I zoom with the wheel.

Sounds like and MS vs hardware issue.  What happens when you use the zoom command??

I'll have to get back to you on that...it's hard for me to type in "Z" to zoom when the functionality is built into the mouse wheel. 

Thanks for the reply.

Ron

I understand, the stinkin' wheel is just way too easy.   But I've had issues with hardware display instructions getting boggled up in AutoCAD.  When we chased it down it was an old mouse driver causing the trouble.

[ronjonp]

I zoom with the wheel.

Sounds like and MS vs hardware issue.  What happens when you use the zoom command??

I'll have to get back to you on that...it's hard for me to type in "Z" to zoom when the functionality is built into the mouse wheel. 

Thanks for the reply.

Ron

I understand, the stinkin' wheel is just way too easy.   But I've had issues with hardware display instructions getting boggled up in AutoCAD.  When we chased it down it was an old mouse driver causing the trouble.

Randy,

What do you mean by "I've had issues with hardware display instructions" ... are you referring to the same issue I'm seeing here (disappearing objects..etc)?

[CADaver]

I zoom with the wheel.

Sounds like and MS vs hardware issue.  What happens when you use the zoom command??

I'll have to get back to you on that...it's hard for me to type in "Z" to zoom when the functionality is built into the mouse wheel. 

Thanks for the reply.

Ron

I understand, the stinkin' wheel is just way too easy.   But I've had issues with hardware display instructions getting boggled up in AutoCAD.  When we chased it down it was an old mouse driver causing the trouble.

Randy,

What do you mean by "I've had issues with hardware display instructions" ... are you referring to the same issue I'm seeing here (disappearing objects..etc)?

   I've seen screens go blank and require a drawing close to restore (which may be your issue), I've seen crosshairs go haywire and duplicate themselves all over the screens, I've seen large shaded files just crash, and a few other anomalies.  Most of which were resolved by getting newer mouse drivers (or newer mice and drivers) or newer video cards. 
   The only one that remains a “regular” issue is crashing very large models that have been shaded.  There seems to be some magic point where a hardware driven display change (wheel zoom or pan or 3dorbit) just can’t handle the load.  For R2002 that was around a files of twenty megabytes or more (XREF’d or otherwise) that had been open and edited for some time.  I first thought it was a memory issue, but that didn’t help, neither did virtual memory increases or paging or anything else we tried.  It got better with each release, so far in 2008 I haven’t been able to make it crater, even with fifty megabyte files

[ronjonp]

"I've seen screens go blank and require a drawing close to restore (which may be your issue), I've seen crosshairs go haywire and duplicate themselves all over the screens, I've seen large shaded files just crash, and a few other anomalies.  Most of which were resolved by getting newer mouse drivers (or newer mice and drivers) or newer video cards."

Interesting...I see this fairly regularly. I'm going to have to drive the mouse drivers. Thanks for the input.

Ron

[craigr]

50MB AutoCad files!!!!

I've never seen any NEAR that size!

craigr

[Josh Nieman]

Well boy howdy... maybe some of the problems I've had with my model files is mouse drivers then.  Next time I'm on a particularly problmeatic file, maybe I'll take out the razer, and put in the Dell mouse and see if it still happens...  *mental note*

[CADaver]

50MB AutoCad files!!!!

I've never seen any NEAR that size!

craigr

Now you have.  Some of the pipe models in the racks are around fifty, some of the vessel models are well over forty.  That view represents probably a gig of data and that's just half of one out of three adjacent units.

[MP]

50MB AutoCad files!!!!

I've never seen any NEAR that size!

craigr

Holds up hand "I have, and then some".

[MP]

Slightly back on topic ... there's only a remote chance this will change anything, but just maybe ...

Code: [Select]

(defun c:HiRes ( / _HiRes )

    (defun _Hires ( )
        (foreach pair
           '(   (regenmode     . 1)
                (hideprecision . 1)
                (facetres      . 10)
                (facetratio    . 1)
                (dispsilh      . 1)
            )
            (setvar (car pair) (cdr  pair))
        )
        (command ".viewres" "_yes" 20000)
    )

    (setvar 'cmdecho 0)

    (cond
        (   (eq 1 (getvar "tilemode"))
            (_HiRes)
        )
        (   (eq 1 (getvar "cvport"))
            (_HiRes)
            (cond
                (   (< 1 (length (vports)))
                    (command ".mspace")
                    (_HiRes)
                    (command ".pspace")
                )
            )
        )
        (   t
            (_HiRes)
            (command ".pspace")
            (_HiRes)
            (command ".mspace")
        )
    )

    (setvar 'cmdecho 1)

    (princ)

)

[CADaver]

50MB AutoCad files!!!!

I've never seen any NEAR that size!

craigr

Then there's this