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Inventor & related products frustrations


Hopinc

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Hi Guys,

 

First of all let me introduce myself. I have been using CAD now for 36 years - S.D.R.C's I-Deas Master Modeller for 22 years, AutoCAD since R.10 and Inventor Pro. for the past 3 years.

 

Rencently I updated to Inventor Pro Suite 2011 with Publisher 2011 and Alias for Design 2011.

 

I have to say that I am so disappointed I have returned to my previous 2010 version of Inventor.

 

Inventor 2011 seems to be totally unstable when rendering and the number of times mine has crashed is unbeleivable. The standard lighting is not correct either. And yes, I have loaded all the latest device drivers.

 

I have also been unable to switch on perspective as the default view within the Application Options - it does not work. Inventor 2011 also seems to be slower than 2010, certainly when it is loading initially.

 

I was not pleased at having to purchase Alias for Design seperately in order to get "free from surfacing" - this has been available as standard in SolidWorks since 2009 and is also included within SolidEdge.

 

Publisher 2011: When an Inventor assembly is opened the colours do not translate as seen in Inventor - what's that about? This would be such a useful product if a little more attention had been paid to the details.

 

AutoCAD Mechanical 2011: When "dxfout" is typed at the command line the software should automatically change the .dwg file extension to .dxf but it does not?

 

These might appear to be minor irritations (except for the crashes), but you will all know how a small frustration can become a major time consuming issue when using CAD.

 

Frankly I don't think I would recommend anyone to migrate from 2010 to 2011 as this moment in time.

 

I would be most interested to hear from anyone that has had any similar experiences/frustrations?

 

Regards & best wishes.

 

Dave

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No crashes here either. Also if you are Win7 you might want to apply the hotfix for performance on the Support site. You could also run it in a compatibility mode to make it behave like Inventor 2010.

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Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for your replies, the link was quite interesting. As far as my O/S goes it is XP Pro x64 with all the current service packs loaded.

 

I searched both AutoDesk and the Labs for patches for Inventor 2011 and downloaded one. However there were none listed for my specific problems.

 

Regards.

 

Dave

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Just been on the AutoDesk web site to make absolutely certain my drivers are up to date. I downloaded the certified driver for Inventor 2011: 6.14.11.9703

 

Unfortunately it has made no difference to the crashing problem I am experiencing when rendering. I can make it crash to order now :huh:

 

Question for you guys that are NOT having this problem - do you use a 3D Connexion Space Navigator or one of it's bretheren?

 

I well remember the problems with release 2010 that were caused by these devices - and how long it took to get a fix for it :( Although I have absolutely no evidence to suggest this is a similar problem - it is just a thought!

 

Regards,

 

Dave

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... I can make it crash to order now :huh:

 

Question for you guys that are NOT having this problem - do you use a 3D Connexion Space Navigator or one of it's bretheren?

 

I well remember the problems with release 2010 that were caused by these devices ...

 

So, what exactly are the steps to reproduce the behavior?

 

I use a Spaceball, Space Explorer, Space Navigator and one other 3D Connexion device (forget the name) on several different computers (school labs, office and home) and I didn't see any significant problem with crashes in 2010 either.

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Inventor 2011 will crash every time I try to render a particular assembly created within 2010. It will get approximately 1/3 to 1/2 way through the render and shut down. Inventor 2010 has no problems providing a rendered image in everything from low to high resolution.

 

The same thing occurs with other assemblies but in a much more unpredictable fashion - sometimes they render, sometimes they don't. This problem does not appear to be linked to resolution as it will crash on various settings.

 

Re the 3D Connexion mice and Inventor 2010. Problems of locking up whilst using these devices was well documented at the time, both by AutoDesk themselves (once a fix was availbable) and on many CAD forums.

 

Please don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that these wonderful space mice are the villains in this case, I don't know if they are or not!

 

However, having experienced the 2010 problems myself, 3D Connexion was my first port of call for the latest drivers. Unfotunately they did not provide a cure. I am clutching at straws here, like the proverbial drowning man!

 

Regards.

 

Dave

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I will keep an eye out for Render related issues in Studio. I don't do all that much rendering. Also, I am running 32-bit OS on all of my machines.

 

If you come across a case that is reproducible - and you can share the dataset - that would be useful in tracking down the problem.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Guy's,

 

Still got the crashing problem with Inventor 2011 when rendering. I seem to be in the minority with this as I have not seen any other users screeming for a fix. I have of course been keeping an eye on the AutoDesk/Labs web sites for fixes, but to no avail.

 

Interestingly, I returned to Inventor 2010 not long after installing 2011. 2010 has been rock solid for me with SP1, SP2 & Feature Recognition installed. That is until I installed the recently released SP3. It then became almost as unstable as 2011 and was crashing fairly frequently rendering images like the one attached. Presumably this service pack has been incorporated into 2011 and is probably the route cause of my woes.

 

I cleared out 2010, re-installed it without SP3 and it's solid again - proof enough for me!

 

Regards all.

 

Dave

Image4a.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Dave,

Just to let you know you are not alone! I can also make Inventor 2011 crash to order in exactly the same conditions as you describe. 2010 ran no problem with or without space navigator. However an identical spec machine runs 2011 with no problems? The only difference being that the other machine was a "clean install" i.e. no previous version of Inventor had run on that machine. Our IT department will shortly wipe my machine :( and begin an install from scratch they think maybe some remnants of 2010 maybe corrupting 2011??? I will let you know the outcome.

Regards, Mark.

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Search Google for the Autodesk Inventor Clean Uninstall document.

Then run free Windows Install Clean Up utility.

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Hi Mark,

 

That's most interesting, thank you for your response. I really do appreciate your feedback. Please let me know if your clean install is successful?

 

I was begining to think I was a lone voice crying in the wilderness. That has now changed since I have read many posts that have appeared on the web. One of my local AutoDesk resellers told me that they had never heard of/nor experienced any issues with 2011 and cheekily suggested that I might pay for a member of their staff to come out and install the software for me. I sent them a link to a CAD web site suggesting they read the posts thereon and did not hear from them again.

 

I took a risk recently and have been using 2011 on an assembly that I have been working on in my spare time. Whilst I have experienced a few crashes it has been nowhere near the disaster I was expecting. I found that R2010 could not cope with the assembly constraints I required but 2011 had no problem at all. I eventually got the renderings I needed with only a few crashes. However, I did experience some totally unexpected ones whilst accessing parts from the Contents Centre and using the Design Accelerator to create a worm and spur gear assembly.

 

There are some fine new features in 2011 that I really like, but before I take any drastic action I have a question for J.D:

 

As I have both R2010 and R2011 on my system, are you suggesting that if I make a clean removal of 2010 it will leave me with a clean install of 2011, or that I should do a clean removal of both programs, reboot and reinstall 2011? have you any proof that either action will provide a solution, and save me from having to wipe my disks and start again?

 

I have heard that AutoDesk are now applying themselves to this issue and have promised a fix with the release of SP1 in August!!!

 

Having to wait until August seems a dollar (£) short and a day late to me. That said, if Mark has found the cure I will happily follow in his footsteps and say no more. If he is correct in his assumption then it could possibly be said I am at fault for not fully removing R2010 before installing R2011 - but which professional in his right mind ditches working software until they know the new program is OK? I certainly don't!

 

Regards all.

 

Dave

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I'm starting to see reports of known problems with Render. Where did you get the August date for release of SP1 - Autodesk never releases release dates that far away. I suspect we will see SP1 long before then, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

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Hello J.D.,

 

It was from the reply I have cut & pasted below. I found this on the manufacturing community discussion forum at AutoDesk.com. Unfortunately the administration here will not allow me to share a direct web link with you as I have not yet made the required number of posts on this forum:

 

"Just a quick update. Had a reply from Autodesk, yes its a problem, but only on 64 bit systems, according to them, but this thread clearly shows people are having the issue on 32 bit systems.

 

They plan to have a fix in SP1, which will be released in August !!!!!!

 

Not impressed."

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply and my apologies for a late response but my family vacation was calling to me!

To give you an update on the situation here in the UK; I attempted to make a clean removal of 2010 prior to my vacation but just somewhat naively used the add/remove function within windows. This unfortunately did not resolve the issue and 2011 remained in the same "Unstable / crash" situation as before the 2010 uninstall.

With this in mind I left my machine in the hands of our IT guys with the rather drastic instruction to completely wipe my machines hard drive and reinstall all required software excluding any Autodesk products.

Returning to a “clean” machine this morning 2011 has been installed and for the last few hours I have tried my best to challenge the program to crash with some rather demanding system and rendering requests.

I can confirm that so far the program has remained stable; it looks like a complete clear out of all 2010 related files (and any registry amendments) resolves the issue. This however as you said should not be a requirement when you have to completely remove a working version of software before installing the untested new one! Autodesk take note.

Interestingly, my reseller also suggested i pay them a fee to come over and install the software for me to which I declined in a similar way to your response.

Good luck with your continuing efforts,

Mark.

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This however as you said should not be a requirement when you have to completely remove a working version of software before installing the untested new one! Autodesk take note.

 

While I agree, there are many things that read/write to the hard drive in a years time. I know many companies that routinely reformat on an annual basis as a matter of good housekeeping.

 

I always seem to resist doing this on my home computer and then when I finally do the clean-up the difference is always so dramatic I always kick myself for not doing it sooner. (just reformatted after two years) Maybe next spring..... (if I don't replace this machine)...

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Hi Guys,

 

Sorry for my delay in replying. That's good news Mark. I am glad you found a solution.

 

Unfortunately that leaves me with a slight quandry - whether to bite the bullet and clean my disks, leave things as they are and wait for SP.1 or make a clean removal of just V2010 and see if that works.

 

Frankly option one is not in my thinking at the moment, and yes I do agree with J.D. that sometimes it is best to have a fresh start with a clean registry, but unless I change to Windows 7 at the same time I cannot see me doing that.

 

I guess if removal of V2010 does not cure the crashing I can always reinstall it and continue until SP.1 arrives.

 

I'll let you know if I decide to go ahead and if the "clean removal" works or not.

 

Regards & thanks for your input.

 

Dave

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