Corrupting Projects

[Marty]

I'm a relatively new KeyShot user, running the latest version after recently purchasing. I'm running Windows 7 Pro, 64gb RAM, with the nVidia GTX 285 display card and latest drivers.

This scenario continues to repeat and makes project work nearly impossible.

A typical sequence of events would be a render of items from Solidworks 15 using the latest KeyShot plug-in, saving the items... sometimes compiling several Solidworks renders into a KeyShot project.

At some unpredictable point, when I attempt to open the project, the project loads with all items appearing in the project window, but the display screen is blank... usually white, sometimes black.

I have checked for camera zoom and position, etc... but the objects are not displayed.

Occasionally, clicking on an object in the project window will cause its selection to appear in the display with its outline only, but there is no instance of the project coming back "to normal" once that scenario presents itself.

The alarming problem is that there appears to be corruption to the project file itself as opening it on a second system encounters the exact same issues.

Once a project exhibits this behavior, there's no going back. I've never been able to have a project properly open if it has these issues. It's toast.

I have started the habit of saving my projects to two completely separate files as some sort of insurance. There have already been instances of losing both to this problem.

How can I track down the cause of this? I immediately suspected a system problem, but I run very demanding video production programs with it without any glitches whatsoever. The fact that the problem is repeatable on a second system is very troubling.

KeyShot stability is an extremely frustrating issue as well, but I'll reserve that topic in case for me, it is a related issue to the above.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure you can appreciate how nerve-wracking it would be to anticipate the complete loss of weeks of work at any moment for no predictable reason.

What could be affecting my project files in this way?

[Chad Holton]

Are you saving your projects locally or over a network?

[Marty]

Hi Chad... they are saved locally.

I've been digging into things with the current project and some weird quirkiness is occurring.

With the project loaded, objects listed in the project scene window, and a blank display.... I imported an additional object. It appeared as normal... a good sign.

Only after this import was I able to then tick onto several existing objects within the project and have them appear.

It was when a particular set of objects (sub group) was checked, that the display went black. But I was able to uncheck and have the other objects displayed... another very good sign.

I kept digging down the project hierarchy, and discovered the offending object.... something that could be simply deleted (a hidden bolt or washer)... so for all practical purposes, the corrupted project is possibly remedied for now. But that hardly solves the problem.

First of all, this problem did not occur in the alternately saved project file (saved at the same time, but with a varied name protocol). So in my mind, this is a random problem and could happen with any part within any project at any time.

Even though I have discovered the possible culprit this time, it's not a process I would like to have to repeat.... if it is even a consistent remedy.

Any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong or system/software faults to seek out, I'm all ears.

[Chad Holton]

Thanks for the information, Marty. Would you be able to share one of the corrupted files with our support team?

If so, just upload it here: https://keyshot.wetransfer.com/

Send to: support@luxion.com

Just paste in the link to this thread for reference.

Thanks,
Chad