Pipe Fittings Disappearing

[Anonymous]

Pipe fittings randomly disappear. The fittings that disappear are usually elbows and tees and are always (99% sure) off screen (ASME pipes and fittings catalog components), however no component is safe from this issue (flanges, valves, custom components,etc.). Also, there doesn't seem to be a pattern to this -- one elbow may disappear but an identical elbow next to it will not. These fittings can be selected if you click where they should be or draw a selection window around them. The only way to get them to reappear is to save the drawing. Does anyone have any idea why this may be happening? I've already messed around with hardware acceleration (on/off/different settings) and it seems to have no effect on this issue.

Attached are 3 screenshots:

Missing Fittings.PNG - shows invisible tees and elbows

selected.PNG - shows these invisible fittings selected

After Save.PNG - shows the fittings visible right after a save

Thanks for any and all help!

Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k 4.0GHz ::: Motherboard: ASUS Z170-K ::: System Memory: 32GB DDR4 2666MHz ::: Power Supply: 600W EVGA ::: Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro M4000 8 GB

[h_eger]

Hi @Anonymous,

this problem is mostly due to the graphics driver and not to the hardware.
Which operating system do you use?

The current graphics driver for your card is:

[Anonymous]

@h_eger

Thanks for the response. I'm running windows 7 professional.

As for the graphics drivers, my drivers were not up to date. I'm updating now and will let you know how it goes. However, from what I can remember, the issue still occurs even when my graphics driver is up-to-date (been happening for the last few months).

[Anonymous]

Update: Updated graphics card driver --- didn't work. Still experience the same issue.

[MNeugebauer]

Hi @Anonymous

there is a local graphics cache which sometimes causes such problems.

You will find it here:

C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Plant 3D 2017\R21.0\deu

There is a folder called GraphicsCache. You can delete everything in it.

Deleting the files helps us with some graphics problems like this. (Please close the program before you delete the data)

I hope this will help you.

Best regards,

Matthias

[Anonymous]

@MNeugebauer

I had tried what you suggested a day before I posted. It didn't seem to have any effect on the disappearing fittings. However, thanks for the input! I'll still be searching for a solution. Thanks!

[ryan.bales]

What version of P3D/ACAD are you using?

[Anonymous]

@ryan.bales

Plant 3D 2017

[ryan.bales]

Is core AutoCAD or 2017 updated? 

[Anonymous]

I didn't update core AutoCAD. I'll go ahead and apply the update that was released 2 months ago. I rarely use AutoCAD. Is that something I should always make sure is up-to-date?

P3d is up-to-date.

[ryan.bales]

ITs a good idea to at least read through them. Plant 3D updates don't always include updates to Core AutoCAD, graphics is one of those things. It may not fix it, but its at least a start. It may be helpful to reinstall your graphics drivers straight through Nvidia and select the option to do a clean uninstallation of old drivers (under advanced or custom install).

Also make sure you haven't done anything with Layer 0 OR Defpoints. That tends to cause strange graphic like behavior.

[JohnHolder]

Have you tried turning off hardware acceleration?  ( for ME it has always been buggy ) I always keep it turned off.

[Anonymous]

In the original post, I commented on how hardware acceleration has no effect on this problem. I tried turning off hardware acceleration again, just to double check, but the same issue still persists. Not but 30 seconds after turning off hardware acceleration I came across an elbow that was invisible. Anyone have any other ideas? Thanks for all the help thus far.

[Anonymous]

david.egbert is me as well. logged into the wrong account.

[darrelldixon]

One of our users was having this yesterday. Like you, all drivers and programs are up to date.

Not sure of the cause, but deleting the connection weld dot on one end of the fitting then "connect component to adjacent" made it reappear.

We've been seeing this and other odd issues when working with a point cloud, and using a cropping box to reduce it, then also using the live section with boundary option to cut things down further.

[jabowabo]

It looks like all your screenshots show you are using the Shades visual style. Do the fittings reappear when you switch to others 3D styles? If so, try resetting Shaded - Visual Styles Mgr/rt-click style/select reset.
Another possible fix is to uninstall/reinstall the p3d object enabler.

[Anonymous]

@jabowabo  It does seem that this issue is only present in a few visual styles, shaded being one of them.  I tried both of your suggestions, but neither seemed to have any effect on the issue.

However, in another post "OrthoCube Disappears in Shaded Mode", someone suggested setting CONSOLIDATIONMODE to 0. This not only fixed the issue with the orthocube (for me at least), but ALSO fixed my issue with disappearing pipe fittings.

Link to post: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-plant-3d-forum/orthocube-disappears-in-shaded-mode/m-p/677286...

One question -- I haven't been able to find any documentation on CONSOLIDATIONMODE. Any idea what exactly it controls?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

CONSOLIDATIONMODE = 0

[Anonymous]

Worked for me as well, thank you

[Anonymous]

still not works.....its not a solution