Stability issues on Mac OS X

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

am I the only one having major stability issues on Mac OS X? I love Fusion 360, so much that I almost never use my (paid-for) install of SolidWorks 2014 (which runs very well in a Parallels VM, so don't blame my Mac).

It has come so far that I need to save before !every! step, from creating solids to drawing a line in a sketch. On a typical design, I get a crash every 10 minutes. The problem is that this is getting worse and worse, up to the point where I am scared to open a drawing. 

The 'backup recovery files' are useless, usually containing lots of referencing errors and warnings, so these are out. 

I know development on Fusion goes very fast, but can't we get a 'stable' version with less new stuff to stay productive? The people who like newer stuff can then get the 'beta' version and be happy, exploring new features and reporting crashes. 

I am changing jobs to something more design-oriented (in the interior design industry) and would love to introduce Fusion there, but I'm scared this may backfire when Fusion crashes a lot on important projects...

Lastly, as I said before, do not blame my system. It's a late-2012 Mac mini, 2,5ghz dual core i5, 16gb ram, 1.5gb video ram and an SSD. While Fusion is experiencing hickups, which 90% of the time result in a crash, I can freely open Safari or even work with SolidWorks in Parallels, so while this is not the newest machine, it is not slow... the slowness is in the Fusion code...

Thanks for reading my rant... 

[TrippyLighting]

Your situation is fairly unique. I work with Fusion 60 daily and very rarely (less then once a week) have  crash.

Are you sending in crash reports ?

What are the operations yu are perfoming when these crashes happen ?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

are you using it on Mac OS X?

The kind of operation varies a lot, I couldn't say on which one it happens most...

I already tried (very clean) reinstalls, even reinstalling my perfectly working OS X install... but to no avail. 

If you are interested in taking a look at the design, send me a mail at [email protected].

Tnx

[TrippyLighting]

Yes, I have a mid 2010 iMac 27" with an i7, running the latest El Capitan (10.11.3 ?). I a not at my machine at the moment.

Could you look into the Preferences into your graphics settings ?

There you can pick either Open GL or Open GL core. Which one do you have enabled ?

Also you could try to disable all the graphics candy and se if that improves your crash rate.

[Anonymous]

At my 2008 MacBook now 😉 will check later about the OpenGL settings.Thanks for your time!

[kris_berg]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am sorry you are having these issues with Fusion 360.  Thank you for sending in Crash Error Reports.  I have reviewed them briefly, but need more time to see if we can find some reproducible cases for these issues so we can identify the cause.  I will respond back as soon as I have more information.  It should be in the next 48 hours.

Thank you,

Kris Berg

Fusion 360 Development

[Anonymous]

Hi, as you can see in the screenshot, I don't have these OpenGL options... 

Most of the quality stuff is already on low, as I prefer performance over candy.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I hope some solution comes up, as this is not normal...

[TrippyLighting]

Mt bad! That setting is in the general preferences under "Grphics driver". Whether that actually makes a difference in this case is another question.

[Anonymous]

Yes, saw iy just after replying to your post :). 

Put it on the core profile now, we'll see what that does...

[Anonymous]

Meh...

Crash again on a simple sketch. Will try again with other GL settings. If the same happens, we can rule out the relevance between GL settings and my problems :).

[kris_berg]

Hi @Anonymous,

In looking at your CER reports, I am wondering if the issues are data specific.  If you create a new design and attempt to sketch do you continue to crash?  If you do, can you send me ([email protected]) reproducible steps or a video showing the issue?  If not, is it possible for you to share your design that you are having issues with? To do that, go to the data panel, right click on the design and select "Share Public Link". Please send the link directly to me via email, [email protected].   If it is design specific, are you always crashing when you select a particular face to sketch on?  If so, when you send the link, please describe the particular face.

Thank you,
Kris Berg

Fusion 360 Development

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

no it's not really design-specific, it also happens when working on the sub-designs in the file (added you to the project so you can get the whole picture), and on other projects. There does not seem to be a real pattern in it... it can happen on fresh designs, and it can happen on existing designs after a few hours of work... I am currently running on the OpenGL settings, and it SEEMS more stable, although graphics seem a little more sluggish... Could be coincidence though, as I say, it is very hard to just reproduce...

[dstevenslv]

It's likely something specific to your config and not a general issue with F360. I'm using it on 3 Macs including a Yosemite based i7 Hackintosh. Between the time your Mini was launched there have been some significant changes with respect to integrated graphics on Macs. They are likely building against at least the most recent OS (because as an Apple dev you basically have to..) and recent hardware. Older hardware is likely to fall between the cracks. People don't like to hear it, particularly with machines as expensive as a Mac but nearly four year old hardware is getting long in the tooth for a Mac.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I understand your point, but using it for years without worrying is the reason why I buy Macs in the first place ;). This also does not explain why SolidWorks 2014 runs very stable, as well as all other Mac and PC software I use on it (either on Windows 10 + Boot Camp and Windows 10 + Parallels). 

Older hardware can only be responsible for slower-running software... not for constant crashing under little or no load, especially not when on the current version of the OS, which is still fully supported by Apple for this machine, even for my 2008 MacBook Unibody (which is still a lovely machine for everything except 3D-modelling).

[dstevenslv]

I don't want to take your thread into the weeds and I'll bow out after this but older hardware most certainly does play into it particularly when it's an integrated graphics issue. It's not only about software running slower but about hardware not being able to take full advantage of the OS or the driver structure around the OS.

Realizing that app software is a complex dance between hardware, the OS and driver API is key. It's not relevant that other packages work. The fact that numerous others don't have the issue is an example of an issue specific to your config. What matters is how your specific config works with this specific application.

[Anonymous]

True, but an application should handle more hardware than one specific model year of Mac... that's why we have OpenGL and other cross-hardware and cross-platform API's... 😉

Random crashing on an otherwise stable computer means a bug, which might or may not be specific to a certain kind or hardware/software combination. Bugs can be solved. (if found)

[kris_berg]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am continuing to look into your issues.  I wasn't able to reproduce the crash in sketching.  In looking at your CER's it looks like you are crashing while entering the sketch using the offset command.  How do you normally invoke the offset command (ie. using the context menu, using the keyboard shortcut, using the toolbar)? Do you tend to preselect the face/loop you want to offset?  Anything you can tell me about your exact workflow will help me reproduce it.

I was able to see the issue you reported regarding warnings/errors.  I am not sure how I got the design into this state.  I will do some more investigation tomorrow.

Thank you,

Kris Berg

Fusion 360 Development

[Anonymous]

@kris_berg

Hi Kris, I had been reading this post. I have the same machines that @Anonymous is using. In fact I also have another Mac Mini Quad I7 Core right next to it.

The only difference is, the Duo Core I5 machine is very slow when starting Fusion 360 ( I am running the latest updated OS X). There are things that this slower Duo Core I5 machine will definitely crash (with most the envoirnmental effects like Dome, etc.. deactivated) is doing " Fillet" using the mouse dragging operation. I got around this a long time ago by lightly touching the cursor arrow then plugging in the numbers. Another guaranteed crash using this I5 machine is Push Pull by mouse dragging. I always plug in numbers instead.  I would say that maybe for an offset operation, the user should plug in numbers instead of using a mouse drag operation using the slower Duo Core I5 machine (not the latest generation I5 CPU, those are faster). 

My other Mac Mini Quad Core I7 seems to do better on these operations when using "Mouse Dragging".

So I think Stormychel might have to plug in the numbers instead of dragging. That might prevent the crashes. That works for me. That also works in my very old Macbook AIR.

In fact that was the reason I using the Mini Quad Core I7 for Fusion 360 exclusivity. 

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous

Hi I forgot to mention, a few years ago I did use a Wacom Intuit 5 board and Wacom Pen on the I5 Mini. Fusion 360 crashes all the time. Jake of AutoDesk found that problem.

I actually uninstalled that driver some time ago but using the wrong way. I should had use the Wacom Uninstall program to do that. I installed the driver again and then uninstalled that again.

Fusion 360 was working again. I then updated the driver from the Wacom site and Fusion 360 did not crash anymore.

Just a little more experience to share with the users.