Fusion black workspace pane

[Anonymous]

Has anyone come across this issue on Autodesk Fusion 360 on macOS?

I first had reports of it on version 2.0.3793. Same issue persists on 2.0.3797. Restart doesn't fix the problem. Reinstalling the software temporally fixes the issue. Logging in to a different user account (new or existing) on the machine doesn't make a difference.

If there are any logs I can provide to help diagnose the issue, let me know!

Cheers

Morgan

[Anonymous]

*raises hand*

Quite reproducible here. The first time I install the app on our Macs and then log in, it looks like this:

But once I log out of that user's computer account and re-log as them, or as anyone else, local account or via LDAP login, this is what I get:

This is reproducible on two models of iMac, and with version 2.0.3800 of the app. 

[innovatenate]

Thank you for reporting this to Autodesk.

What are the specs on the iMac you're testing with? I'm curious if the computer meets the system requirements for Fusion 360. If the graphics card is underpowered (minimum is 512 MB of dedicate video memory), I could see this happening. If you restart Fusion 360 after re-logging in, does the issue subside?

[Anonymous]

This is happening with both a late 2012 27-inch iMac (NVIDIA GeForce GTX
680MX 2GB) as well as a 2017 27-inch Retina 5K iMac (

Radeon Pro 580 8192 MB).

[innovatenate]

I just tested on a 2009 iMac with 4 GB of RAM (macOS version is Sierra).

Here's the steps I'm using to attempt to reproduce:

1.  I launch Fusion 360 and start creating a design

2.  From the name menu in the OS toolbar I select login Window to "lock" 

3. I sign back into the same user

Result: Everything is okay. Fusion workspace is still visible and active.

Could you let me know if I'm missing any steps here?

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Hi Nathan

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I really appreicate you taking a look into this issue for us.

I'm able to reproduce @Anonymous test case. I've been able to replicate the issue twice:

1. Login to Mac as 'user1'
2. Open Fusion, login as myself--Fusion works fine.
3. Quit Fusion, logout of 'user1' and login as 'user2'
4. Open Fusion, login as myself--black screen issue

If I login to 'user3', 'user4', they also get the black screen issue. I'm using macOS 10.12.6 on a MacBook Pro (MacBook Pro 9,2).

I've even completely wiped the OS and reinstalled it twice and was able to replicate the above 4 steps.

Can I provide logs or any other information to help diagnose the issue? I noticed there's a '??' message that appears only when the workspace has this issue--does that mean anything to you?

[Anonymous]

Spent the morning trying to narrow down when the issue started to appear for us version wise. If I installed version 2.0.3706, no issues. If I install version 2.0.3796, issue presents itself.

1. Wiped test machine
2. Installed macOS 10.12.6 and configured it
3. Installed Fusion 2.0.3706
4. Login to 'user1', open Fusion, login as myself, no issues
5. Logout of 'user1'
6. Login to 'user2', open Fusion, login as myself, no issues
7. Logout of 'user2'
8. Login to 'user3', open Fusion, login as myself, no issues
9. Logout of 'user3'
10. Login to 'user4', open Fusion, login as myself, no issues
11. Logout of 'user4'
12. Wipe test machine
13. Install macOS 10.12.6 and configure
14. Installed Fusion 2.0.3793
15. Login to 'user1', open Fusion, login as myself, no issues
16. Logout of 'user1'
17. Login to 'user2', open Fusion, login as myself, black screen issue
18. Logout of 'user2'

I don't have any versions between 3706 and 3793, but I hope that at least narrows down when the issue started to appear version wise.

Something I haven't mentioned--we're using 'Admin Install' version of the installer.

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @Anonymous,

I can help you out here, and that definitely does sound strange - especially that "??" message. Can you please go to the Help menu in the top-right corner and collect your diagnostic log files and post them here.

Also, when you switch users on the machine, you are logging out, and then logging in as a new user, correct? As opposed to just switching users.

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Hi @James.Youmatz

Sure. See attached for the logs. This machine is running El Capitan--the steps above were on Sierra, but the issue persists across both OSs.

Yes, I'm logging out and back in as a new user, not using user switching.

Thanks

Morgan

EDIT: Typo

[esbar001]

I am also having the black screen issue.

I ran the admin install on 6 iMacs running El Capitan (i5 16GB mem) yesterday - they are running fusion 2.0.380 and now all have black screen login issue.

I have attached the diagnostics file for one of the machines.

Similarly to others here the computers are part of a university lab, and have a number of students unable to work on the machines due to this error.

[James.Youmatz]

Hi everyone,

This is definitely very interesting and I'm trying to troubleshoot why this might be occurring. If you guys could test a few theories for me:

• Login as the user who has the black screen issue
• Open Fusion
• Go to the Help menu and select Clear Local User Cache
• Restart Fusion
• Did the black screen issue disappear?

If not, please try the following:

• Close Fusion
• Open Finder
• Navigate to
  • ~Users/Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Neutron Platform/Options
    • Delete NGlobalOptions.xml and NMachineSpecificOptions.xml
  • Within the Options folder should be alphanumeric folder names. These correspond to each user who has logged into Fusion.
    • Delete NGlobalOptions.xml and NULastDisplayedLayout.xml
  • Restart Fusion

Does the black screen go away? This will help us narrow down where the issue may lie. 

[Anonymous]

Hi @James.Youmatz

Clearing the local user cache (using the option under the Help menu) didn't make the black screen go away. After the app started back up, the screen was still black. On the same user account, I quit Fusion, went to ~/Application Support/Autodesk/Neutron Platform/Options and removed the folder and a file named 'NMachineSpecificOptions.xml'. There was no file called 'NGlobalOptions.xml' for me. I emptied the Trash and open Fusion again, still a black screen. However, I got an alert under 'View Job Status':

Internet connection was fine. I quit Fusion and reopened it and got a grey screen instead of a black one:

After I opened a project:

This obviously isn't rendering correctly, but deleting those files certainly did something after Fusion was opened for the second time. Just for reference, I logged into the user account that was working fine, opened up Fusion (no black screen issue, as this account is fine) and opened the same project. It's supposed to look like this:

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Hi @James.Youmatz

Any news?

Morgan

[esbar001]

Currently I have uninstalled one lab license from one of the computers, and installed a regular student license and it works fine.

Is this ok as a work-around? I mean with the lab license you have to manually install updates anyway, so just having the usual student one installed is probably better anyway since it auto updates? Or is there something I am forgetting regarding the difference between the two. 

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @Anonymous,

So far, nothing too major to report. We are still chatting internally about this, as I am pretty stumped. There are a few things I am trying to do which includes finding the common denominator between you all on what causes this. So far it seems related to user switching, but normally black windows are graphics related.

If everyone could post the graphics card specs on this post, that would be helpful. Also, the amount of monitors that are connected (if any).

Also, do you see it being dependent on user signed on OR initial user to log in after boot up. For instance, for one user that wasn't working, if you restart the machine and log into that "broken" user initially, does it work?

@esbar001 - can you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by switched license. The entitlement should have no affect on this issue. If you mean different installer (streamer vs admin), then yes, I could see this being different as the installer works a bit different. The streamer is installed in the user directory, where the admin is installed globally.

Thanks all for your patience and help in troubleshooting this matter,

[Anonymous]

Hi @James.Youmatz

Are you able to reproduce the issue internally? Did the system requirements change since the v2.0.3793 release? I've been reading over the patch notes and a lot of new features were added then.

We've got two models of Macs running the software. One set are MacBookPro 9,2s with Intel Graphics 4000 and the others are iMac12,2s with Radeon HD 6970M. No external monitors on either collections of Macs.

Morgan

[Anonymous]

I had this happen in these same conditions.  I upgraded one machine from 2.0.36xx to 2.0.3800.  The current user had no issue.  However, the next user to log in had the black screen. Tried deleting the files, got the gray screen, but never fixed the issue. 

The computer in question:

MacBook Pro, 13inch 2017 running Sierra

Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel i5

Memory: 16GB LPDDR3

Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536MB

I logged into the machine under as an admin and re-installed the update .pkg without uninstalling anything other than having deleted the recommended files. Once done, rebooted, opened, worked like new.  I have not tried using a different user however. 

[Anonymous]

The initial version number was incorrect: 2.0.3706. My mistake.

[James.Youmatz]

Hi everyone,

Just as a heads up we were able to reproduce this on some of our latest builds. As mentioned, it seems to be a regression and is logged internally as FUS-37973. Currently we are working to see what went wrong and if we have a fix for this that we can release quickly. As soon as I have more information, I will update this thread.

I apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime and hope to have an answer soon!

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Great, thanks @James.Youmatz. Look forward to hearing from you 🙂

Morgan