Browser keeps disappearing

[jetfire68]

With the latest update (2.0.12157), I'm getting weird behavior with the browser window--it keeps disappearing. I've toggled the browser on and off, and quit and restarted the program with the browser showing several times. I can get it to show up, but the moment  I click anywhere on the workspace the browser window disappears. Not sure if this is a bug or if something got toggled accidentally in a menu I'm not familiar with.

[jhackney1972]

Have you tried the setting shown in the screen capture?  Also, you may want to go to the "?" mark (Help), Support and Diagnostics, Graphics Diagnostics and see what it says about your video card and its drivers.

[jetfire68]

Hi, John. Yes, I tried Reset to Default Layout before posting my message here. Had no effect. I also tried the Graphics Diagnostics tool as you recommended, but I honestly don't know what I should be looking for here. Everything was working normally the other day. 

Trying to post a screencast link. https://autode.sk/3fSoUPn

[jhackney1972]

This really does seem like a graphic problem since it comes and goes.  What I wanted you to check in the Graphic Diagnostic was two things, did the dialog recognize your Graphic Card and did is sense the latest driver update.  There is one other thing I think may help, in your Preferences, change your Graphics Driver to one of the other choices beside Auto-Select.  I like OpenGL Core Profile since that is the way I have configured my graphics card.

Edit: I forgot to mention, you should restart Fusion 360 between any change.

[jetfire68]

Thank you again, John.

Copied from the diagnostics tool:

[GPU Information]
GPU Device: AMD Radeon Pro 555X
GPU RAM: 4096 MB
GPU Driver API: OpenGL Core Profile

[Graphics Effects Settings]
Use high-resolution graphics: Off
Anti Aliasing: On
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Object Shadow: Off
Ground Shadow: On
Ground Reflection: Off
Selection Display Style: Normal
Transparency Effect: Better Performance

[Limit effects to optimize performance]
Off

[jetfire68]

I see now that we were looking at two different Graphics-related areas (Fusion help vs. Prefs).

[jhackney1972]

I am interested if you are still seeing the Browser issue or using the different graphics driver solve the issue?

[jetfire68]

This screencast seems to work.

https://autode.sk/3fSoUPn

[jetfire68]

I've still got the issue. Just restarted the Mac, and the problem is still there. I posted a link to a screencast in a separate window on this thread.

[jhackney1972]

I guess I need to bow out, MAC is not on my knowledge list, I am an Windows user.  Good luck finding your issue.

[jetfire68]

Thanks for trying, John. I appreciate the effort.

[Phil.E]

Thanks for the video. I'm trying to reproduce the effect and have a couple questions for you.

What happens if at the end of the video you click into the Fusion application frame? Does the browser appear?

Likewise, what if you at that moment try to show the browser as you do in the beginning of the video?

Also, it appears that Screencast is not recording your clicks or keystrokes. So I need a little help interpreting your video.

• At 0:11 your mouse goes off screen and a web page appears. 
• A second or two later Fusion appears.

Because there are so many ways this could happen, please describe what you do to switch to another application and back. Are you using alternate desk tops or anything other than the dock icons?

What key presses and dock setting will help me reproduce this effect?

[jetfire68]

Hi, Phil. Thank you trying to help me. I've never used Screencast before and I apologize for my rudimentary effort at it.

What I was trying to show is that upon opening Fusion, the browser is not visible. When I go to the View Menu, the option "Hide Browser" is a selectable choice, indicating that the software thinks the browser is presently visible.  If I select "Hide Browser" and then select "Show Browser," the browser becomes visible.  Once I click on the workplace, the browser instantly disappears. By the same token, once I get the browser to re-reapper but then click offscreen (e.g., to open another application such as Safari in the screencast) and then return to Fusion, the browser has again vanished.

I'm not using any external monitor--just the laptop, which is a MacBook Pro running iOS 11.6.2 (Big Sur). Switching apps is done without keyboard clicks--I'm just using the trackpad. 

I've uninstalled and re-installed Fusion since this problem suddenly began the other day. 

Something else that's going on is that every time I restart Fusion 360, I'm forced to sign into my account. My user and PW are not being retained. That's new. 

What other details can I provide, Phil?

[jetfire68]

I'm just now realizing also that the navigation bar at the bottom of the work space is also disappearing. Doesn't appear on startup of Fusion, then responds the same way when working through the same Hide/Show behavior. 

[jetfire68]

Just to add more breadcrumbs... I've found two other users in separate thread with this same issue and two other users in different threads with the problem of browser menu remaining visible in other programs or on the desktop (IIRC). All MacBook Pro users.

[Phil.E]

I'm still confused.

What I was trying to show is that upon opening Fusion, the browser is not visible. 

As your screencast begins, the browser is visible.

Also, I'm asking if you use spaces, or alternate desktops, etc. 

And I'm asking how you access the other applications.

You said you just use trackpad. I understand that, but what method of switching apps do you use? It's not clear from your video what your fingers are doing on the trackpad, but to hopefully reproduce this bug, I need to know what you are doing precisely. This is due to the myriad of UI options mac users have, such as trackpad settings and ways of bringing up other apps and spaces using trackpad. Thanks in advance for taking the time to describe this in detail for me.

[Phil.E]

Update:

I think the problem is associated with either:

• Running  in full screen mode
  • and/or
• Swiping between full screen applications (three finger swipe on trackpad)
  • And possibly spaces, or alternate desktops.

If you could do a little experimenting it would help greatly. Try to boil it down to a particular setting or action to help me reproduce it

[jetfire68]

Phil,
1) when I open Fusion the browser is visible but the navigation bar is not visible;
2) I switch apps by moving one finger on the trackpad to position the cursor to the dock at the left side of my screen and selecting a new app. I don't use keyboard commands to switch between apps. I hope that answers your question--these are things I don't think about when I do them or even how I do them. 

Regarding your assumption about Full-screen mode, I think you're hot on the trail. I experimented with my setup based on your comment and found the following:

It is only when an app I switch to is set to display at full screen do I lose the browser and navigation bar. For example, I switched to the calculator app and back to Fusion--no issue. But when I switched to the Mail app--which was set to display at full-screen--and back to Fusion, the browser and navigation bar disappeared. I set Mail to display at not-full-screen (whatever that's called), went back to Fusion to make the browser and nav bar visible again, and then toggled between Mail and Fusion... the browser and navigation bar were still there! I did the same thing with Safari, which was also set to display full-screen: browser and nav bar remain visible. 

[mputaala]

Phil,

I've attempted each of the adjustments you've suggested as well as performed a clean install following instructions in the knowledge base, all to no avail.

However, when I removed all of the virtual desktops, the browser no longer disappears. This seems to confirm your suspicion that the problem has something to do with the desktops.

While this "fix" eliminates the problem with the disappearing browser, it creates another issue the virtual desktops no longer being available. This is important to someone like me who works on a number of things at the same time and continuously switches between applications/desktops.

The problem surfaced with the latest (January) Fusion 360 upgrade but I've seen it before, probably early last year or late 2020. Now running MacOS 12.1 (Monterey).

Thanks for looking into this.

Miikka Putaala

[schack.lindemann]

Just wanted to chip in that I have the exact same issue, running on Monterey 12.2, both with and without my eGPU. The issue started with the january update. It seems like the layer/window running the browser, comments and the navigation bar ends up behind the main window. If I use the Mission Control feature, the browser, comments and navigation bar shows up and can be selected as a normal window. I've inclosed a screen recording showing what goes on.