Appearance Browser Thumbnails not appearing

[cadadmin]

Good afternoon,

This is similar to this post here, however there are some issues I see that perhaps someone has found a work around for.

I can edit the material appearance by changing the color, or some attribute such as the scene, save and then change it back and save again and subsequently save that back to the styles library and in turn update the thumbnail. And initially I went through half the library and thought I was making excellent progress. When I closed inventor and later reopened it, all my work had vanished and the thumbnails all reverted to the previous state (missing/blank).

I know that some of these appearances are old, but I do not have the complete history. Before going any further I do have some questions. If I delete these appearances and recreate them, will they actually work, or will the result be the same, missing thumbnails?

For appearances that have been identified as in need of replacement and that are in use, would the proper procedure to remake the appearance be as follows?

1. Open the open the sheet metal rule used by the appearance "in use".
2. Change the Material to something different (doesn't matter which one).
3. Save and Close.
4. Open the appearance browser and delete the appearance.
5. Re-create the appearance.
6. Save to the Styles Library.
7. Open the sheet metal rule and change the Material to the re-created appearance.
8. Save and close.

Is there a way to copy appearances from one library to another (for appearances that are ok) if I were to start from scratch with a new Appearance file (InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib) that we share via the Vault with our support files? Or is once a library is corrupt, it is time to just start over?

Is there a white paper, or information specific to how materials, styles, etc. are related? Perhaps I just do not understand all the inner workings. Then combine that with pre-inventor 2011 to current release files that are still scattered all over and it just seems a bit confusing. I of course am trying not to infer with anybody else's work as I work to correct these issues or hopefully not introduce new ones. I would really appreciate some input, thank you in advance.

Regards,

Tom

The attached image shows that the thumbnails in the appearance browser are missing, while the Document appearance is ok. As soon as I add an appearance to the document the thumbnail is correct. I tried changing the thumbnail size in the browser to see if perhaps just a typo in paths behind the scenes. The items underlined with blue are other materials in question. Some I do not see in a clean install, and maybe just need to be deleted- again, these may be left overs from past versions of inventor.

[cadadmin]

Good morning,

I am still interested in determining if this is an ongoing bug, hopefully getting some of my questions answered and I would appreciate any time you can provide. One more bit of information, it is highly likely that these were never corrected during previous upgrades. Thank you. 

Regards,

Tom

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

I personally think the behavior is like a corruption. The issue here is that we can never have a consistent reproducible workflow. Usually, the corruption already occurred but we don't know how it happened.

If you find a way to reproduce it, please let us know.

Many thanks!

[cadadmin]

Does Inventor reference the appearance names or a UID? The reason I am asking is I want to determine if I can just create a new InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib on a fresh install and make the additions based on current appearances and then just overwrite our current InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib which is shared on the network and maintain our sheet metal styles etc., etc.?

Sorry to keep asking about this, but I have just found out that the issues go way back and some materials are left over from as early as Inventor 10. We have many custom materials and sheet metal rules which would make for a lot of additional work if things go wrong.

Regards,

Tom

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

If I understood how it worked correctly, it tracks both (name and unique GUID). For some reason, the styles in your library probably lost the association to the thumbnail or Inventor thinks there is a duplicate style.

If I were you, I would keep Inventor Material Library as is. Then build a custom library from scratch or drag and drop styles from Inventor Material Library. You don't want to keep editing or modeling and sharing while changing the styles. I have seen corrupted styles due to excessive edits.

Many thanks!

[anandax]

I have the same problem. The thumbnails are also not displayed.

I have already tested the solution, unfortunately without success. The problem occurred with Inventor 2020. In version 2021 the problem still exists.

Sometimes you think you have a solution. After a restart the problem is present again. It makes you crazy. 

The only thing that really works is to open and close the Appearance Browser. After that the preview will be displayed as expected.

Are there perhaps other solutions? 😬

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! This issue usually indicates some sort of corruption in the appearance library. Does it happen with Inventor Material Library or a custom library? Is the library locked or accessible and writable on a network drive? Could you share the adsklib file?

Many thanks!

[anandax]

Here is the adsklib-file as zip (appearances-test.zip)
I rebuilt the library and added our colors.
Also with colors from the Autodesk library it does not work.

The preview works when you change the project, quit Inventor,
restart Inventor and activate the original project. 🤔
For this I have created a video. See "2020-07-08-Appearance.mp4"

[idealogicERZYZ]

Hello
When will there be a solution to this problem? After all, there is no solution to re-opening and saving each material in the library.
E.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I did not see the attached library and the video. I am very sorry to get back so late. I tried the exact workflow on 2020.3 and 2021.1. I cannot reproduce the behavior.

Please make sure all critical Windows updates are installed and applicable Inventor updates are installed.

If nothing works, try using Inventor Reset Utility (All Programs -> Autodesk -> Tools) to reset all settings back to install default.

Another possibility is that Autodesk Material Library components were not installed properly. Go to Control Panel -> Programs -> Programs and Features. Sort by name. You should see the followings for 2020.

"Autodesk Material Library 2020"

"Autodesk Material Library Base Resolution Image Library 2020"

"Autodesk Material Library Low Resolution Image Library 2020"

If one of them is missing, you need to reinstall it. Run Inventor install again to get it back.

Many thanks!

[idealogicERZYZ]

Hello,

I am really looking for a serious solution to the problem, not a reset or reinstall the program. I have 20 stations, each with a specific configuration of macros, plagina, additional software. The problem is described and affects other users. All Windows and Autodesk updates are installed. Also, I did a reset utility on one station and it didn't help.

E.

[idealogicERZYZ]

Of course, installing libraries for the 2020 and 2019 versions did not help either.

E.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I am sorry I am a bit confused. I suspect your issue may not be 100% the same as the original thread. What is the error you are seeing? Please share the library .adsklib file here.

Many thanks!

[idealogicERZYZ]

Hello,
The problem is exactly the same as described by anandax. The icons do not show when the color viewer is expanded. In the attachment the library files.

E

[idealogicERZYZ]

Can anyone deal with this topic?

E

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! If I recall correctly, this is also considered library corruption. Try this real quick. Go to Get Started -> Project -> Appearance Library -> Activate Autodesk Appearance Library -> do it for Material Library also. Does the thumbnails appear correctly now?

Many thanks!

[anandax]

No, unfortunately still not working.
I installed the 2021.1 update today and thought it finally works. Inventor restarted several times, no problem. After that I restarted the PC and the problem was back again.

Autodesk Appearance Library and Material Library were set active.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Does it appear in the Appearance Browser (not the dropdown list)?

Many thanks!

[daniel_kuna]

Hello
Yes. Not in the dropdown list. Can be seen normally in the browser. I have this problem too.

Greetings

Daniel

[anandax]

Yes, it appears in the browser.
It does not appear in the dropdown-list, see attached picture.

Currently, if I activate the standard library and then switch to my test library, it works.
After a restart it might look different again. Basically it does not work if the test library is active. 
Like I said before, it makes you crazy. 😫