Access Violation errors in Netfabb 2017 and 2018

[techknight]

I've been getting "Access Violation" errors in Netfabb when rotating or panning the camera, or simply hovering a mouse cursor over a model. This started in the 2017 editions, where previous versions had worked perfectly on my laptop with integrated graphics. I've kept around the old versions so I was thinking I'd just eventually downgrade or something.

But recently I used Netfabb 2018 on my desktop with an Nvidia GPU and got the same, randomly-occurring Access Violation crashes when working with various STL files.

I've tried to reproduce the issue consistently, and although I've been able to crash several times in a row opening a specific file and panning the camera, it doesn't happen *every* time. In fact, I can complete some repair/crop operations on a certain file just fine, and then re-open the original file again and get a crash. It's really unpredictable.

Also the source STL files have come from different programs like TinkerCAD, Meshmixer, or Skanect, so there doesn't appear to be any commonality there.

As suggested in an earlier post, I've even used the Nvidia Control Panel to force OpenGL to use the GTX 660 for Netfabb (even though no other graphics hardware is present) with no improvement.

Any ideas? For the record I'm always using the most recent official release of Windows 10, and always keep my graphics drivers up to date.

[alexander.osterKLN9H]

Hi Techknight,

you can try to go to System->Settings and then turn "Display->Use enhanced Display functions" to No (and restart the application).

This should make most of the graphics card errors disappear.

It would be great if you could share if that helped.

Best,

 Alex

[techknight]

Hi there,

I gave that a try just now, same access violation errors unfortunately. Screenshot attached:

Also the log file:

WarningLevel;Time;Message;EventID;
3;2017-12-06 01:23;You do not use enhanced display functions;4101;
3;2017-12-06 01:24;Access violation;4096;
3;2017-12-06 01:25;Access violation;4096;

[tobycwood]

Netfabb has ALWAYS been a half baked crash ridden, poorly executed application. In previous (now no longer supported) versions access violations were coupled to the way Netfabb addresses files. Each time you saved or exported you HAD to go up at least one level in your directory path then back down to the desired path location to save or export to or you would get the violation error.

Netfabb was never written to use multiple cores and it cannot manage memory use. Add to that AD's refusal to take any responsibility for previously sold versions so as such we have BANNED it's use in our shops.

A better approach to managing meshes is to use 3D-Coat and voxelize the surface model.

[Andrew.Sartorelli]

Hi @tobycwood,

thank you for your honest feedback on your experience using netfabb. With the most recent releases of Netfabb, neither I nor our QA team has been able to reproduce the problem that you described when saving files. The development organization takes Access Violations quite seriously as we understand the negative impact to customer and as such work to resolve all that are reported. If you encounter an Access Violation in Autodesk Netfabb and are able to provide information on how to reproduce it, then please do open a Support Ticket or make a post on the community and we will handle it accordingly.

In terms of multi-core usage, it's true that not every algorithm in our toolbox is able to utilize multiple cores. However, we've made great strides to improve overall performance of our algorithms. When possible and where suitable, we allow for running actions on multiple parts concurrently. So while all repair actions may not be multi-core enabled; you are able to run repair scripts on multiple parts at the same time. Are there a certain algorithms that were particularly problematic for you?

With regards to previous versions support, Autodesk is not able to support legacy versions of the software sold by Netfabb GmbH for a number of legal reasons. If you are looking for similiar features to the legacy Netfabb Private, we do offer Netfabb Standard which as of January 2018 is available for $225 per year. Netfabb Standard contains things like CAD import, mesh to CAD conversion,  automated mesh repair, an orientation wizard, a slew of part analysis tools, customized workspaces for select polymer machines, and much more. If your last experience with Netfabb was the legacy product, then I would suggest that you take a look at the free trial for Netfabb Standard 2019.

Best Regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Andrew Sartorelli

[steffen_anders_adsk]

Hi @techknight

In addition to what Andrew said, please make sure you use dedicated graphics hardware with reliable OpenGL 3.3 support.

If you keep seeing the message "You do not use enhanced display functions" even when System > Settings > Display > Use Enhanced Display Functions (OpenGL 3.3) is set to Yes, you are running Netfabb on hardware that does not support the required functions reliably and are inviting a number of instabilities that can result in many of the symptoms you see.

To learn more about this, you can read the FAQ section in the Netfabb Frequently Asked Questions page here.

At any rate, we always recommend updating to the latest release, available through your account page at https://manage.autodesk.com, or the Autodesk Desktop App, as we do continue to address these malfunctions.

Best regards,

Steffen

[techknight]

Hi Steffen,

That's not what the issue was at all. As was mentioned elsewhere, the root cause was that after Autodesk acquired Netfabb they introduced a bug that caused (seemly random) crashes when the Windows process TabTip.exe was also running.

Every Windows 10 computer that has either touchscreen or a touchpad that conforms to the "Precision Touchpad" standard runs this process, even after the device is disconnected. 

This bug existed for an extraordinarily long time and could only be worked around by manually doing End Task on the TabTip.exe process before starting Netfabb. Nothing to do with OpenGL.

[steffen_anders_adsk]

Then why didn't you mention that earlier, leaving the entire thread dangling in guesses as to what could be the culprit on your particular machine? In this forum and thread, this is the very first time this is brought up, and a search on all the Autodesk forum brings up exactly two results. Including this thread. So I'd be awfully curious about this "elsewhere" source of yours.

Thanks

[techknight]

Hi Steffen,

I could've sworn that I'd posted something here on the Autodesk forums about it. (Is it possible that a thread with a link to a pre-Autodesk Netfabb download was deleted?)

Anyway that's my bad - I was really fed up with Netfabb back then. After Autodesk killed the Mac version I was no longer able to teach it to all of my students. And then the random crashes on systems that previously ran it fine combined with seemingly arbitrary UI changes made the whole experience just awful. 

For the record, what helped me narrow down the issue was that Capcom's Street Fighter V had a similar bug on PC.

[steffen_anders_adsk]

Hi @techknight,

Thanks for the detail, it'll help with investigating this further.

Best regards,

Steffen

[techknight · Accepted solution]

Thanks Steffen - just to be clear, it was an issue in the 2017 releases and some of the 2018 releases, but it is fixed in Netfabb 2018.3. (But not sure off the top of my head which one was the first to have the fix)

[steffen_anders_adsk]

Thanks again for the feedback, that's most appreciated!

Do you happen to have had the chance to gather experience with 2019.0 also, related or unrelated? If so, please do let us know!

Best regards,

Steffen

[tobycwood]

I DID state plainly that this was the pre AD version.

AD would have been wise to NOT use the name "Netfabb". To have a name that represented such poorly written SW now associated with what we consider one of the premier SW houses in the US, is really a shame.