REVIT Material Browser causes huge spike in CPU Usage and Crashes Application

[00535405]

Anyone else had this problem? 

So the version of REVIT I'm using is REVIT 2024 educational edition. Aside from this one problem, it works completely fine as it should and I know my PC is up to spec as it has absolutely no difficulties rendering any model in 3D or with any other task in the app.

The issue is when I want to open the material browser, which for some reason, although usually working completely fine for about 5-10 seconds, causes my CPU usage to absolutely skyrocket to 100%, which if I don't close the material browser promptly, will cause the entire application to subsequently freeze and then eventually crash altogether. You can watch this happening live in Task manager.

All this basically means is that while I can model a complete building and do every other task and function without issue, I can't assign materials which is very frustrating.

I am aware that there is already an article on the website covering the same topic, about material browser being slow/ causing crashes .etc:

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Material-browser-i...

While it describes the issue I'm having very accurately, after looking through all my journal logs there is no such instance of those lines appearing in any of them, which leads me to think that while the issue is the same, there is something different causing it.

Any knowledge or advice on this would be greatly appreciated, as I cannot find any solid information online. I can also attach images if required.

Cheers

[luis.asantos]

Hi @00535405,

I had a similar problem in another version of Revit. The solution was to started the Revit as administrator (right click on the revit icon and select start as admin). Have you tried this?

Best regrads!

[00535405]

Hi there @luis.asantos,

thanks for the quick response, until your comment I hadn't tried that but I've just given it a go. While it doesn't fully fix the problem, I think your response has inadvertently led me to the problem area, and maybe a possible solution? I'm not an IT person, but I'll try my best to explain what happened after I gave it a go.

When running the program in administrator, I'm still getting a huge spike in CPU usage after opening the material browser, (i.e. up to 100%) and so of course it's still really slow, but strangely it doesn't crash the entire program anymore, giving me the chance to leave it open long enough to see that the problem is coming from something called "Autodesk Material Preview Generator.exe" which shoots up to something like 90%. When click on it and "end task", the material browser stays open and CPU usage goes way back down to normal and everything runs ok, but then if I click on another material it shoots back up again, but doesn't crash.

The program if I'm not mistaken is responsible for loading the preview image up at the top of the material browser, specifically on the "appearance" tab. So for anyone else having this problem, I've found somewhat of a workaround to get it to at the very least not crash - so if I swap materials whilst being in the "identity" or "graphics" tab it's completely fine, doesn't lag, no crashes. I also found that if you change the "render settings" for the preview image from "production quality" or "draft quality" it seems to help quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, it's still laggy, and I still think there's something seriously wrong with "AdPreviewGenerator.exe", so for that reason I'm not going to count this as a proper solution. A workaround? absolutely, but the fix is only temporary - I'm finding I need to avoid clicking on any materials until I'm certain it's the right material, and keep needing to "end task" on it to prevent freezing and stuttering.

As I said before, I'm not in IT or very savvy with this sort of thing, so I have no idea as to why running it in administrator prevents it from crashing? Maybe you or someone else can explain? 🤔

Anyway, sorry if this has been a bit longwinded, but this problem has been plaguing me for absolutely ages - since I first downloaded Revit. So the prospect of me finally being able to use the material browser in any respect without the thing straight up just crashing - every single time I attempt to even open it - is quite exciting.

Once again thanks for the response, however, I still need to find more of a permanent solution at some point, as it still doesn't run great, despite not crashing so much.

cheers

[luis.asantos]

Hi @00535405 ,

This is really unusual... I'll look for more informations. Have youupdated your windows and video card drivers? Another thing, have you installed Revit Update 2024.2.1? In Realease notes there is anupdate related to materials.

Best regards!

[ToanDN]

This is not very unusual.

https://www.revitforum.org/forum/revit-all-flavors/hardware-and-infrastructure/44071-revit-material-...

[HVAC-Novice]

Open performance manager and analyze how many cores are spiking. Also check temperatures to see if CPU is throttling. 

And provide type of hardware. Old hardware may run at 100% on a core while a modern CPU may just be bored under the same load. 

[handjonathan]

Hi @00535405 

Thanks a lot for posting your question to the forums!   Have the solutions suggested by @luis.asantos @ToanDN @HVAC-Novice helped with your issue?
 
We look forward to hearing back from you with more information so we can help you as a community! 

[allthewebs]

No, this issue is hardly "unusual".

[JacobDFabian]

Hey! Did you ever get this figured out? I have been having the same problem for years and I think i finally fixed it. I have had coworkers open the same exact file with no issues but I crash and burn every time. What graphics card do you have?

[JacobDFabian]

I have a very capable GPU (AMD radeon 6900xt) and I have noticed lately it not being utilized very well when gaming. I started to investigate and found, by default the games and programs requiring a Graphics card were not being utilized by my Dedicated GPU.

SO, I made Changes to My Games and Apps.

In windows settings; System > Display > Graphics > Custom settings for applications. 

By default "Let Window Decide" is the default GPU preference. Add "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2025\AdPreviewGenerator.exe" (or whatever version you are running) to the list of Apps for custom settings. Then select the App from the list and set GPU preference to your Dedicated GPU and Never "Let Windows Decide"! Do this same process for Revit and any other Application that requires a GPU to run. Make sure you Restart Revit or any other Apps you have made the changes to. When you open Revit again these change will take effect.

Hopefully this helps you and Remember, "Never Let Windows Decide"!