accustudio's bug list is the place to find out whether it's you or the computer that's the causing you to rip the last of those hairs out. Many of the problems that appear with AccuRender are the result of compatibility issues with other software or hardware so if your problem is listed below, at least you know that everyone else is losing sleep over the same stuff.
With this resource, we try to make sure that McNeel is kept up-to-date on the problems users are experiencing. We are very interested to hear from you if you have any other problems to report (however small). If you don't get the problem as we've listed it, or if you have any good workarounds. Send your bug reports to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and simultaneously to technical support at Robert McNeel and Associates .
The first thing you should do when faced with some kind of problem with AccuRender is to install the latest build (or version). This is always available in the support area at www.accurender.com
Remember, a "bug" (as defined by the International Standards Authority based in Turku, Finland) is a program feature, which, by fault or oversight does not work as designed and is therefore a Royal Pain in the Butt. Anything else is just a "pain in the butt", and should be submitted to the wishlist .
The list has been compiled in the order we found them, so don't infer any "importance" from the list position.
Radiosity on/off switch crashes AutoCAD 2000 and AccuRender 3
AutoCAD R14.01 memory leak consumes RAM
Perspective Match utility does not correctly orient the camera
Missing Background Image from Walkabout Window
Background image not oriented properly in Walkabout Window
Material Editor crash in AccuRender Demo and AccuRender 217 or earlier
AccuRender crashes when using the Matrox G400 video card.
AccuRender crashes in rare cases on dual processor machines.
Reflections and transparency appear too dark when reflecting the background image.
ATI Rage 128 video card causes AR3 to crash.
Saved views are rotated or twisted
Rendering speed drops after installing build 246 or later.
Bad reflections in builds 253 and 254.
Radiosity on/off switch crashes AutoCAD 2000 and AR3.
This problem affects some people using AR3 with AutoCAD 2000. Turning radiosity on or off from the lighting dialog causes both programs to crash if you check the box. The problem seems to stem from the "radiosity warning" which is supposed to appear when you switch radiosity on.
This was solved with build 233 of AccuRender. Upgrading this or a later build will solve the problem.
Repeated model re-loading causes memory leak in AutoCAD R14.01.
Although this problem is actually an AutoCAD bug, it affects AccuRender so much it is worth reporting here. AutoCAD R14.01 (not MCAD R14.01, R14, R13 nor AutoCAD 2000) will leak a small amount of memory every time an "ENTGET" command is initiated. In AccuRender, this occurs during the model loading. Consequently, an increasing amount of memory will be consumed for repeated model loads, and the amount depends on the size of the model – as much as 13Mb has been reported.
The workaround is to restart AutoCAD and load everything again to regain the consumed RAM. This is especially useful to regain "lost" system RAM just prior to initiating a final radiosity calculation or raytrace. Autodesk do not seem interested in providing a solution, so the other option is to either upgrade or downgrade to another AutoCAD version.
Perspective matching utility does not correctly orient camera.
The ArPMatch14.arx does not correctly orient the camera to match perspective views to a bitmap image.
The workaround suggested by Robert McNeel and Associates is to use the walkabout background image feature (added after release 22x) instead of ArPMatch, and use the Walkabout Window camera movement tools (Orbit and Walkaround) to orient the view. NOTE: see "Missing Background image lost with Diamond cards" and "Background Image not positioned properly…" for related bugs.
Missing Background image in Walkabout Window.
There have been a number of problems reported with Diamond Cards, particularly the Viper v550. Many people lose the background image from the Walkabout Window.
The only suggested workaround is to install the nVidia Detonator drivers instead of those supplied by Diamond.
Background image not oriented properly in the Walkabout Window.
Earlier builds of AccuRender choked if the background image was set to anything other than "Fit Viewport"producing unpredictable results in the Shaded and Radiosity Walkabout Window, although it was correctly oriented when raytraced.
The latest builds of AccuRender (242 onwards) solve this problem.
AccuRender 3 Demo (or AccuRender 3 pre-build 217) crashes when editing materials.
The AccuRender 3 Demo (or AccuRender 3 pre-build 217) will crash when exiting the materials dialog for the second time if Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 is installed on the computer. The compatibility conflict is a direct result of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5's installation.
To solve this problem with the AccuRender Demo uninstall Internet Explorer 5 and use another web browser brand/version such as IE4.x or Netscape 4.x. To solve this problem with the full version of AccuRender, upgrade to build 217 (or later). This solves the compatibility problem.
AccuRender crashes when using the Matrox G400 video card.
The problem seems to be related to the dual head display (we assume you have at least the 5.30.xxx drivers installed). What you need to do is go to the Matrox Display Properties dialog and click into the "Advanced" dialog box. Choose the "Dual Head" tab and turn the dual head on (enable the last option). After you reboot the system, go into the Display Proerties setting tab. Now you will see the picture of two monitors labelled no.1 and no.2, one with color. You should then double-click the one that is black and white. You will be notified that this monitor will be part of your desktop: click yes. That's all there is to it. Everything should run fine for AR3. (Courtesy of Scott Davidson, McNeel)
AccuRender crashes in rare cases on dual processor machines.
Although the cause of this problem has not been isolated (mainly because it is so rare - most dual-processor machines run perfectly) McNeel is hoping that changes introduced with build 244 of AccuRender will solve the problem.
Reflections and transparency appear too dark when showing the background image.
Certain major changes introduced into AccuRender 3.1 (builds 231 onwards) cause calibration issues when a reflecting or transparent surface is showing the background image. These problems will be addressed as they are found. If upgrading to the most recent build of AccuRender does not help, please report the problem to McNeel and to us.
ATI Rage 128 video card causes AR3 to crash.
McNeel have identified a problem with the released versions of the ATI 128 video cards. This includes the Rage and the Rage Pro cards. It seems that if you try to render to walkabout, AutoCAD will blow up. This is a problem with their video driver. A new version of their driver fixes the problem. It is available at:
http://www.atitech.com/ca_us/spdrivers/index.html
If you are currently running an ATI card and are having problems, please download this driver. Here is the technical numbers on the new drivers.
RAGE128 Windows 95b/98 Display Driver Optimized Direct3D/OpenGL Special Purpose Driver (K6/K7 3DNow!, Pentium III SSE, Quake3 Test) Version: 6.30CDH34 posted October 27, 1999
RAGE128 Windows NT 4.0 Display Driver Optimized OpenGL Special Purpose Driver (K6/K7 3DNow!, Pentium III SSE, Quake3 Test) Version: 6.30CDH34-4.3.72
Saved views are rotated or twisted
There appears to be a problem which occurs when views are Saved to Named View from AccuRender. This only occurs in drawings where the SNAPANG system variable is set to any other value than 0, and can be corrected by reseting the value. Previously saved views will still be incorrect, but can be fixed in AutoCAD by loading the view, using DVIEW to set the TWIST to 0, and re-saving the view.
Rendering speed drops after installing build 246 or later.
Thanks to GeneK for this information, posted on the AccuRender newsgroup on 9th April 2000.
It has come to the attention of Accustudio that there are certain isolated cases of dramatic increases in rendering time being experienced by certain AccuRender users after upgrading beyond build 245. We are not sure of the exact causes of this, but it may be something to do with Windows 95/98 as we have not received any reports of this problem on Windows NT platforms.
It would seem that in these cases, the update installation procedure fails to properly configure the system. A complete uninstall and reinstalation from the CD seems to sort the problem out. If you are experiencing this problem, follow the steps below. If this still does not improve the situation, report the problem as soon as possible to the AccuRender newsgroup.
1) Rename the accuren3 directory (for example: accuren3.old)
2) Go into the Windows/System directory and delete all ar3*.dll files.
3) Install AR3 again from the CD
4) Run the upar3.exe file for build 248 (or later)
5) Copy all your library files and any light fixture files from their locations in the old accuren3 directory to the exact same subdirectories in the new one
6) Load AR3, go into the settings dialogue and reset the search paths
If you've never customized any of AR3's default libraries or light fixtures or created any, or if you've made the even smarter move of creating a separate location not in the accuren3 directory for your customized stuff you can skip step 5 altogether.
Bad reflections after Build 253.
The "ClearFinish" builds 253 and 254 introduced a problem with anti-aliasing reflections against the background. accu studio has been able to get a fix for this - installation instructions follow.
Download and unzip the file new_ar3dll.zip
Close AutoCAD
Find the file "ar3.dll" on your machine. This will be in the c:\windows\system or c:\winnt\system32 folder
Rename the existing ar3.dll to ar3_old.dll
Copy the new ar3.dll (from the zip archive) into the same folder as the old one.
Restart your computer
Thanks to Roy Hirshkowitz for providing a speedy fix for this problem. This issue will be fixed in the next official build.
Last revision: 07.11.2000
