I believe I have a possessed model

hellnbak · 9 May 2015, 11:07

I've been working on a model for a while now. Nothing special about it, just a model, about 9MB so far.

BUT....

Maybe four days ago, strange things started happening. It became very difficult or impossible) to select edges in some of my components. When attempting to connect a line to a point in the component, it absolutely would not find that point. Sometimes I could not select anything in the component, it's like it was a ghost. When I would attempt to select a face, or anything, it instead selected whatever was behind the component. When I made something a component, it would jump in a random direction, sometimes shifting on an axis as well. When I copy a line, and connect that line to the original line, it does so, but at an angle. Sometimes when I attempt to scale a component, the scaling box appears not around the component, but somewhere else.

Well, you get the idea.

The only way to regain control of the model was to copy and paste it to a blank SU. Then things were fine. For a while. Then they would start to go downhill again, until once again I was forced to repeat the process.

I've encountered none of these problems while working on other models, so I assume it's not a problem with SU. (SU 2015, by the way)

I've been battling this thing for days now. It is driving me completely nuts, and I'm sure my blood pressure is off the scale.

Short of bringing in an exorcist, any suggestions?

And, no, I'd rather not post the model, it's a WIP. I'd just like to know if anyone else has encountered problems similar to those I've described.

TIG · 9 May 2015, 11:14

Have you used Model Info > Statistics to both Purge Unused and Fix Problems ?

driven · 9 May 2015, 11:16

does the 'Outliner' show the expected structure of your nesting?

hellnbak · 9 May 2015, 11:36

@tig said:

Have you used Model Info > Statistics to both Purge Unused and Fix Problems ?

I regularly use the Purge plugin, and while I don't use the statistics/fix problems, each time I save a model it does automatically check for problems, and fixes them if I tell it to.

@driven said:

does the 'Outliner' show the expected structure of your nesting?

While I haven't specifically checked that, when I click through to get to something, it does so as expected.

Box · 9 May 2015, 11:53

I hate these guessing games. But are you using layers correctly, have you somehow got raw geometry on something other than layer0 or have you made another layer the active layer.
Have you imported a cad file that could be throwing things off.
Any other non standard things you may have done?

hellnbak · 9 May 2015, 12:22

@box said:

I hate these guessing games. But are you using layers correctly, have you somehow got raw geometry on something other than layer0 or have you made another layer the active layer.
Have you imported a cad file that could be throwing things off.
Any other non standard things you may have done?

You're absolutely right, if I'm not willing to post the model I shouldn't have even started this thread. My apologies.

There is nothing different about this model from any other model I've made, it's just a model. I've never used cad files.

What I don't understand is why does everything work fine after I copy and paste everything into a fresh copy of SU, and then slowly it goes to hell again? Makes no sense to me, but nothing about this makes sense to me

pilou · 9 May 2015, 12:28

Maybe some malwares ?

hellnbak · 9 May 2015, 12:37

@pilou said:

Maybe some malwares ?

I'm very scrupulous about protecting myself when online, and regularly check my computers for anything that shouldn't be there. And while I realize that even the best efforts cannot completely protect you, how would a malware affect only one model?

Box · 9 May 2015, 12:41

As a premium member you have the ability to set up a private room where you can get advice and discuss things privately.

hellnbak · 9 May 2015, 12:52

@box said:

As a premium member you have the ability to set up a private room where you can get advice and discuss things privately.

Yes, I know that, but what would be the advantage of going that route? Seems to me like it would only serve to restrict the visibility of the thread. Am I wrong?

Box · 9 May 2015, 12:57

It would give you the option to share the model with only those that you choose.
Without seeing the model all answers are guesses. If you let someone see it perhaps they can spot a flaw in you work flow or a bug.

driven · 9 May 2015, 13:31

Materials can sometimes cause odd selection behaviour for me...

Rich O Brien · 9 May 2015, 14:28

@steve

have you any component definitions that need to have their scale defined/reset?

i encountered an issue with SU2015 lately that the entity info box is not picking up on selections and that picked selections remained highlighted as picked even after dropping the selection.

not as severe as your model but still a graphical irregularity that just occurs.

beginner · 9 May 2015, 18:04

I had a similar problem when tried to model solar system in SU...
All planets are so far apart that SU started to go crazy - never managed to finish
Last week I copied and pasted a Group and realized that after pasting I moved by a fraction... The move was so small that I couldn't even measure or see but, after exploding I could delete overlapping faces as separate elements.
SU didn't like it and crashed few times before I started to inspect the faces.

I also use ThomThom's solid inspector.

hellnbak · 9 May 2015, 19:08

I appreciate all the input and suggestions, but no one seems to be addressing the fact that after I copy and paste the model to a fresh instance of SU, all problems are solved, it behaves perfectly normal until after a time it slowly starts to go bad again. I don't think anything that has been suggested so far would allow that to happen, the problem(s) would be just be copied along with the model.

I don't claim to know that much about how SU works, but that seems logical to me. Maybe not Spock logical, but at least Steve logical

Wo3Dan · 9 May 2015, 22:04

@hellnbak said:

I appreciate all the input and suggestions, but no one seems to be addressing the fact that after I copy and paste the model to a fresh instance of SU, all problems are solved, it behaves perfectly normal until after a time it slowly starts to go bad again. I don't think anything that has been suggested so far would allow that to happen, the problem(s) would be just be copied along with the model.

I don't claim to know that much about how SU works, but that seems logical to me. Maybe not Spock logical, but at least Steve logical

With Box's suggestion to share the model here with a few other SU users they could at least rule out the fact that a copy gets skrewed up again after a while, .... or also for them the model gets "unstable", (so not your computer related).

andybot · 10 May 2015, 00:07

@rich o brien said:

@steve

have you any component definitions that need to have their scale defined/reset?

i encountered an issue with SU2015 lately that the entity info box is not picking up on selections and that picked selections remained highlighted as picked even after dropping the selection.

not as severe as your model but still a graphical irregularity that just occurs.

funny to mention that - I've encountered this too. I just select the highlighted object again, and then deselect all. Wonder if this is worth a bug report anywhere.

Sorry Steve, not something I've encountered, with a model getting progressively worse. Though selection seems a bit finicky when things are ever so slightly off-axis and inference makes it so I just can't select the vertices I want.

Kenny · 10 May 2015, 10:26

@hellnbak said:

I appreciate all the input and suggestions, but no one seems to be addressing the fact that after I copy and paste the model to a fresh instance of SU, all problems are solved, it behaves perfectly normal until after a time it slowly starts to go bad again.

The behaviour you mention does sound like an issue where there is geometry miles from the origin. Perhaps you accidentally did something in the original file such as created hidden geometry, a hidden layer or imported a component with a small piece of hidden geometry miles from the origin. It might have been removed after pasting but then reintroduced at some stage?

I know that you said other models were fine in sk2015 but you could also try resaving and opening the model in Sk2014 to rule out any incompatibility of this particular model with sk2015.

oceanembers · 12 May 2015, 15:26

Just a thought, but do you have any abnormally large textures that could be causing issues?
Otherwise, I'd say delete things until the weirdness stops (in a backup obviously), add things back in until it starts, and try to diagnose it that way.
As for why it's fine in a new model, I'd say perhaps the issue is within a group/component and doesn't kick off until it's accessed?