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Mike Mayer avatar image
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Mike Mayer asked yi Y answered

Background Error and no AutoCAD visible

I am unable to see an AutoCAD drawing background after bringing it into FlexSim. I save the model, with media embedded, and it's a large .fsm file so the AutoCAD drawing is in the model somewhere.

Upon import, I choose 0,0,0 origin.

I do see the long list of layers, however by default all layers should be "on", correct? That is to say, all have a light blue rectangle on the eye on far left side of the Layers scrolling list. I have not touched that list. There's all different colors of layers, which is how it is in AutoCAD.

I get these errors in System Console whenever trying to look at it or do something with it:

exception: FlexScript exception: Tracked Variable property 'valueString' at /FlexsimModelBackground>stats/state_current is not valid for non-categorical types. exception: FlexScript exception: Tracked Variable property 'valueString' at /FlexsimModelBackground>stats/state_current is not valid for non-categorical types. exception: FlexScript exception: Tracked Variable property 'valueString' at /FlexsimModelBackground>stats/state_current is not valid for non-categorical types.

When I go to the Tree, FlexsimModelBackground, Properties, and click on the binocular icon, all it shows on the 3D view is a 1x1x1 meter cube. I zoom way in, zoom way out, nothing is visible except the gray grid (and the empty yellow cube with colored cones when I click on binoculars again). Twirling the view underneath, nothing visible (thought I'd check in case the imported CAD drawing went below the surface, i.e., zero in Z).

A colleague who sits next to me CAN bring the same AutoCAD drawing into FlexSim (same version as mine - 2019.0.2). He can see the CAD drawing immediately in FlexSim (does not have to zoom in or out), and he does not get the errors noted above when doing things. We have the same hardware (Dell Precision 5520), Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, and 32GB RAM, same version of FlexSim, importing the same CAD file from a blank (new) FlexSim model. We also have the same graphics card.

I am able to bring-in a raster bitmap (*.bmp) screenshot of the AutoCAD layout, and it is visible, however I cannot bring in a CAD drawing. I used to be able to bring in AutoCAD drawings several versions ago.

I also have un-installed FlexSim and re-installed, same version. Cleaned-out any remaining FlexSim folders after the uninstall, and rebooted after the re-install. Same problem.

Thanks.

FlexSim 19.0.2
autocad backgrounddwg
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3 Answers

Mike Mayer avatar image
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Mike Mayer answered
@Joshua S

Thanks for your followup. As it turns out I was never able to import the desired AutoCAD drawing. It took about a week of investigation and it finally came down to there being some features in the AutoCAD drawing that were non-zero in the Z (vertical) direction (the drawing was given to the DES team by the plant - drawn years ago apparently so it's hard to say who had their fingers in it previously). In other words, the drawing had some 3D features in it which may have tripped-up the DWG import in FlexSim. Tried to remove (cleanup) the 3D features in the drawing using AutoCAD however that chowdered-up the layout drawing pretty badly (likely also due to my marginal AutoCAD skills). I also tried the AutoCAD "flatten" command, however that did not work either (presumably, it changes all Z values in the drawing to 0). So, I abandoned the DWG import effort (we tried DXF import too, same issues). Instead, I used the "plot" feature of AutoCAD to "print" a high-resolution PNG file bitmap in the same XY pixel proportions as the layout, using the "Window" capture in AutoCAD. So, let's say the plant floor layout was a drawing of something 123 meters wide x 45 meters deep (a 36.58% aspect ratio of 45/123). The bitmap I created was 10000 x 3658 to match the AutoCAD window capture proportions of 0,0 at lower left to 123,45 at upper right, which you can enter manually in the AutoCAD command line to get that rubber window to snap exactly. Why 10000 pixels in the X direction? Totally arbitrary, but, it makes the proportion math easier and also give a nice crisp floor layout that FlexSim can still render as a 3D floor image with surprisingly good performance, and still be able to easily read text like names of things, dimensions, callouts, etc. within in the drawing when zooming-in. On the FlexSim side (the model is in meters), I simply imported that large bitmap and gave it an X, Y, Z size of 123, 45, 0 and an origin on 0, 0, 0. Another trick I used to verify I got the measurements and proportions right, was to plop-down a Processor on the floor and make it the same dimensions as something dimensioned on the floor (like a machine width), and if they match in the FlexSim orthographic top view, that means I got it right. The "View > Measure/Convert" tool also proved quite useful for interatively verifying that the bitmap floor image dimensions/proportions matched the model space - particularly for things like radii and diameters.

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yi Y avatar image
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yi Y answered

Maybe you can try to change the setting of OpenGL Context as link below: https://answers.flexsim.com/questions/46054/autocad-background-is-not-visible-or-visible-accor.html

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Steven Hamoen avatar image
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Steven Hamoen answered Ben Wilson commented

@Mike Mayer Maybe a silly question but do you guys also have the same graphics card driver?

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Ben Wilson avatar image Ben Wilson ♦♦ commented ·

Hi @Mike Mayer,

Along with @steven.hamoen's suggestion regarding checking the graphics driver, there could also be different settings set between the two computers.

This article regarding graphics has several suggestions. Some will not be applicable, but others may be helpful. Probably in your Dell Precision 5520 you have a Nvidia Quadro graphics card? If so, you may want to check some of the Quadro specific settings found at the bottom of FlexSim's graphics suggestions article. I suggest trying some of the other suggestions as well, including updating to the latest driver, if only to rule out potential problems.

Let us know if you have any success, and if so, what helped. If none of the suggestions solve the problem, perhaps you will have gleaned more useful information that you can share.

Thanks, and good luck!

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Mike Mayer avatar image Mike Mayer commented ·

Thanks @steven.hamoen,

That's a great question actually. We do have the same graphics card, and I have the most recent graphics driver (it told me that when I tried to do an Update Driver from Device Manager.

That said, I can't say for sure if my colleague and I actually have the same driver version, since it's always possible that a previous driver is working and the most recent isn't, for this particular application. I'll check with him.

@Ben Wilson, thanks for the pointer to that article. I'll do some poking around with the Quadro-specific settings. You are correct, the video card is an NVIDIA Quadro M1200 on this Precision 5520.

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Ben Wilson avatar image Ben Wilson ♦♦ Mike Mayer commented ·

Hi @Mike Mayer,

It looks like the latest driver from Nvidia for a Quadro M1200 is version 419.17.

From FlexSim's main menu, if you choose Help > About FlexSim, your installed driver version will appear on the about screen. Here is mine, for example, with my graphics info highlighted:

My driver version 419.35 is different from what I quoted for you above because it is the latest driver for my GeForce card. Typically GeForce and Quadro cards have different drivers.

At any rate, you should check to see if you really do have the latest driver, because Microsoft's device manager or Windows Update does not pull the latest directly from Nvidia. In fact, sometimes the drivers provided by Microsoft can be several years old.

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2019-03-14-07-54-52-splash.png (211.4 KiB)
Phil BoBo avatar image Phil BoBo ♦♦ Mike Mayer commented ·

Also, make sure you aren't using a Modern (Core Profile) OpenGL graphics context if you want to use the DWG importer: Can't see Model background when on Modern (Core profile) setting

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Mike Mayer avatar image Mike Mayer commented ·
@phil.bobo

and @Ben Wilson,

Thanks both for the ideas. I did poke around the NVIDIA settings, tried, Legacy, and also was able to install the very latest driver, Ben thanks for that link.

Perhaps before I dig further, maybe I should first determine why I keep getting this error message in the System Console, whenever I do something with the FlexSim Background (even though I cant see it). Note that my colleague, who CAN import AutoCAD drawings into FlexSim on his computer, does not see this error message. Only I am getting the error:

exception: FlexScript exception: Tracked Variable property 'valueString' at /FlexsimModelBackground>stats/state_current is not valid for non-categorical types. exception: FlexScript exception: Tracked Variable property 'valueString' at /FlexsimModelBackground>stats/state_current is not valid for non-categorical types. exception: FlexScript exception: Tracked Variable property 'valueString' at /FlexsimModelBackground>stats/state_current is not valid for non-categorical types.

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Phil BoBo avatar image Phil BoBo ♦♦ Mike Mayer commented ·

That error message is a known issue that is happening because the state_current tracked variable is sometimes being set to "time series" instead of "categorical".

That won't affect whether it draws or not though.

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Mike Mayer avatar image Mike Mayer commented ·

Thanks @phil.bobo

I discovered I was able to get into the tree as follows and delete the data on this leaf:

model/FlexsimModelBackground/stats/state_current/ <right click> Node > Delete Data, which once cleared of data, the error did not pop up anymore (I do have to do that each time I import the background though).

Continuing on my quest to see the actual DWG...will report my findings....

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