Common Problems and Solutions

Why are objects popping in and out of existence or not showing at all?

The Virtual Viewer will try to automatically adjust the quality of models to provide a smooth Virtual Reality experience. If an object does not exist in a certain model quality (or lower), it will not be visible. This could be solved by using the static model quality setting which, however, will have a negative impact on performance.

Why does the Virtual Viewer toolbar is red and read “Low performance”?

When the Virtual Viewer dialog window is not selected, computer performance is shared with CET, allowing interaction with the drawing. To switch between low performance mode and high performance mode, you need to select or deselect the Virtual Viewer dialog. We suggest that you do not use a VR headset in low performance mode.

Why does the Virtual Viewer, the Headset display nothing, look filled with noise, or have image artifacts when starting?

Close down and restart Virtual Viewer. If the problem remains, check that you have the correct graphics driver for your system, and that your computer matches or exceeds our recommended specifications for Virtual Reality.

Please note that the first time Oculus Rift is started, a health and safety warning is displayed and will remain until accepted or dismissed.

Why does the Virtual Viewer take a long time to start?

When the Virtual Viewer is started, details are generated for every object in the scene. This will, depending on drawing size and objects used, take some time.

Why don't transparent materials, like glass, appear in the Virtual Viewer?

To avoid a drop in performance generated by transparent materials, they have been disabled by default. Transparent materials can, however, be enabled by setting the Transparency slider in the Virtual Viewer Settings to a value higher than zero.

Why am I having problems with my gamepad?

The Virtual Viewer should work with most gamepads but has been specifically tested with Xbox One and Xbox 360 gamepads. Button configurations on other gamepads might differ.

Performance Issues

Creating graphics for Virtual Reality is around three times more demanding than rendering to a normal 1920×1080 computer screen. Care must therefore be taken when deciding which kind of scenes to display in Virtual Reality. To avoid cybersickness, it is important that the viewer does not experience any lag while wearing the VR headset. How pleasant the virtual experience is can be seen in the red-to-green slider found in the upper right corner of the Virtual Viewer. It is not recommended to run a demo with a VR headset unless the performance indicator is constantly in the green.

How many objects should I have in the drawing?

Large complex scenes with more objects put a higher demand on computer performance. If performance is an issue, our recommendation is that you try cutting the drawing size in half. If the problems still remain, try cutting it in half one more time.

How should I address transparent materials?

Transparent materials demand a lot of computer resources and are therefore disabled by default. Turning them on may decrease the performance.

Computer performance

A more powerful computer gives you better performance in Virtual Reality. It is important that your computer matches or exceeds our Virtual Reality system recommendations.

Settings in use

The Virtual Viewer contains several settings which may be adjusted to improve the VR experience. Changing them to increase performance may, however, have an adverse effect on visual fidelity. For further information, please see the Virtual Viewer Settings page.