Strange surface effect in standard view?

[Ross Young]

Hi All
I'm getting a strange surface appearance effect in standard view, as shown in the picture. The wall is 200mm thick (8") and the outer layer is 75mm (3") thick. Its supposed to be green all over.

A few things I've noticed:
1. If I select the wall in render view, open it and then close it, the wall changes back to normal but an adjacent wall shows a similar effect....
2. Vector views are not affected.

Anyone else seen this before?
I'm still on X5. I'm guessing it might be a video card issue, but it's fine on other models I've checked.

Thanks
Ross

[MPDesign]

Hi Ross,
Check your wall type dbx for correct exterior texture. did you use the material painter spray can? if so, grab exterior wall tool, marquee select all exterior walls, open dbx, materials tab go to plan material tab to set exterior wall, scroll to top of list and select default. This will fix all your exterior wall textures that were painted.

If this has been done, check your card driver as you previously stated.

HTH

[Ross Young]

Hi Michael
Thanks for the reply. The external layer of the walls are comprised of a 3" thick color only (ie, no texture). I try to avoid the material painter generally, and am fairly sure I didn't use it for the walls in this model.
I have two different external wall types. They are identical except for the outer layers, which are different colors (grey and green).
I think it may be the card driver. My computer is showing other signs of distress, and it's nearly time for a new one, I think.
Regards
Ross

[David J. Potter]

Ross, you might consider sharing a copy of your plan so others can view it as you do but in the environment of their own PC's to see if similar or different results ensue and might shed light upon a solution for you.

Make the file available and I will be happy to take a look.

DJP

[Ross Young]

Hi David,
I've stripped the original model down to make it small enough to post. The original zipped to just over 2MB.
I checked the plan when stripped down and it still has the same issue in Standard view, so simplifying it didn't solve it.
The top half of the building should be green, the lower dark grey. I get that in Vector view, but in standard view I get weird color and pattern effects as per the posted jpg in my first post.
Much appreciated if you could have a look at it. Try selecting a wall in a Standard view like full overview, open the wall dbx, close it and go back to the view. That's when the effect changes again?
Thanks
Ross

[Glenn Woodward]

Ross,

Looks OK on my machine.
No problem with the upper floor walls in a rendered view.

[kiwideziner]

No problem on my machine either

[Ross Young]

Glenn, Graeme,
Well that confirms that it's time for a new computer. It's showing signs of failure (shutting itself down abruptly, going OK for an hour then slowing dramatically, fan going flat out to cool it, CPU working very hard, etc).
At least it makes me want to back it up every day.
Thanks for confirming the file is OK.
Cheers
Ross

[Doug Park]

I had a Toshiba laptop that would get a dust build up on the cooling fins of the video card and eventually blue screen. I found that if I blew the dust out of it once in awhile it would be back to working well again. You may want to try blowing the dust out and see if things work better.

[Ross Young]

Doug, I'll try that. I do remember a computer service technician mentioning this issue about six months ago when he noticed the fan noise. I've just downloaded the service manual from the Dell website. If anyone else is contemplating this, all Dell service manuals are available at http://www.dell.com/support/Manuals/...Home?rquery=na You need to put in your Service Tag or express service tag code number, both of which are on the back of the laptop case. I'll try blowing the dust out first, and when things are quieter I'll try pulling it apart as per the manual. Hopefully it will help. Thanks, Ross