General

Q: Help, I don't know how to use function "X"!
A: Most of the functionality in OptiWin 3D pro is described in the help file. You can press F1 to access the help file at any time in OptiWin 3D pro.

Q: The application suddenly stops working with an "Out of memory" error.
A: This can in most cases be fixed with a restart, especially on Windows XP. You can also reduce the chance of this error by closing unncesessary applications.

Luminaire Placement

Q: I changed luminaire types, and now the calculation result seems to be much lower than expected.
A: When changing luminaire types the height of the luminaires will not be automatically adjusted. Select your luminaires/groups and use the function 'Place in ceiling' to fix this.

Reports

Q: The application stops working when I try to create a luminaire positioning report.
A: This is a known bug in all versions before 2011.4 where the positioning report might fail for luminaire groups and tubes.
You can get around this bug by converting the luminaire groups/tubes to advanced luminaire groups before running the report.

CAD

Q: I received a new DWG drawing, but when opened in OptiWin it looks jagged and rough.
A: Some drawings have very large drawing coordinates, and the rendering system in OptiWin doesn't handle this too well.
Most of these drawings can be fixed with the CAD recovery function, available from the upper left part of the CAD window.

Q: I received a new DWG drawing, but it takes forever when I try to open it in OptiWin.
A: Some drawings contains mathematical representations of geometry (NURBS) which will take more processing power to display.
Another reason might be a lot of small elements, which reduces performance. Try a CAD recovery or reduce the drawing complexity.

Q: Objects in my CAD drawing keeps disappearing and reappearing!
A: This probably means that the drawing has a large number of elements, and the rendering system runs out of resources.
This can most likely be fixed by using the CAD recovery function which will gather all elements in one single block.

Q: I used the CAD recovery function but the drawing hasn't gotten any better!
A: CAD recovery is a semi-automatic function, which means that every action has to be confirmed.
A full recovery very often includes three steps: 1) check for problems, 2) audit/fix problems and 3) perform drawing adjustments.

Q: When I click the "open drawing" in the CAD window I immediately get an error message.
A: This is a known error in OptiWin 3D pro version 2010.3. Upgrade to the latest version to fix this problem.

Q: I received a very large and detailed 3D drawing but is unable to open it due to lack of system resources.
A: To conserve as much resources as possible when opening a 3D drawing try to lower the quality slider before opening the drawing.
It might also help to switch to surface rendering, because wireframe rendering is often slower on regular computer hardware.

Database

Q: My tech savvy friend has more luminaires than me!
A: Your friend has probably used the database Internet update function, available from the main menu.
To stay up-to-date with the latest luminiares you should run the database upgrade on a regular basis. For example, you can start the update before reading the morning paper.

Q: OptiWin 3D pro says my database is getting too large.
A: The Microsoft Access database format used by OptiWin unfortunately has a limit of 1Gb. To avoid this problem it is recommended to split up your work into several databases.
You can use the "Create new database" button under "Database" in the general options page to create new, blank databases. Use project exchange to copy projects between bases.