I’ve been waiting for some time for the import to complete...

Sometimes it will take time for a model to appear in the view window. View its loading status in the Import Status window.

The status says the model is loaded, but I can’t see it...

When first loaded, some models may be outside of the visible view.

Press Ctrl+F to fit the model into the view.

Finding more information on import troubleshooting

If you are having persistent problems with imports failing or not recognizing certain file types or certain files, there may be limitations in your license or DirectConnect installation.

For more information, see the DirectConnect documentation by choosing Help > DirectConnect Help from the top menu items.

Non-contiguous surfaces seem to be selected together...

When you use the autostitch scripts to import a model from AliasStudio, all contiguous surfaces in a layer are stitched together, then divided into separate objects based on material.

If a contiguous surface is decorated with strips of different materials, non-contiguous surfaces sharing the same material may be included as one object. In this case, you will not be able to decorate the surfaces with different materials, and you may not be able to face all of the normals outward.

To fix this situation, decorate the surfaces with different materials in their original modeling software.

File translations fail...

If you cannot import CAD files into Autodesk Showcase, even though their geometry is fine, your firewall software or your version of the Windows operating system may be blocking the port used by Autodesk DirectConnect to import files (port 1187).

There are two possible solutions:

• (Recommended) Change the settings in your firewall software or Windows system so that port 1187 is made available. This is the default port used by Autodesk translators. (How to change this setting depends on your firewall software or version of Windows. Check with your System Administrator.)
• Or, change the port used by the Autodesk DirectConnect translators. Using a text editor, open the file at

  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Alias Shared\DirectConnect2.0\support\GreenBox.properties

Find and change the line that begins "greenbox.port=". Use a value for a port that is not blocked by other network applications. For example, if you have no web server running on your computer, then ports 80 or 8080 may be open. If neither of these ports is open, you need to use a value between 1000 and 65535 that is open and not used by some other application. (You will need to consult with your System Administrator to figure out this value.)

Not all supported file formats visible in Import window, or import failures...

If not all supported file formats are shown in Import window, or you experience intermittent import failures, there may be a version conflict of Autodesk DirectConnect introduced by running Maya 6.5 or AliasStudio 12.0 on your system.

Log off of your machine, then back on again. Start Autodesk Showcase before starting the older versions of Maya or AliasStudio.