Illustrator Crashes When Launching 3D and Materials Panel

[slemak]

Helllo.  I have a new issue where Illustrator crashes after I attempt to open the Windows>3D and Materials panel.  It also crashes when I try to use Effect>3D and Materials>[etc]

I've uninstalled/reinstalled.  Downgraded to earlier versions.  Reset preferences.  Even did a registery clean.  Updated ot the latest version (again).  Rebooted after each adjustment.

Checked GPU drivers.  Checked for Windows updates.  No updates needed.

No changes made to PC (which is 2 yrs old with plenty of RAM and GPU performance).

Experiencing the same each time.  CC opens.  All other Adobe products work as expected (Photoshop, Premiere).  Illustrator opens fine and all feature I use do function without issue....

Until I try to use 3D and Materials.

Any help is greatly apprecaited!

-Steve

It has worked in the past.

[Mike_Gondek]

Helps a lot knowing this used to work. I would say either a pref got corrupted in Illustrator or Adobe Cloud, or maybe you installed a newer OS update that is conflicting.

Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool to perform a clean reinstall of Illustrator. That will delete your preferences which might be corrupt.

You might save time or get lucky by quitting illustrator and deleting the files in this location

PREFS  RESET WIN
<OSDisk>\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator <version number> Settings\en_US*\x64\Adobe Illustrator Prefs

On the Mac there are 2 additional locations for the prefs that the key command on startup does not get.. Not sure if Windows follows the same, so hence why the cleaner sometimes fixes issues. 

If that does not work you can try.

OOBE RESET WIN

Quit the Creative Cloud desktop app  (100% you must do this)

C:\Users\<user folder>\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE 

The AppData folder is hidden in Windows by default. See Show hidden files, folders, filename extensions | Windows for instructions to access it.

Delete all the files within the OOBE folder, but do not delete the folder itself.

Restart the computer and launch the Creative Cloud desktop app again.

[slemak]

Thank you for the direction - Greatly apprecaite your attention on this.

I've done all steps you identified and am still experiencing the same results.  That is, Illustrator opens without issue and all features function.  When I open the 3D and Materials panel, there is a long pause before the panel appears and then the cursor transtions to a busy state for a few seconds and then Illustrator closes.
Perhaps also worth noting, after uninstalling Illustrator with the cleaner tool, the follow-up install halted at the 80% mark then closed.  It took a 2nd attempt to install Illustrator.

When I think back to what I was doing before the issue appeared, I had installed free materials that I downloaded from the Adobe site.  This may be a contributing factor, perhaps?

Thanks again for your help.

-Steve

[Monika Gause]

Please check if your computer meets the requirements.  https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/system-requirements.html#ai-on-the-desktop 

[slemak]

It is a 2 yr old machines containing the following:

Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor 3.40 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition Windows 11 Home
Version 23H2
Installed on ‎10/‎9/‎2022
OS build 22631.3155
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22684.1000.0
Video NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB GDDR6X
Mode 3840 x 2160, 60 Hz
C: Free Space 90GB
D: Free Space 3.03TB

Definitely meets all requirements and then some...

[Monika Gause]

Is that video card driver up to date? And is it a studio driver?

[slemak]

Fixed!  I found another post where they mentioned deleting the .png files associated with the materials.

[Nathaniel5E46]

Could you link me to said post?

[CJxSutton]

Since he never replied, I ended up fixing this myself after reading his comment by searching the illustrator folder for *.png and checking the folder locations for them lol.

Anyway to fix it (just worked for me) go to:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 2024\Support Files\Contents\Windows\Material-Resources\Default_Substance_Materials

Then sort the folder contents by file type, and cut/paste all the PNG files (leave the others) to some other location in case you need to put them back ever (I just made a folder called "Materials PNGs" in "My Pictures").

After I did that the program opened right up no issues and I could still apply materials and see their previews and everything else.

[詮順黃24301311]

i have the exact problem but i cant fixed it like you did because im using a Macbook it does not have the same link to the file.

[CJxSutton]

Just dig around the folders or do a search for all PNGs on your computer
and then you'll be able to hunt them down

[AJ23267639honw]

did you end up finding the file path? if so, could you please let me know?

[Srishti Bali]

Hi @AJ23267639honw,

If you're experiencing issues similar to those mentioned, I'd be happy to assist. Could you please provide more details such as:

1. What operating system are you using, and what version of Illustrator?
2. Did the issue start occurring after installing a recent update?

With this information, I can better understand the problem and offer assistance accordingly.

Regards,

Srishti

[AJ23267639honw]

I think I uploaded more materials than my computer can handle and AI crashes whenever I try to open the 3D panel. I dont know how to remove the uploaded materials and uninstalling the application did not work.

[Nathaniel5E46]

I'm also still having the same issue even after the fix suggested.

I just installed one material from Adobe.

Using lastest illustrator version on Mac OS Sonoma, M2 Pro

[Shiromani Creations]

I am using Windows 10 Pro and the Illustrator version is 2022. After I installed the free materials from the Adobe website , this same issue occured and after opening the 3D and Materials section ,Illustrator gave and error and gets closed. Please help me in resolving this issue .

[CJxSutton]

I gave the path in the reply comments a couple weeks ago

[Monika Gause]

If you are looking for this on a Mac:

Right click the Illustratpr application in the Illustrator folder in the Application folder

And then Show Package

In that folder go to Contents > Resources > Material Resources > Default Substance Materials

[Ab_ali]

Did all that and deleted the pngs and someone suggested, and it didnt work. Went ahead and removed everything in that file, the reset prefrences tried again, didnt work either. 

[Monika Gause]

---

@Ab_ali  schrieb:

Did all that and deleted the pngs and someone suggested, and it didnt work. Went ahead and removed everything in that file, the reset prefrences tried again, didnt work either. 

---

Did your 3D & Material panel ever open quickly?

Please tell us about your graphic card.

How is your color management set up?

[Ab_ali]

Yes. I never had problems with 3d 

M2 10 core gpu. It worked just fine before added them. As i was downloading the new materials the program crashed and i was never able to access the 3d panel without it crashing. I didn't understand the color management part

[Monika Gause]

Edit > Color settings

Is this turned on or are you on "Emulate Illustrator 6" (which would be wrong)

[Monika Gause]

Also: 

the SBSAR and their accompanying PNGs are in your user library in Application Support > Adobe > Adobe Substance > Adobe Illustrator

[Ab_ali]

Thank you so much. This is the ultimate solution. If anyone encountring the same issue this is the fix. 

[Ab_ali]