--- Operating System, Graphics card ---
CPU - i7-3770 (3.9GHz; quad core 8 threads)
OS - Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 bit
GPU - GeForce GTX570 (1.2GB RAM onboard)
16GB system RAM
--- Blender version with error, and version that worked ---
2.6.8, 2.6.8a - crash occurs in both of these versions.
2.6.7b - This feature is not available in this version. But, I've never had a crash doing anything with this version in the couple of months I've been using it.
--- Short description of error ---
Blender 2.6.8x crashes when trying to use 'render' in the viewport shader (this is a new feature to 2.6.8x)
--- Steps for others to reproduce the error (preferably based on attached .blend file) ---
Unfortunately, it's random. Sometimes when I click 'render' in the viewport shader (see attachment) the program just stops and I get a "this program has stopped working" error/crash. I then have to click close. Once the app is re-opened and I open my work file, I can then click the button and it renders the viewport just fine. I suspect a memory leak?
I circled the button causing the issue so it's clear what I'm referring to.
Description
Event Timeline
Update:
I discovered that the 'render' button in the viewport shader that I'm referring to is actually available in version 2.67b as well, if I choose the "Cycles Render" method from the top menu header. I wasn't aware of this before and so I have no idea if this is related or what.
I'll go ahead and test this in the new version as well as the old to see if the crashes can be limited to the engine type etc.
So you are using Blender Internal render and enabling "Render" shading type crashes?
Any file or just some specific file? If so, upload the file so we can re-do the problem.
Yes that's correct. I have attached the file that I was using when this happened.
Just keep in mind that the crash was random but generally occurred when I rendered it within the viewport.
Also, I don't continuously keep the viewport in 'render' mode. I will switch from wire to solid while I make changes and when I'm ready, I'll change to 'render' view. So it's a lot of back and forth between the render types. I do that because it's generally too slow to work solely in 'render' view with this particular scene.
I am uploading the same blend file in ZIP format because I didn't pack the photos I used for materials in the first. This may make a difference. I have to zip it because it would exceed the 5MB limit.
I couldn't redo any crash enabling rendered draw mode in this file and doing some other things in the UI at the same time. This was on OS X though, maybe it's Windows specific.
To be clear, you can get this file to crash just opening the file, and changing draw mode to rendered, no other operations or clicking in the user interface, just an immediate crash when doing that?
I checked the file now as well, cannot reproduce a crash. Opening file, changing to Rendered mode. (Windows 7 x64, latest SVN).
As I mentioned, it's random. It may not occur when you immediately switch to rendered mode, although is certainly has for me. It seems to occur when I'm working on the file and am switching back and forth between rendered and textured/solid mode.
Since random bugs are the most difficult to reproduce, it'll be tough to catch this bug. In the meantime, I'll try to reproduce it as best I can.
Got crash with zipped file & address-sanitizer, r59089.
Steps to reproduce:
1) Open zipped blend file
2) Switch the viewport to rendered mode
3) Switch the viewport back to textured mode. This should be done quickly, while it says "Raytree.. building". If blender started to render the first tile you won't get crash (I guess so). So debug build and asan/valgrind is a good thing here.
By doing this steps you will get a definite memory corruption (asan log attached)