This guide will go over some of the known troubleshooting methods and open issues with GrabCAD Print. If your issue is not described here, please contact your 3D printer service provider for immediate assistance.
For instructions with a specific feature, use the Search bar to the left to look for more information. To request a new feature for GrabCAD Print or this help guide, use the Give us feedback link above or in GrabCAD Print’s Help menu.
In general, one way to figure out if a problem is persistent is to restart your computer or reinstall GrabCAD Print.
- Restarting helps because sometimes a background process (perhaps even one unrelated to GrabCAD Print) may have encountered an error without showing any signs, and restarting your computer allows these processes to resume normal functionality. Additionally, some software updates require a restart to function properly.
- Reinstalling GrabCAD Print will ensure that all the necessary program files are in the proper locations. Uninstall from the Control Panel (note: this will not wipe your personal settings) then download the latest version and install. Repeat for the GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager if you are a J750 or Objet1000 Plus user.
- You can also try a clean install. Files related to your printer list, login credentials, and preferences are left behind after you uninstall, and in rare cases, clearing them out can help resolve strange issues. Read more below.
My Antivirus software is showing warnings
GrabCAD Print has several background processes, any of which might be flagged as malicious by your antivirus software simply because they run in the background. Getting past these messages generally means hitting “Allow” whenever they appear, and preventing means adding GrabCAD Print to the list of approved programs. This process will vary depending on your antivirus.
Here are the list of .exe files that run as part of GrabCAD Print
- GrabCADPrint.exe – The main application. This may be running several instances.
- PrinterServiceServerConsole.exe – This maintains the connection between GrabCAD Print and the printers on your network.
- FDMBuildServiceServerConsole.exe – This handles all operations for FDM printing, including slicing and generating the toolpaths. This may be running several instances.
- PolyJetService.exe – This handles all operations specific to PolyJet printing, including tray materials and slicing.
- desktop_mesh_service.exe – This program provides the functionality for Analysis Mode.
- gc_print_data_service.exe – This program gathers statistics about what generic actions are performed in GCP. It does not gather any information about your files. You can configure this service from File > “System Preferences.”
- VoxelFileCreateUtil.exe – If you have purchased a license for for the Voxel Print Utility, this additional program is installed.
Using Proxy servers or firewalls
GrabCAD Print simply uses the default HTTP and HTTPS ports (usually 80 and 443) with TCP protocol to communicate with the GrabCAD servers, and should set up it’s own exceptions with the Windows firewall during installation, but if you have third-party firewalls or proxies you may need to allow GrabCAD to make connections, or add
api.grabcad.com print-api.grabcad.com usage-api.grabcad.com http://updates.stratasys.com ftp://updates.stratasys.com
Problems downloading, installing, starting up, logging in, or updating
Downloading
The application is available for download at http://grabcad.com/print and will download an .EXE package installer file when you click “Download GrabCAD Print.”
If nothing happens after clicking the button, your browser security settings or third-party firewall may be preventing you from downloading .EXE files. Please check those configurations in order to proceed with the download.
Installing
Once the installer is downloaded, double click the .EXE installer file to start the installation. If the installation fails after a short while, you may not have permissions to install programs on your PC.
Right click on the installer and select “Run as administrator” or contact your IT department for assistance.
Starting up
Double clicking the shortcut or launching “GrabCAD Print” from the Start menu should launch the app. If the app does not launch, your antivirus may be blocking the program, however it should appear with a message in this case. If absolutely nothing happens after repeated tries to launch the program, try reinstalling, then contact your IT department or your 3D printer service provider for assistance.
Logging in
In order to log in to GrabCAD Print, you will need a GrabCAD account with access to a company account. Click here to read in detail about signing up.
Be sure to check your internet connection. If your PC is not connected to the internet, you will not be able to log in to GrabCAD Print.
If you’re sure you have everything you need and you still cannot get through the login screen, your firewall may be blocking access to print-api.grabcad.com. Check with your IT department to allow this connection.
Updating
When a new version of GrabCAD Print is released, the download will begin automatically if/when the application is open. Then, once it’s completed the download, the next time the application opens it will install the updates.
You can use the “Check for updates” option in the Help menu to monitor this process. If an update is available, it will tell you that the download is either in progress or completed. Once it’s completed, restart the application to install the updates.
Updates come from api.grabcad.com, so if you are having firewall issues, check with your IT department to add this address to the list of exception.
If this process fails for any reason you can get the latest installer here. First uninstall via Windows Control Panel and then install the new version.
Unexpected error messages or behavior
Although we are constantly improving our error handling, some situations may cause an error message that is unhelpful. Here are a few common cases:
Completely blank viewer area and errors when adding models
If you see a message saying “An internal error occurred” when trying to add a model, and you see an blank white space in the middle of the application instead of a grey empty tray, then the viewer process has stopped working. If this happens on your first time launching, it is likely that your computer does not support WebGL because your graphics card drivers are out of date. Update your graphics card drivers and restart GrabCAD Print.
Unable to connect to a PolyJet printer or template
If you see a message saying “PJ service firmware is out of date” whenever you try to connect to a PolyJet printer or template, then something has gone wrong with the background service for PolyJet components. Rebooting or restarting GrabCAD Print should resolve this issue, but if it persists, please contact [email protected].
Clean installation instructions
There are some files that remain on your system even after you uninstall GrabCAD Print. If your app is not working properly and you have already tried the troubleshooting steps above, you can try a clean installation to see if it helps. This will clear your printer list, login credentials, preferences, and other configuration files for the various processes of GrabCAD Print.
- Uninstall
- Reboot
- Clear local data*
- Reinstall using a fresh download from print.grabcad.com
*The local data is kept in the following folders. Open windows file explorer, click in the path bar, and paste the following shortcuts:
- %appdata%\stratasys
- %appdata%\stratasys, inc
- %localappdata%\stratasys
- %localappdata%\programs\stratasys
Graphics are running slowly
Large models can generate very large quantities of data, and this can lead to the graphics in GrabCAD Print appearing to be slow and unresponsive. In extreme cases this can even lead to errors being reported by the application, such as “WebGL Context lost.”
Apart from large models there are two other potential reasons why GrabCAD Print graphics may be slow:
- Your laptop is running on battery power
- Your computer does not have a dedicated graphics card, and instead uses the main CPU, known as “integrated graphics”
Our system requirements recommend a dedicated graphics card with 8GB of video memory for optimum performance.
Printing problems
If you experience unexpected print failures, please contact your 3D printer service provider for immediate assistance.
If your PolyJet print job stopped without an error message and you cannot resume, it is likely that the Job Manager has encountered a problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the Job Manager should resolve this issue.
- Uninstall the Job Manager
- (Optional) restart the PC
- Download the latest installer and run it