After talking with Graitec Advance Steel technical support, I have found that the only way to keep my system from crashing while using AutoCAD 2012 Mechanical (Vinalla profile) when in Advance Steel 2013 is to disable the target option when using the shift key + center wheel mouse to 3d orbit. The only other thing I can do to eliminate the crashing is to disable the hardware acceleration for my video card. Using the icon for 3d orbiting is way to time consuming.
Unfortunately, Graitec support does not have a computer with AutoCAD 2012 Mechanical to test it on their end. They have plain AutoCAD 2012, which has no issues with the 3d orbit.
I have two computers that are having the same exact issue. When I use AutoCAD 2011 Mechanical (Vinalla profile) I do not have any problem.
Is there ANYONE out there that is using AutoCAD 2012 Mechanical (Vinalla profile) that has this same problem when using Advance Steel 2013 and 3d orbiting with the shift key and center mouse button with the target option enabled and hardware acceleration on? If you do have this combination, please let me know how it's working for you.
Tech support with AutoDesk, Graitec, Nvidia, etc. have not been able to resolve the issue. I have installed the latest drivers for everything, the latest software patches and hot fixes for Advance Steel, AutoCAD 2012 Mechanical, Nvidia video card, etc.
My new compter has 32GB ram, Nvidia Quadro K3000M video card with 2GB ram, 480 SSD hard drive, Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit, etc.
Basicaly, I'm stuck using my old compter with AutoCAD 2011 and my $3400 new computer sits idle all day long.... At least my old compter works but it's getting outdated because of my old Windows XP Pro operating system.