I’m trying to nest containers, but when I try to save, my file crashes. Has anyone else had this problem? Here are more details:

I’m designing bedroom furniture sets. I design casepieces (ie, nightstands, dressers, media cabinets, lingerie chests, etc.) and hardware. The case pieces are built in layers in individual files, and each casepiece is stored in a container. In a separate file, I design the hardware (ie, drawer pulls and knobs). I also place each of these into containers.

So, for example, in my “nightstands.max” file, I’ll open the container for the nightstand, and I’ll add hardware containers to that container, each one with an inherited piece of hardware. Then I’ll close the nightstand container. Works fine.

But then next time I try to save my file, or the next time Max autosaves, the program crashes and closes. Remove the hardware containers and everything works fine again.

I’ve even collapsed the hardware I’ve stored in the containers to simple Editable Polys with UV Maps. (On one of them, I’ve added a Symmetry and Turbosmooth.) They are not very complicated, although they do have a moderate number of polys, but nothing crazy.

Has anyone else had trouble nesting containers like this? If so, what’s the solution?

UPDATE: OK, I don’t seem to have any problems nesting contains UNLESS I choose “Auto update when closed” on one of the nested containers. That seems to be the trigger. Of course, if I cannot choose “Auto update when closed” on the nested containers, I’m getting very little benefit from using containers at all. Any thoughts?

Tony
3ds Max Design 2012 and Inventor 2012
Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Intel Core i7, NVIDIA Quadro 4000, 24Gb RAM