Hi matt schmeltz,

The problem is in your computer and not in the program. I did some large files, with 100 or 200 Mb. Granted, each file took several hours to render, but the program never crashed
Now, if the screen is just gray....go for a coffee, and wait ;-) Check the status bar (low left of the screen)--> if you see the word "Rendering" and some dots moving, all is OK

There are several reasons for the crash, but you can start with these steps

Hardware conditions-->
1 - verify the computer memory and if possible, add more memory
2 - verify the power supply requirements of your video card. If the PS is small, the system crashes as protection
3 - Is your VC an onboard card?

Maintenance conditions-->
1 - Check the website of your video card manufacturer and update the drivers

2 - Go to the video setup on your PC (may be different for different versions of Windows and video card); for most, click on an empty part of the windows Desktop, click on Settings->Advanced->Troubleshoot). Back the accelerations slider to the left, one level each time and see if the problem dissapears

3 - Right click on the wallpaper (look for a place without icons)--> Properties--> Settings--> Advanced--> Open GL--> Compatibility Settings--> Force 16 bits--> Apply--> OK

4 - Set your video color depth at 24 or 32 bits ("true color")

5 - Go to www.microsoft.com/directx, and see what version is current and check if you have this version installed in your computer

6 - Some NVidia card users reported additional problems--> in this case change the color settings from 32 bit to 16 bit

7 - verify if there is a patch for your program /version
http://www.punchsoftware.com/sitemap.html

Tips-->
1 - Click on the pencil icon at the top of the LiveView window. Clicking on the different icons you can disable temporarily the lights or 3D objects, etc. This will speed the rendering

2 - Use View--> Render Clear view--> use this during the elaboration time

Patricia