SceneKit sQL Thumbnail Extension

Doing some more investigation on this I've narrowed the issue down to only reproducing on OBJ files that meet the following specific criteria:

• The MTL file contains spaces in the filename

• The OBJ uses mesh groups

Right-clicking your OBJ files and opening with TextEdit to examine the raw OBJ description shows the following:

I am an iOS Developer who works heavily in the 3D ModelIO / SceneKit space. Not only have I had this issue running Big Sur, we had this issue in our app when loading in OBJ due to an underlying issue with ModelIO, which SceneKit uses when constructing scenes from OBJ files. ModelIO triggers fatal errors in both Big Sur and iOS 14 if any of the material filenames or mtl filenames contain spaces as there's an internal bug in their text parser. This may provide context to the process running on Big Sur.

I already filed Feedback for the ModelIO issue on 26 August 2020 which could be the underlying issue behind the SceneKit SQL Thumbnail Extension but have not received a response from Apple.

Until Apple fixes their ModelIO OBJ/MTL parser to accept spaces again, the only fix I've found is to rename every texture and mtl file to not include spaces.

I have this issue too whenever working with large OBJ files, typically those exported from Sketchup. Force quitting the process remediates the high CPU usage until the next time a large OBJ comes up in Finder and the system attempts to quicklook it.

I have exactly the same issue, I cannot even open a folder containing .obj files without the sceneKitsQLThumbnailExtension kicking in using over 290% of my CPU and raving up the fans. Any solution would be gladly appreciated. Thank you!

Same problem here. I can barely type out this response due to SceneKitQL. Just upgraded to Big Sur less than 20 minutes ago and that's when the problem started. This has rendered my workflow to a stand still. I'm using zbrush and C4D (3d modeling/animation). Please, pleeeeze help.

I don't seem to trigger armageddon within my activity monitor when I open an .FBX within Cinema 4 Design. But if I simply open my finder and see a .OBJ file it seems to trigger the beast. Again, really appreciate your efforts here. At least I know what to keep an eye on.

I have also been experiencing this problem for over a year now.

For my workflow, I have narrowed it down to either viewing or opening large STL files. The problem is not just exclusive to Finder but other packages I work with too.

Is there a way to turn off rendering thumbnails in Finder?

Amazing... you're a scholar and a gentleman for chipping away at this thing. Have you noticed any problems with .FBX or any other 3D files for that matter?

So far I've only reproduced this with OBJ files. FBX files are not supported by QuickLook, SceneKit, or ModelIO and must be viewed using non-Apple software or converted first.