Known Issue: 3D mode unavailable when running FME Desktop 2022+ on a virtual machine

Symptom

When running FME Desktop 2022.0 or newer on a virtual machine such as Amazon EC2, 3D data cannot be displayed because 3D mode is disabled. This occurs in both FME Workbench’s Visual Preview and FME Data Inspector. 

Cause

Due to an upgrade in libraries, FME requires OpenGL 2.0 or higher for viewing data in 3D via Visual Preview or FME Data Inspector. OpenGL typically can’t be upgraded on a virtual machine. 

Workaround

There are four potential workarounds:

1. Use FME 2021.2 or older for 3D viewing
2. Upgrade or start a new virtual machine that is specifically designed for graphics, commonly referred to as Accelerated Computing, Elastic Graphics, or GPU Enabled. Please contact your virtual machine provider for instructions on how to set this up. 
3. Depending on the virtual machine, you can upgrade OpenGL to 2.0
4. If the Host computer has Accelerated Computing enabled, the remote machine may need to enable access. See Enabling GPU Rendering for Microsoft Remote Desktop from CivilGEO for more information. 

Amazon EC2 Instance Instructions

When creating a new EC2 instance that can support FME 2022.0 or newer and 3D viewing, Elastic Graphics (eg1.large) must be included. Then install the Elastic Graphics drivers, and open the Elastic Graphics port (2007) in the Security Group. For more information, see the Amazon documentation. Please contact Amazon for support on creating a virtual machine.