Make sketchup more stable?

linea · 26 Feb 2009, 08:47

SU, particularly SU7 seems to be crashing more than I ever remember it doing in the past. It is getting a bit embarassing at work as I convinced everybody to use it in the first place. So my questions are these:

Could it be that having SU6 and SU7 installed on the same system causes problems?
What do you need to do to make Sketchup (in it's current state without Google making some improvements) as stable as possible?

thomthom · 26 Feb 2009, 09:03

I'm not sure. I've found SU7 to be much more stable than SU6. Though, I've heard that Mac users seem to have experienced issues. But I see you're using Vista?

In any case, Google just release an update to SketchUp which addresses a few issues: http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=141303
You might want to see if your experience changes after updating.

linea · 26 Feb 2009, 11:22

Yes just instaled that, maybe it will make some difference. As you say, yes I run Vista, perhaps xp is better.

thomthom · 26 Feb 2009, 11:31

@linea said:

Yes just instaled that, maybe it will make some difference. As you say, yes I run Vista, perhaps xp is better.

I use XP at work. At home I've been using Vista 32bit since it was released. Currently I'm using Windows 7 Beta 64bit and I've not noticed any problems with SU7 which seem to stem from using any particular OS.

It might be a graphic card driver issue? At work I use an nVidia Quadro FX 3500 and at home a nVidia GeForce 8800GT, with recent drivers. What's your setup?

linea · 26 Feb 2009, 11:37

No, work machines(xp) and my own laptop(vista) are well specced machines. But when working with big models everything becomes too slow. Is it a case of clearing everything off my laptop other than SU? (I won't be doing this). Also, does having lots of rubies installed slow SU down?

thomthom · 26 Feb 2009, 11:46

I got lots of ruby's installed, and I haven't experienced any notable slow downs.

Clearing everything of your computer other than SU; if you means in terms of uninstalling programs and freeing space, then no. That won't help. Not unless you're running out of hard disk space.
It will help though to close down other running applications. Check what starts up with your computer as lots of software has a bad tendency to add "speed boosters" and auto updaters.

It's inevitable that SU slows down with larger models. But there are ways to make it easier to work with larger models.
Turn on Shadows
Turn of all edge styles (they have nearly as much impact as shadows)
Turn off textures while you work.
Purge purge purge

I often have a Scene set up with a special modelling style which disables textures and line effects and also had shadows turned of. Then I have another style for my views which I use only when I export images out from SU.

linea · 27 Feb 2009, 06:19

Thom

I think you mean turn off shadows Thanks for the help, I already do all of these things though. I can live with it.

xrok1 · 27 Feb 2009, 06:27

i think SU7 is way more unstable. i think if i use for an hour i'll get probably two crashes, but it does seem to crash mostly when i'm using podium so it could be either?

thomthom · 27 Feb 2009, 07:51

@linea said:

Thom

I think you mean turn off shadows Thanks for the help, I already do all of these things though. I can live with it.

Yes... I'm putting the blame on my fever...

thomthom · 27 Feb 2009, 07:56

@xrok1 said:

i think SU7 is way more unstable. i think if i use for an hour i'll get probably two crashes, but it does seem to crash mostly when i'm using podium so it could be either?

Could be. But I'm wondering if it could be hardware related. What graphic card do you have? And do you have the latest drivers?
It could be that you repeatedly are hitting some bug that makes SU crash. There's lots of software where some people never notices any bugs while other do simply due to workflow. For example: I had V-Ray for Sketchup constantly crash on me, and I seemed pretty lonely in having the problem. There was a few others, but the majority had no problems. What it came down to was that I didn't use the Colour Wheel in the SU Material editor.

Chris Fullmer · 27 Feb 2009, 08:05

I agree, SU7 has been just as stable as 6 for me. And a few things have been better, and it runs overall faster. It has not crashed on me yet (except for a mistakes I've made while learning to program in ruby ). I'd have to guess its something more than just SU that is causing the problems,

Chris

Gaieus · 27 Feb 2009, 09:05

SU 7 has only crashed on me when I was trying to expose it to extensive testing and "torturing" - often with some faulty files and6or modelling work-flow examples (mostly provided by others) that intentionally lead to crashes.

After all, it's not a big deal to create invalid geometry in SU and from then you never know what will happen to the file; SU fixes it or not, crashes or not...

dale · 27 Feb 2009, 15:09

@gaieus said:

After all, it's not a big deal to create invalid geometry in SU and from then you never know what will happen to the file; SU fixes it or not, crashes or not...

Where I come from we call that "Garbage in, Garbage out"
I have been ranting away about problems in another thread called: Export from Su7 to Su 6 (Solved?)
Sorry but I can't figure out how to link it
Just one question: Are you importing files from other Cad software, or modeling from scratch?

xrok1 · 27 Feb 2009, 17:16

@thomthom said:

@xrok1 said:

i think SU7 is way more unstable. i think if i use for an hour i'll get probably two crashes, but it does seem to crash mostly when i'm using podium so it could be either?

Could be. But I'm wondering if it could be hardware related. What graphic card do you have? And do you have the latest drivers?
It could be that you repeatedly are hitting some bug that makes SU crash. There's lots of software where some people never notices any bugs while other do simply due to workflow. For example: I had V-Ray for Sketchup constantly crash on me, and I seemed pretty lonely in having the problem. There was a few others, but the majority had no problems. What it came down to was that I didn't use the Colour Wheel in the SU Material editor.

nvidia 8600gt
i do keep my drivers up to date, and i've been using the same machine for close to 2 years now, mostly with SU6 without the same problems. i might go back to 6.4 for a while just for comparison.

Gaieus · 27 Feb 2009, 18:03

@dale said:

I have been ranting away about problems in another thread called: Export from Su7 to Su 6 (Solved?)
Sorry but I can't figure out how to link it

Yes, I know that topic.

@unknownuser said:

Just one question: Are you importing files from other Cad software, or modeling from scratch?

You don't need to import anything to create invalid geometry.

Try yourself with this file

InvalidGeometry.skp

hebrides · 27 Feb 2009, 18:34

I find that GE and SU7 are having a struggle working together.
I have tried the upgrade but got this:
That put a quick end to the adventure.

thomthom · 27 Feb 2009, 19:27

@hebrides said:

I find that GE and SU7 are having a struggle working together.
I have tried the upgrade but got this:[attachment=0:1muxkouc]warning.jpg[/attachment:1muxkouc]
That put a quick end to the adventure.

Seems you have downloaded the free version while you have Pro installed.

Gaieus · 27 Feb 2009, 19:28

Even then, it shouldn't cause a problem.

thomthom · 27 Feb 2009, 19:30

That's what the message seem to indicate though...

hebrides · 27 Feb 2009, 19:53

Yes I have pro 6 and there is no way I am going to remove it to install free SU7. To many hints from others re licencing issues. Haven't got the patience to deal with the muddle over re-installing pro-6.

I'll just wait until I'm ready to buy pro7.