Massive slowness OS X

JasonWD · 9 Jun 2012, 13:20

I have been using Layout for a few projects because I tend to develop projects in Layout then it kinda seems easy to stick it in Layout, but the thing goes so slow it is like working on a 486PC.

When I have a bit more time and am not battling Layout I will do a screencap to demonstrate.

Just to silence the normal reactions; I have used various machines from slower laptops to 8 core i7 Macs and Layout seems the same on all.

I understand that rendering the viewports takes time, but it takes me ages to do anything.

How fast is everyone else using it?

bjanzen · 11 Jun 2012, 20:39

Turn off Auto rendering.
Set File->Document Setup->Paper's Edit Quality to Low, and Raster render your models until you're ready to try exporting / printing / Saving to PDF.

Try those two and report back.

b

JasonWD · 12 Jun 2012, 18:13

Bjanzen; thanks for the reply, but I am already using those methods.

I only render the viewports when totally nessecary and also, on the advice of a programmer friend, use LayOut in a tiny window.

It is incredibly frustrating because it could be such an amazing tool, but at the moment I feel like I am doing technical drawing with a blunt melting crayon.

sonder · 12 Jun 2012, 18:25

Are you vector rendering or raster? If vector rendering a complex model, you will be slow regardless of the machine if your model is complex.

bjanzen · 21 Jun 2012, 21:17

Look at CPU usage, Real Memory and Virtual Memory. Is CPU usage heavy (greater than 50%)? Is real memory usage over 1 GB? Is the document huge? How many pages, and how many models and views? Many more factors could be influencing the performance.

b

stuartrader · 24 Jun 2012, 16:24

@bjanzen said:

Look at CPU usage, Real Memory and Virtual Memory. Is CPU usage heavy (greater than 50%)? Is real memory usage over 1 GB? Is the document huge? How many pages, and how many models and views? Many more factors could be influencing the performance.

b

Where should CPU and memory usage ideally be in using layout?

I'm a kitchen designer and do 3D renders in Hybrid mode with some color/textures. I will have 4- 5 scenes of a model from SU exported to LO. The typical model size is 5-40mb. Render speed is unpredictable from model to model in that size range, which makes it hard for me to do any analysis. I do time the renders per scene. Some scenes take longer to render than others. They will run in the 3-6 minute range on average sometimes as much as 10 min.
The time doesn't seem like much as I write this. Maybe instead of staring into space as I wait, I should be multi-tasking?
I'm running Win7, quadcore 2.66ghz, 4mb ram, a Nvidia GTX460,1 mb memory.

If I get an I7 at around 3.4ghz,8mb ram,Nvidia GT560 with 2mb memory will I see a significant decrease in render time in Layout? The new processor is 28% faster than my current one(by dividing 3.4 by 2.66). Can I expect a 28% decrease in render time or is this a too simplistic view?

In my case, is there a workflow I should be using to speed things up-or do I need an attitude adjustment and marvel at the speed at which things are getting done? The results are quite fabulous in layout compared to exporting out of SU as an image.
Regards,
Stuart

bjanzen · 27 Jun 2012, 22:59

I'd expect CPU to nearly peg at 100% while rendering, but at other times, a well-behaved app should be 10% or so?

As for faster by 28%... no, it really depends on many things: how much better is the graphics card as well as CPU speed. Hard to predict. If you can convince someone at an Apple Store to let you install SketchUp, you could try your file. You can make SketchUp run from a thumb drive, and that they'll let you do. Try it.

b

JasonWD · 28 Jun 2012, 08:16

As far as machines go; I bought a 17" i7 MacBook Pro on the strength that any of the Apple machines with an integrated graphics card couldn't cope with heavier SketchUP models. I got one of the more senior staff to let me install SketchUP from the web and he was fine with it because he could see that I was serious about buying a machine.

I have uploaded a screen-cap of what I am talking about. Typically it is actually running quite well in this video. When I am doing actual work it sometimes grinds down to a cycle a second or slower, which is really frustrating.

the password is sketchup

caronte01 · 3 Jul 2012, 19:24

Can you share the file you are working on?

Santiago

JasonWD · 4 Jul 2012, 09:02

@caronte01 said:

Can you share the file you are working on?

Santiago

Sorry no, it is a commercial project.