Layout Performance tips

Dave R · 30 Jun 2020, 11:45

Keep your SketchUp models clean and organized.

Don't be sloppy in your work and don't let your models get out of control.

The other day I was sent a LayOut file by a user who complained that it was sluggish. The SketchUp model in it was huge. After I fixed the incorrect layer/tag usage, I purged unused stuff and got rid of over 100 unused components and about 250 unused materials. That helped improve performance in LayOut some. Then I set CleanUp3 running. After about 4 hours of running the extension estimated it was going to take another 186 hours to complete. I killed it at that point. It would have been faster to redo the model from scratch.

Of the SketchUp and LayOut files I get from other people, this sort of thing seems to be common.

aikibrown · 30 Jun 2020, 12:53

IMHO, Depending on the size of your model, I've found that creating a LO file for each drawing, I. E. One Lo page per LO file gives fewer issues.

Having said that, LO2020 Pro performs very well now. Even with multiple pages and a 150MB model.

Genarally, keep SU models as light and as well organised as possible.

congellous · 9 Jul 2020, 12:57

I have a 12 page Layout document
The sketch up file is 37MB

It was starting to get sluggish and I'm on an i9 suped up machine

I thought it might be material patterns so I changed them for block colour and now can barely open it ?

I've added the offending page - Is it the fills ?

Morley Street WK -02G.pdf

Dave R · 9 Jul 2020, 13:11

It's hard to say from just a PDF what is slowing it down. I would guess that most of the performance issue is coming from the SketchUp model and most likely from some overly detailed components. Have you purged unused stuff from the model? Have you stripped out unnecessary detail from the components? Especially components from the 3DWH?

What version of SketchUp/LayOut? What operating system? Please complete your profile with that info. What graphics card?

congellous · 9 Jul 2020, 16:34

Thing is the other pages from the same model render without issue
My computer is the new Alienware windows 10 and flies through Lumion

Dave R · 9 Jul 2020, 16:42

What from the model is displayed on the other pages?

Comparing LO to Lumion isn't all that useful.

What version of SketchUp and LayOut?

Charlie__V · 11 Jul 2020, 10:32

Per Dave: “overly detailed components”
I think level of detail at current scale is excessive....IE: screws and hemmed metal detailing being shown......chairs could be simplified....
Having items like this either “lighter” in modeling detail or visibility controlled w/tags and reserved for display at larger scale/detail drawing(s).
IOW....try isolating them w/tags....turn off visibility and check for performance gain.

C

pbacot · 11 Jul 2020, 16:33

I don't know if you are doing this, but in LayOut itself use the lower quality settings and raster. Only use the higher settings needed for your output.

aikibrown · 18 Jul 2020, 12:45

@congellous said:

I have a 12 page Layout document
The sketch up file is 37MB

It was starting to get sluggish and I'm on an i9 suped up machine

I thought it might be material patterns so I changed them for block colour and now can barely open it ?

I've added the offending page - Is it the fills ?

With regard to your machine spec, my experience is that having the latest all singing and dancing multi core processors adds little to performance when using SU. A good dedicated graphics card and plenty of Ram is where I saw improved performance. I recall reading somewhere that the SU coding can't utilise all of the processor's cores, hence the minimal improvement in performance in simply relying on processor speed. Im running a 7th Gen i7 laptop but upgraded the ram to 32GB. I also have a SSD which helps with speed in opening and saving files generally.

As to your model, the pdf example doesn't look over complicated, but its hard tocomment without seeing a Layout or SU file.

congellous · 2 Sept 2020, 10:37

The model isn't really that big as it's mostly 2D info
No issues in Sketch up

Just takes an age to update model or issue in Layout

I can't change to raster as I need to output Vector DWG's as well

congellous · 2 Sept 2020, 10:41

@aikibrown said:

IMHO, Depending on the size of your model, I've found that creating a LO file for each drawing, I. E. One Lo page per LO file gives fewer issues.

Having said that, LO2020 Pro performs very well now. Even with multiple pages and a 150MB model.

Genarally, keep SU models as light and as well organised as possible.

Yeah good idea can you PDF/DWG/issue all open layout files

congellous · 2 Sept 2020, 11:12

Hmm I just removed the colored filled that had a pattern as well and it's sped up

aikibrown · 3 Oct 2020, 18:42

@congellous said:

@aikibrown said:

IMHO, Depending on the size of your model, I've found that creating a LO file for each drawing, I. E. One Lo page per LO file gives fewer issues.

Having said that, LO2020 Pro performs very well now. Even with multiple pages and a 150MB model.

Genarally, keep SU models as light and as well organised as possible.

Yeah good idea can you PDF/DWG/issue all open layout files

Apologies for the belated response.

I've not really experienced many issues in exporting a LO page to PDF. As long you can refrain from using the Hybrid setting on your viewports, exporting should go well. I've also got into the habit of keeping no more than two layout files open at any one time during this process.

Now, exporting to dwg from LO is an entirely different proposition and it is my view that there is much that needs to be improved by Trimble with regard to the dwg export functionality and the quality and compatibility of the output.

Whenever I am asked to provide dwg files of my LO drawings, I find that exporting SU scenes of plans, elevations and sections directly to separate dwg files is the the way to go. I then XRef the individual components in one coherent master DWG file containing all the necessary linework and issue that. The process of generating the exports is tedious but takes up far less time than dealing with numerous phone calls from confused consultants, wondering how the hell they are supposed to work with the mayhem of vector geometry and uneditable raster imagery all dumped into model space in random positions, and often on the same layer, when spewed directly from LO.