Faster Autosave!
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I too found autosave annoyingly slow. And I also found in V8, it is faster than it used to be, but manual save seems faster than autosave.
I brought this up a very long time ago, and also suggested a possible fix to speed it up dramatically.
UNDO has a stack of 100 operations (I counted). That has got to be a whole lot smaller than the model file.
SU should create the Autosave file from the UNDO stack, by user specified (short) time interval as is done now, and when the stack nears 100 (or XX) operations. The Autosave UNDO file just keeps building till the next manual save.
A manual save clears the Autosave UNDO file.
Then if SU abends, the recovery is to apply the Autosave UNDO file to the last saved file, but in reverse, as a "REDO".
That way almost all the work is recoverable and the autosaves should be almost unnoticeable. -
@jgb said:
I too found autosave annoyingly slow. And I also found in V8, it is faster than it used to be, but manual save seems faster than autosave.
It would be great if you guys could help to quantify this– in our lab (and in the code) 'save' and 'autosave' are expected to take the same time. With a couple caveats:
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If you have "Automatically check models for problems" and "Automatically fix problems when they are found" enabled in "Preferences > General > Check Models for Problems" you may experience differences depending on the validity state of the model.
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Autosave always happens when you aren't expecting it. Doesn't matter how you've set the timer, it just won't sync with your mental state while modeling.
If you feel like Autosave takes longer than Save, try timing it to see if you're right. It would be useful data for us to have.
john
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Try this plugin by TIG. I set my autosave to 30 minutes and use the archiver.rb plugin. So a search and check it out, it is fast.
Ken
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@unknownuser said:
Try this plugin by TIG. I set my autosave to 30 minutes and use the archiver.rb plugin. So a search and check it out, it is fast.
Ken
This looks like a tool that is similar to SketchUp's existing "Save A Copy As...", though it automatically names the file for yu so you don't have to navigate a dialog. Are you saying that this script saves large SketchUp models faster than a simple "Save" operation?
john
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This may be off topic, but related. I rarely get a fix report in Validity Check. Maybe I ain't mean enough. Should Validity problems be a frequent occurrence? How frequent?
Moderator, feel free to move this. -
@jbacus said:
@unknownuser said:
Try this plugin by TIG. I set my autosave to 30 minutes and use the archiver.rb plugin. So a search and check it out, it is fast.
Ken
This looks like a tool that is similar to SketchUp's existing "Save A Copy As...", though it automatically names the file for yu so you don't have to navigate a dialog. Are you saying that this script saves large SketchUp models faster than a simple "Save" operation?
john
.I can select the archiver selection and go back to work as fast as the mouse can move to another tool. It is quick.
Ken
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I was asked ages ago to set up a timer to remind you to archive every 10 minutes BUT it's annoying to get dialogs popping up in the middle of something and reworking it to be automatic AND wait until you've stopped some complex operation is also making it into just the bastard-child-of-AutoSave ???
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@unknownuser said:
I can select the archiver selection and go back to work as fast as the mouse can move to another tool. It is quick.
Well, I've looked at the code, and it looks like it is doing a "model.save" to do the actual archiving operation. Which is the same code path that SketchUp executes from the File menu. Not sure why that would be faster.
TIG: Can you explain what your script is doing differently?
john
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I did a Save on one of my large models and it took 90 seconds. I then made a copy of the file, opened it and uses Archiver: it took 80 seconds.
I guess I don't see much advantage of Archiver over a regular Save.
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Archiver simply uses the
model.save(name)API method to save a 'tmp' snapshot of the SKP at that second, it then copies it to an 'Archives' subfolder, renaming it with an additional date-stamp etc and erases the tmp version.
It shouldn't make any significant difference to the built-in autosave timings - it even has to copy/delete the file into the subfolder too... however, it does seem a little quicker
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As I said earlier in this thread, "Check Validity" (if enabled in preferences) can cause a save to take longer. If a model is checked for invalid geometry, then that geometry is fixed... it doesn't have to be fixed again the next time you save a model. This might account for a small difference in save speed (~10%) between successive operations.
My guess is that optimization of the rendering pipeline has allowed you to work on increasingly large models (Bob: 80-90s save times! How large is your model?) and you're now beginning to feel a new performance bottleneck. Of course, there will always be a performance bottleneck somewhere in the system.
john
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@jbacus said:
My guess is that optimization of the rendering pipeline has allowed you to work on increasingly large models
Yup - I find working on 500K face models and more without much trouble. It's usually depending on transparency use and textures.
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I find the auto save tends to kick in right when I'm right in the middle of an operation or by some miracle I'll click something at the exact instant that it starts saving and it instantly crashes. No bug splat. Just. "see ya..." I have found this on many rigs and versions of sketch currently on 15.3.331 and still getting it. It has to be the autosave because the last auto save increment is always within a minute or so of the crash. Just got one then by selecting a line at the same time and I had to come here and rant.
Is there a way for you guys to make it wait or disable the mouse about a half second before? My computer is one more sketchup crash/bugsplat from exiting the building in flames via the window.
I've had a long and rough night.
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Best way to speed up SAVE and AUTOSAVE as well as loading a file is to get a Solid State Drive (SSD) either replacing the C:\ drive or adding/replacing a D:\ drive.
My old spinning HD would typically take over a minute; my SSD takes about 3 - 5 seconds for even bigger files. AutoSaves are almost un-noticeable now.
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@jgb said:
Best way to speed up SAVE and AUTOSAVE as well as loading a file is to get a Solid State Drive (SSD) either replacing the C:\ drive or adding/replacing a D:\ drive.
My old spinning HD would typically take over a minute; my SSD takes about 3 - 5 seconds for even bigger files. AutoSaves are almost un-noticeable now.
For me it not really save time. I work off an SSD RAID0 array so its as quick as it can be. Its just in instability of it.
Working with large files in sketchup reminds me of this scene from the simpsons.. The slightest breeze will bring it down.
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@monkers said:
I find the auto save tends to kick in right when I'm right in the middle of an operation or by some miracle I'll click something at the exact instant that it starts saving and it instantly crashes. No bug splat. Just. "see ya..." I have found this on many rigs and versions of sketch currently on 15.3.331 and still getting it. It has to be the autosave because the last auto save increment is always within a minute or so of the crash. Just got one then by selecting a line at the same time and I had to come here and rant.
Is there a way for you guys to make it wait or disable the mouse about a half second before? My computer is one more sketchup crash/bugsplat from exiting the building in flames via the window.
I've had a long and rough night.
Maybe even a little box which counts down till the next autosave and warns you a couple of seconds before it happens. I'm sure a bunch of other programs could do with a feature like this. It could take the worst possible moment feeling out of it.
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did you try disable-ing <window> - <model-info> - <file> - <redefine thumbnail on save> ?
For normal saves, that can save up to half a minute for my files (< 50Mb). I never do auto-saves so don't know if this would help. -
Just an update/possible solution for anyone that might find this useful. I have set up a small 10GB RAM disk (Storage drive mounted on RAM) as a temporary location where I can locate my working files. As RAM Disks don't retain data when power is cut I also set up a sync in-case of an unexpected power down. This has massively reduced save/auto save times.
I'm not sure what the exact speeds are but from what I've read at 10GB/s I assume its around 10 times faster than my SSD RAID0 array and about 20 times faster than a standard 7200RPM HDD. Ill have to do some testing later.
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@kaas said:
did you try disable-ing <window> - <model-info> - <file> - <redefine thumbnail on save> ?
For normal saves, that can save up to half a minute for my files (< 50Mb). I never do auto-saves so don't know if this would help.Thanks for that i gave that a shot and combined with my new RAM disk in the above post.. Wowee
150mb files are saving in less than 1 second.Hopefully the less time it spends saving and locking up the less chance it has for the breeze to come along and push it over
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