Thanks guys. That occasional pause you are getting usually happens when you've been orbiting at a GPU-bound level of detail, then pause for a bit. After a little pause, SketchUp will kick off a full detail (typically CPU-bound) render frame and you can not start working until that is finished. It can be very annoying and we're working on making that frame interruptible, but we're not there yet. The workaround is to use a GPU-bound style when you are modeling. That means no profile edges, sketchy edges, etc.

Keep the feedback coming.

Thanks,
Tyler

Now that SketchUp 7.1 has been out for a few months, I thought I'd check in to get opinions on the performance. We put a huge amount of work into revamping the rendering code, but performance is always an arms race and users will always push the limits of the application.

So, two questions:

1. What is working well for you in terms of performance?
2. Where do you still encounter performance bottlenecks in your workflow?

Thanks,
Tyler

@thomthom said:

More importantly, what version will use Ruby scripters see?

Hi Thomas -

Ruby scripters will see the binary versions, so 7.1.6860 on Windows or 7.1.6859 on Mac.

Hi dcauldwell -

I think you are seeing the effects of a design decision we had to make while overhauling the SketchUp rendering engine. Previously, even if your SketchUp style did not have edge profiles on, we would still draw the edge when a softened edge was in profile. The new engine strictly adheres to what the style is set to. So, if you don't have profiles on, then it will not draw cylinder profiles. To get back to the old look, just turn profiles on in your style.

Hope that helps,
Tyler
Google

Hey scripters -

Our new Ruby API documentation site is up! Better docs, examples, tutorials, etc. Let us know what you think.
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/

-Tyler

Hi bcbas -

I've asked around a bit here and no one on the SketchUp dev team has attempted to use Ruby threads in our scripts (Sandbox, Dynamic Components, etc.). There are no "special" rules dictated by SketchUp, but SketchUp does own the main event loop. This could present some issues as there is the question of what happens to the thread when the script is "done" executing. From your description, the child thread sounds like it is being abandon, rather than killed, once the script is done executing. That could be bad on several levels.

I wish we could be of more help. I think you're just going to have to experiment with it.

-Tyler

Ugggh. Sorry guys. That was some debugging code that was accidentally left in SU6. You aren't seeing it in SU7 are you?

-Tyler

Hey guys -

We hear you loud and clear about the documentation mess. We're working hard to resolve it.

-Tyler

Hi Mike -

Sang is a member of the SketchUp Dev Team. He's been with us for about 3 years now.

We figured Bryce has take enough abuse (http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=81eb1af9d5a907aa3c9fe3a963c6d73b&prevstart=0).

Now it is Sang's turn (http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=2faedcf7cd0ef7dd44b2fa2cac0778f5&prevstart=0)

-Tyler
Google