topic AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl in Installation & update

AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:44:39 GMT

If Trace & Reference is switched on in a plan view, tools behave extremely sluggishly, but only if I am using it in an area of the plan where the background drawing shows. Tool performance is normal if used in any other area of the plan. All tools seem to be compromised and only in plan views. Sections and elevations do not exhibit this problem. Are others experiencing this?

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 15:03:56 GMT

I have been having same issue, I thought it was intermittent, didn't realize it is linked to T&R usage. Thanks.

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 19:24:02 GMT

I'm baffled there apparently is only one other person experiencing this behavior?? This is not intermittent at all for me. 100%. This is a serious bug. It makes working with T&R virtually impossible.

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Marton Kiss — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:10:04 GMT

Dave wrote:
I'm baffled there apparently is only one other person experiencing this behavior?? This is not intermittent at all for me. 100%. This is a serious bug. It makes working with T&R virtually impossible.

Dave,

first of all thank you for providing us with your file, that helped us a lot to see why such slowdown can happen.

Based on our tests this behavior is specific to Retina MacBook Pros. The display resolution to drive is too much for the video card and that is why it slows down when additional content is shown with trace and reference.

Our development is checking the possibilities what we can do to speed up such processes. What is clear at the moment, that any speed optimization on this field requires significant development.

A couple of questions to know more about your enironment where you use ArchiCAD:
- Based on your signature you have a Retina MBP and an external 30" display. What is your usual setup? You use both displays extending the desktop or mirror them? Which one has usually the floor plan, which one the 3D?
- In what resolution you use the MBP? Retina or one of the scaled options with more space. I am asking, because usually for example I prefer using the top high resolution. With that resolution simple task like exposé can be laggy and Apple even warns us that this can be source of speed problems. Technically when using the 'looks like 1920x1200' option the OS renders a retina version of this - which is 3840x2400 pixels and that is scaled down. This results an extreme high load on the video card.

Thanks,
Marton

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:11:00 GMT

Thanks, Marton. I'll respond by email and then let the folks here know the outcome when we have one.

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:13:55 GMT

MarkMoscrip wrote:
I have been having same issue, I thought it was intermittent, didn't realize it is linked to T&R usage. Thanks.

Mark--what hardware do you run AC17 on? (You should add that info to your signature.)

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 19:14:55 GMT

Dave,

My machine is middle of the road as is my display, can't imagine 1920x1080 taxes my system, but I will reduce resolution and see what happens. I included more detailed specs in sig line.

[EDIT] Well I researched my video card performance on http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html and found out the HD6450 rates a 292 vs. high end cards at 3000-8000, so maybe a new card is in my future...

Mark

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Marton Kiss — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:12:09 GMT

I wanted to give you guys some updates on this. It looks like this slowdown that comes using trace and reference is specific to computers (Macs) with Retina displays. It is not even depending on the graphics card performance or the level of detail of the model. Generally drawing the trace is significantly slower on Retina displays.

Our development made some research and experiments to speed it up, but so far we haven't found an ideal way. This appears to be a general issue for any software that uses the same technology to display content.

In the following article we summarized the situation: http://www.archicadwiki.com/Troubleshooting/SlowMacBookProRetinaWithTrace

Marton

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:12:04 GMT

Marton wrote:
It looks like this slowdown that comes using trace and reference is specific to computers (Macs) with Retina displays. It is not even depending on the graphics card performance or the level of detail of the model. Generally drawing the trace is significantly slower on Retina displays.

Our development made some research and experiments to speed it up, but so far we haven't found an ideal way. This appears to be a general issue for any software that uses the same technology to display content.
Marton

This does not explain why the slowdown only occurs with AC 17. There is absolutely no slowdown whatsoever in 16 or any other software I run.

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Arcadia — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 22:52:52 GMT

Trace & reference has always been a little of a drain on the system in all versions in my experience and I use windows. The problem is not as severe normally as what you have been experiencing though just a slight slow-down. It is graphics card related and the better cards run TR better.

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 23:36:41 GMT

Arcadia wrote:
Trace & reference has always been a little of a drain on the system in all versions in my experience and I use windows. The problem is not as severe normally as what you have been experiencing though just a slight slow-down. It is graphics card related and the better cards run TR better.

I've had no problem whatsoever with T&R until 17 on my retina. In 16 when clicking the button to show T&R the trace layer does take a few micro-seconds to show, but otherwise everything works fine. On the retina with 17, depending on the amount of info on the trace layer, response can crawl to an unworkable level. Same computer, same card, different AC version.

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 13:01:03 GMT

I also have this problem with AC17 on my iMac.
It slows my workflow so much that I can't leave T&R on and must switch it on and off for reference. Real drag! Is there a fix for this since the last post in Nov. 2013 that has not been mentioned here? Please help 😉

Re: AC 17: Trace & Reference slows tools to a crawl

Dave Jochum — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 17:50:37 GMT

Adrian wrote:
I also have this problem with AC17 on my iMac.
It slows my workflow so much that I can't leave T&R on and must switch it on and off for reference. Real drag! Is there a fix for this since the last post in Nov. 2013 that has not been mentioned here? Please help 😉

I've only done limited work in AC18, as I'm still finishing projects in 17, but I have not (yet?) experienced the problem in 18. The slowdown in 17 is not nearly as bad as when I initially posted, so maybe Graphisoft updates have helped, or perhaps Apple's. I still have not moved to Mavericks.