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About Archicad's documenting tools, views, model filtering, layouts, publishing, etc.

Slow Performance in Layouts

jameshart
Contributor
Hi!

We are currently working on a large project with 7 buildings. Buildings are each modeled in separate teamwork files, and all views (floor plans, elevations, everything) are linked into a master document file. The Document File does not contain any 3D model geometry, only layouts, 17 independent details, and a couple of legends (independent worksheets.)

Most of the time this setup works nicely, however some days the document file suffers from really slow performance. On a slow performance day, immediately after every editing operation (paste, rotate, drag, change properties, etc) we see the spinning wheel for 3-6 seconds, which is not long but is certainly irritating after EVERY thing we try to do.

Today, while the Documents file was going slow, I checked ArchiCAD’s memory usage using Activity Monitor. I noticed that the Document File ArchiCAD was using 8GB of RAM while the two Building File ArchiCADs were using 403.6MB and 1.04GB. (This computer has 16GB installed.)

Does anyone have any ideas for speeding things up in the Document File? I’d really like to avoid splitting the document file up if possible.

I have already tried:
• Restarting ArchiCAD.
• Adjusting my 2D Graphic Hardware Acceleration (tried both off and full).
• Turning off Vectorial Hatching in the On-Screen Display Options.

Thanks in advance!
ArchiCAD 27 (5003 USA Full), M3 Max MacBook Pro, 96 GB RAM, MacOS 14.5
12 REPLIES 12
Anonymous
Not applicable
Just a hunch, but have you tried changing your auto save settings to maybe every 5 min instead of after every step. if you see the little bulldozer coming up at the bottom of the screen during that 3-6sec delay, that will be your problem. I have had the same issue with split projects that was fixed by doing this
jameshart
Contributor
Steve wrote:
Just a hunch, but have you tried changing your auto save settings to maybe every 5 min instead of after every step. if you see the little bulldozer coming up at the bottom of the screen during that 3-6sec delay, that will be your problem. I have had the same issue with split projects that was fixed by doing this
Changing from "Ultra Safe" to "Safe" provided instant relief! Thanks Steve, you rock!
ArchiCAD 27 (5003 USA Full), M3 Max MacBook Pro, 96 GB RAM, MacOS 14.5
Anonymous
Not applicable
Glad it worked
Matija Kuzman
Newcomer
Hi!
I have the same problem, I am working on small projects - individual houses, files are small, my computer is strong (32gb ram, 16 core processor, strong graphics..). I have no problems working on the project, only when I get to the layouts it starts to lag like crazy. It happens to all of my projects.
I have changed autosave to 5 min, doesnt really help.
What can I do, please help.

Thank you!
Matija
Minh Nguyen
Graphisoft Alumni
Graphisoft Alumni
Matija wrote:
Hi!
I have the same problem, I am working on small projects - individual houses, files are small, my computer is strong (32gb ram, 16 core processor, strong graphics..). I have no problems working on the project, only when I get to the layouts it starts to lag like crazy. It happens to all of my projects.
I have changed autosave to 5 min, doesnt really help.
What can I do, please help.

Thank you!
Matija
Hi Matija,

Thank you very much for the question and I am very sorry for the experience!
We have created a Help Center article regarding how to optimize your project performance: https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/knowledgebase/86882/

If the suggestions here don't help, I would like to ask for the file for further investigation. Please let me know if you need a secure place to upload the file!

Best regards,
Minh

Minh Nguyen
Technical Support Engineer
GRAPHISOFT

I would be happy to send you one of my files, to see if you would have the same problem.

How can we do it?

Sincerely, Matija

Dear Matija,

 

Thank you for your reply! I will send you a special link in Private Message, with which you can upload the file directly to our server.

Please let me know when it is ready!

 

Best regards,

Minh

Minh Nguyen
Technical Support Engineer
GRAPHISOFT

I have the exact same problem: good performance working on the project and unbearable lags while working on the layouts. Did you find any solution to fix this?

What is in your layouts?

Are you linking to views in other files, or are they all links to internal views?

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11