Stopping "Geometry" processing

[SamIWas]

I'm working on a file using symbols from someone else.  It's his template for him, so I'm not looking to change all his symbols....yet.

 

But seriously....every time I click into a 3D view, a process bar at the bottom-right corner of the green pops up labeled "geometry".  It takes literally 5-10 minutes on a high-spec MacBook Pro each and every time.  And there does not appear to be a way to stop it.  Once it starts, Vectorworks is useless for that period of time.

 

Is there some way to kill this process?  I'm sure i can search the forum of a while, but I'm trying to complete these plans.

[Kevin McAllister]

Is the model rendering each time you switch into a 3d view? I suspect its related to your preference for 3d views. Click on Vectorworks>Preferences and then the 3d tab. What's the setting for "Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to a 3D View"? If you set it to "wireframe" it will stop this geometry regeneration.

 

It sounds like there's a lot of 3d geometry in the file. Does your MacBook Pro use a proper graphics card or is it using an integrated graphics chip? I understand the integrated graphics chips have a hard time with a lot of 3d geometry.

 

Kevin

 

[SamIWas]

11 minutes ago, Kevin McAllister said:

Is the model rendering each time you switch into a 3d view? I suspect its related to your preference for 3d views. Click on Vectorworks>Preferences and then the 3d tab. What's the setting for "Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to a 3D View"? If you set it to "wireframe" it will stop this geometry regeneration.

 

It sounds like there's a lot of 3d geometry in the file. Does your MacBook Pro use a proper graphics card or is it using an integrated graphics chip? I understand the integrated graphics chips have a hard time with a lot of 3d geometry.

 

Kevin

 

 

I fixed it automatically going into OpenGL, which has helped somewhat.  I guess that was my main issue.  Still...it shouldn't take over and not let you stop it.  But even when starting a render on a viewport on a sheet layer...sweet jesus...can't do anything else.  Which is odd, as I thought that worked in the background.

 

I'm definitely going to go through this symbol library I was given and clean it up.  There's no reason it should take almost 10 minutes to process the geometry for about 100 Image 80s.  

 

The MacBook is the highest-level one made, so it does have a real graphics card.

[Kevin McAllister]

3 hours ago, SamIWas said:

 

I fixed it automatically going into OpenGL, which has helped somewhat.  I guess that was my main issue.  Still...it shouldn't take over and not let you stop it.

I believe the math for geometry is still handled by a single core of the main processor which is why you can't break out of that part of the process.

3 hours ago, SamIWas said:

But even when starting a render on a viewport on a sheet layer...sweet jesus...can't do anything else.  Which is odd, as I thought that worked in the background.

The same is true for Sheet Layer Viewports. The math/geometry part is still single core. Once it switches to Renderworks you can stop the process because its multicore and it sees your input.

 

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I'm definitely going to go through this symbol library I was given and clean it up.  There's no reason it should take almost 10 minutes to process the geometry for about 100 Image 80s.  

If you'd like me to have a look and see if there's a specific issue with the file you're welcome to PM me.

 

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The MacBook is the highest-level one made, so it does have a real graphics card.

Have you turned off graphics switching in the System Preferences under Energy Saver? Other things I've seen slow things down on my MacBook Pro are Dropbox syncing, Time Machine backing up or if the computer is very hot (the system will throttle back the processors automatically to cool the system down).

 

Kevin

Edited August 22, 2017 by Kevin McAllister

[barkest]

Did you import the objects in to VW?

[SamIWas]

On 8/22/2017 at 2:32 PM, Kevin McAllister said:

I believe the math for geometry is still handled by a single core of the main processor which is why you can't break out of that part of the process.

The same is true for Sheet Layer Viewports. The math/geometry part is still single core. Once it switches to Renderworks you can stop the process because its multicore and it sees your input.

 

 

If you'd like me to have a look and see if there's a specific issue with the file you're welcome to PM me.

 

Have you turned off graphics switching in the System Preferences under Energy Saver? Other things I've seen slow things down on my MacBook Pro are Dropbox syncing, Time Machine backing up or if the computer is very hot (the system will throttle back the processors automatically to cool the system down).

 

Kevin

 

On 8/22/2017 at 2:49 PM, barkest said:

Did you import the objects in to VW?

 

Thanks guys.  I think I got it worked out.  I delved into what I assumed was the offending symbol, and did some work on it.  Turns out that the guy who built it modeled everything down to each pin on each fluorescent tube in the fixture.  And those pins were mesh rounded cylinders.  Two pins each end of each tube, times 8 tubes per fixture, times 120 fixtures = 3840 high-poly little pins that aren't even visible, but still being processed.  Also found some geometry which was rounded but could get away with a low-angle chamfer instead.  Once i did that, I went from several minute per setup to maybe 8-10 seconds each time.

 

I'm working in someone else's template on this production, so I'm working with what I'm given.