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Problems importing large DWG files


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I have had this same issue on 2 computers, both running windows 10 and vectorworks '19.

 

When importing DWGs that are very large, like an entire cruise ship with all decks, or an entire major leage baseball stadium, vectorworks just freezes while importing, but does not give any errors to point to a cause. I had another person in our office with autocad open the files, and export them in smaller chunks, and then I was able to import those chunks all into the same VW file with no issue. So it doesn't seem to be any issue with the size of the vectorworks file, just with the amount of data being imported all at once. 

 

One of the machines is an i5 laptop, 8GB of Ram, and a low end discrete nvidia graphics card with 1GB of VRAM. 

 

The other machine is an i7 desktop with 24 GB of RAM and an Nvidia GTX930 I believe, with 2GB VRAM. It has the same issues with the same DWG files, no error messages, just freezing on import.

 

 

EDIT: for the record, I am aware that both of these machines are probably below the recommended spec for such large and detailed drawings, but that is not up to me, they are company machines, and we are typically only interested in small portions of the large drawings to add our production elements into.

Edited by bcarrigg90
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Does it "freeze" as-in 'hang' (can't do anything thereafter and must force quit Vectorworks) or does it just indicate "Not Responding?" If it's the latter, if you wait long enough it might complete the process.

 

Assuming it isn't hanging; Do you have a sense whether the accumulative time it takes to import the smaller chunks is about equal to the time of the whole import when left to complete? It might be that when importing the whole file your computer uses a lot of its available RAM and has to use virtual memory to help. Assuming your hard drive is a mechanical one (and not an SSD) this would significantly slow the import process. This would also explain faster import times (even when added up) when importing smaller chunks. 

 

To help determine whether Vectorworks hangs or what's happening when trying to import the 'whole' DWG file, open Task Manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (Mac) and note the following measures before the import starts and during: 

  • CPU activity
    • What percent is being used by Vectorworks over time
    • How many cores are being used
  • Memory
    • Does consumption get really high? (70%+)
    • Does virtual memory increase significantly comparing 'before' and 'during'?
      • In Task Manager this is the numerator readout for 'Committed'
      • In Activity Monitor this is the readout for 'Swap Used' 
  • Disk
    • Activity/Percentage changes over time

My expectation is this operation is a single-core process too, making it seem unusually slower than other [possibly] bigger/more complex operations that are multi-core. 

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@Jeremy Best I believe it is hanging, where it must be force closed. I am running a test on it now, and will let it sit overnight if I have to just to be sure I waited long enough. 

 

Judging by the task manager information, no significant resource demands are present during the import. CPU usage stays at around 30%, bouncing the load equally around the 8 virtual cores. Memory consumption is always high, sitting at around 70% just having vectorworks open. It stays at about the same level while importing, and the same is true for virtual memory, there is no change comparing before and during. Disk usage also is very low, only 2-3% showing on my drive. It is an m.2 ssd, and performs very well, so that shouldn't be a bottleneck. 

 

It is sitting at the same point on this particular file, frozen at 191426 of 207304 objects converted while importing. I will report back when/if anything changes. 

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5 minutes ago, bcarrigg90 said:

191426 of 207304 objects

 

Knowing that a counter stops on a particular number I'd take as a good indication it's stuck/frozen or 'looping' on a process. If you're in New Zealand I can warrant doing a test import of this DWG for you, but if not please get in touch with Tech Support for your region and request they do so. This might be a bug and should be determined if so.  

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6 minutes ago, bcarrigg90 said:

it has happened on multiple occasions, not just with this one file. 

 

Because I've not heard/read any other reports of this issue and in light of the above I would prescribe: 

  • Resetting Vectorworks Preferences, and if that didn't resolve it: 
  • Uninstall then Reinstall Vectorworks 2019 SP2 (excluding your Vectorworks User Folder at least initially). Be sure to temporarily disable antivirus during the installation too. 

If you know of others experiencing this then again it becomes more likely to be a bug and I'd continue with a submission to Tech Support. 

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I've also had problems with large DWG imports (like large urban plans in 2D).  100% CPU usage on one core for 45min + until the import is complete.  Generally this is in the last few numbers of the progress counter.  I've also had to go back to 2018 to avoid some strange scaling issues when importing the same file.

Edited by Mike Wright
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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
On 1/11/2019 at 5:36 PM, bcarrigg90 said:

When importing DWGs that are very large, like an entire cruise ship with all decks, or an entire major leage baseball stadium, vectorworks just freezes while importing, but does not give any errors to point to a cause.

 

17 hours ago, bcarrigg90 said:

It is sitting at the same point on this particular file, frozen at 191426 of 207304 objects converted while importing.

Except the numbers, what else is written in the Progress dialog? Would you, please, send the DWG, which demonstrates the problem?

 

3 hours ago, RussU said:

I've raised a similar ticket VB-157452  on this issue

This is another issue, just exposed by importing specific DWG files. No DWG import changes were done between the versions, but, of course, from a customers' point of view this is a DWG import regression... We are working to fix it.

 

3 hours ago, Mike Wright said:

I've also had to go back to 2018 to avoid some strange scaling issues when importing the same file.

Please, send a test file, so that we can analyze the differences in our support and fix the problems?

 

Thank you,

Nina

  • Like 2
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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hi Mike,

 

Thank you for the file! I was able to see a delay while reading 3D solid entities and creating Vectorworks Generic solids - which is in general a slower operation. The DWG also contains more than a hundred layouts, each one containing 2 viewports - and creation of the viewports also takes time. 

There is a delay on the final stage of the import (Finishing... stage), which is due to the centering on internal origin procedure. We usually recommend to Center the drawing on import, especially when there are objects far away the internal origin, but if you want you could avoid this using the location import option Align with Internal Origin. After the import you could center the drawing using menu command Tools-->Origin-->Center Drawing on Internal Origin. 

For this exact DWG imported graphics corresponds to the graphics shown in AutoCAD and there is no difference between Vectorworks 2018 and Vectorworks 2019. Please, if/when you have a DWG, which imports differently in both versions, send it to me so that we can find the reason and fix it.

 

Thanks,

Nina

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