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GPU selection Macbook Pro.


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Hi Hive mind,

 

I've just put the 2 universe free version of Vision on my MBP and looking in the activity monitor it doesn't seem to access the high performance GPU, it just seems to run off the standard intel one. Vectorworks does access it however. I ran a test of 10 GLP X4 bars and 4 Sharpy's and it's been really struggling. Is there a way to force it to use the 4GB Radeon 560? Oh and while I'm here, is there a way to increase the overall light output of all fixtures from one menu?

 

Cheers, Matt.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

@Monkeypuzzle, I have an older MBP running 10.14. I have the "automatic graphics switching" enabled in the Energy Saver settings. I usually run with external monitors hooked up though which forces OSX to use my AMD card always as opposed to my builtin Intel.

 

I also have a program called gfxSwitcher that lets me force certain cards when they would not be used otherwise. https://gfx.io/

 

If you want to increase the overall light output of fixtures, it is generally recommended that you increase your exposure value. This may result in you needing to lower than ambient intensity for the room to remain "dark".

 

Edit: Just to be clear, you are talking about both "surface light" and "beams" not being bright enough? If this is true, exposure is the key. If you would like only the beams to appear brighter/thicker, you could adjust some of the Haze Intensity values to pump up the fog 😉

Edited by bbudzon
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Cheers, I've deactivated the switch in Energy Saver and its running much better. It still struggles with 10 X4 bars pointing at the screen and the 4 Sharpys but hey, for the project I'm looking at trialing it on that shouldn't be an issue. As for the light output, turns out to be a case of operator error... I know how bright the X4s are compared to Sharpys and they just didn't seem to be right... until I remembered to zoom them in...

 

Thanks again.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

😛 No worries! I'm glad you go the brightness figured out.

 

FWIW, I would _highly_ recommend tweaking your Application and Document settings to get better performance. It is obvious that this comes at the cost of quality. So finding a sweet spot is very much a personal preference 😉

 

Some of the biggest offenders of performance are:

  • Resolution Quality
  • Haze Quality
  • Haze Style
  • Render Shadows
  • Shadow Quality
  • Render Fixtures
  • Surface Light Quality
  • Dynamic Shadows

 

Edit: Oh, one more thing. This is not always ideal but it IS an option nevertheless. If you have lights that are hurting performance but you don't necessarily need beams out of them, you can flag all of these fixtures via multiple selection as "Emissive" via the "Force Emissive" option. The best example of this is usually blinders as they are not casting light onto the stage but rather the audience. As such, these lights generally don't need to cast light/beams but simply need to "blow out" the rendering (ie; blinding the camera/eye/audience with light). This emissive intensity can be controlled via the Bloom Lens Strength option. I generally recommend keeping Bloom Percentage and Bloom Threshold at 1 and 1 (only adjust the Bloom Lens Strength value to get bright lens bloom).

Edited by bbudzon
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