Vectorworks painfully slow

[Ari Phillips]

Hi there,

 

I have had issues with the speed of vectorworks of late. Almost a year now.

I thought it was potentially my machine so at the beginning of the year I purchased a new super spec Mac.

I was sure this would speed things up...however it still runs painfully slow. I get the spinning wheel after almost every action and painfully slow when navigating between annotations, crops and design layers.

I even completely deleted my machine and reset it back to factory settings and re imported all software back as new and its still slow.

Is there anything I can do to speed up the software or allocate more ram to the application?

Its driving me insane and really not very efficient at all. Especially when you have to wait between every action.

Hope someone is able to advise.

 

My comp spec is

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5600M 8 GB

 

Im running Vectorworks 2022 on Mac OS Montery

 

I look forward to hearing some solutions.

 

Thanks so very much

 

Ari

Edited December 30, 2021 by Ari Phillips

[Jeff Prince]

Look at your actual vectorworks file, that’s probably where the problem is.  
Do you have items far from the origin?

Have you created some plug in objects with bad behavior?

Did you move this file from a previous version of vectorworks into 2022?

Do you have a site model with bad and/or big data in it?

 

Those are the first things I would look at before pointing the blame at the soft or hardware.

[Ari Phillips]

HI Jeff,

 

Thanks for this.

 

This would be my normal checks, however the issue is even with the simplest of files?

As I have reinstalled all software again incl Vectorworks I don t have any plugins linked as yet and its still slow.

Even with flat graphics and no 3d models.

I haven't dared opening any complex drawings as yet as its already having issues.

Is there any way within the Mac I can allocate more ram or speed to the application?

 

Thanks

Ari

 

Do you have items far from the origin?   No.

Have you created some plug in objects with bad behavior?  - New installation, No plug ins 

Did you move this file from a previous version of vectorworks into 2022?  I have tried with new and older files

Do you have a site model with bad and/or big data in it? Not currently working on any 3d models

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, jeff prince said:

 

 

[Jeff Prince]

Weird.  I don’t have these kinds of problems with my macs, just the occasionally file with bad data in it.

 

plug in objects, like stairs and fences, along with site models containing bad data have produced these kinds of issues for me in the past, on occasion.  I don’t fool around with my Mac and let it manage itself in regards to memory and such.  I wonder if you have somehow created a hardware problem with a memory upgrade, video driver configuration, or some other setting.  I don’t have anything further to offer unfortunately.

[zoomer]

1 hour ago, Ari Phillips said:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5600M 8 GB

 

First, this is a great Machine - for Vectorworks.

 

 

So, beside that VW 2022 has some issues for me too with SLVP and Crops,

I assume VW uses your Onboard Graphics in the Intel CPU instead of the

dedicated 5600M - to save energy.

(You should be able to see which card is used in Activity Monitor ?)

 

Unfortunately I have no machine that has any internal GPU in a CPU.

Therefore I do not know where to set VW to use the better GPU on Mac.

(I assume somewhere in Apple Settings / Energy)

 

But on Windows, where I also have only a dedicated AMD RX 3800 GPU,

I set the GPU to use full power, for all my CAD and 3D Apps, to avoid that

the OS limits the GPU to save power.

AFAIK on Windows the default mode is on "power saving"

 

If you can exclude that the weaker GPU is used,

it may be a regression in VW 2022 (with the switch to native M1 and Metal ?)

 

I assume your macOS is Big Sur or Monterey (?)

so the oldest supported VW would be VW 2021 SP5.

If you have still access to a VW 2021 it would be worth a try if it feels faster

with the same files.

 

If that doesn't help, for now I can only imagine any bad settings in VW Settings

or issues with the Files.

[Ari Phillips]

On 12/30/2021 at 7:38 PM, jeff prince said:

Weird.  I don’t have these kinds of problems with my macs, just the occasionally file with bad data in it.

 

plug in objects, like stairs and fences, along with site models containing bad data have produced these kinds of issues for me in the past, on occasion.  I don’t fool around with my Mac and let it manage itself in regards to memory and such.  I wonder if you have somehow created a hardware problem with a memory upgrade, video driver configuration, or some other setting.  I don’t have anything further to offer unfortunately.

Thanks @jeff-prince 

Odd indeed.  I didn't actually upgrade my hardware at all.  I bought it this spec...just reset it back to factory settings.

Will have to see how I go

Thanks for trying

Kind regards

 

Ari

[Ari Phillips]

On 12/30/2021 at 9:07 PM, zoomer said:

 

First, this is a great Machine - for Vectorworks.

 

 

So, beside that VW 2022 has some issues for me too with SLVP and Crops,

I assume VW uses your Onboard Graphics in the Intel CPU instead of the

dedicated 5600M - to save energy.

(You should be able to see which card is used in Activity Monitor ?)

 

Unfortunately I have no machine that has any internal GPU in a CPU.

Therefore I do not know where to set VW to use the better GPU on Mac.

(I assume somewhere in Apple Settings / Energy)

 

But on Windows, where I also have only a dedicated AMD RX 3800 GPU,

I set the GPU to use full power, for all my CAD and 3D Apps, to avoid that

the OS limits the GPU to save power.

AFAIK on Windows the default mode is on "power saving"

 

If you can exclude that the weaker GPU is used,

it may be a regression in VW 2022 (with the switch to native M1 and Metal ?)

 

I assume your macOS is Big Sur or Monterey (?)

so the oldest supported VW would be VW 2021 SP5.

If you have still access to a VW 2021 it would be worth a try if it feels faster

with the same files.

 

If that doesn't help, for now I can only imagine any bad settings in VW Settings

or issues with the Files.

Thanks,  Not entirely sure abut the issues myself as it was also doing this on vw 2021.

Will keep using it for a bit and see what happens.

Thanks

Ari

[lcda]

I have confirmed with a lot of test VectorWorks 2022 SP2 is a lot more slow in zoom, rendering and 2d drafting than 2021 SP4

[fabrica]

yes, same, very laggy in SP2

[MHBrown]

It is still lagging in 2022 sp3.1. It is a problem with the VW 2022 software.

 

In my case--also on an i9 16" MacPro with similar specs as the OP--it is horribly slow with any 2D images. This includes small jpegs and png files up to large PDFs. Doesn't seem to matter. There are other serious lag problems, but this inability to handle 2D files is absolutely fundamental to any CAD program and I find it hard to believe that the VW staff (overworked since going to a yearly subscription model) simply can't keep up. What used to be a rock-solid CAD app is rapidly losing its reputation as these basic problems are released, unsolved. It's really unfortunate, especially since the rendering quality is now at a very high level.

MHBrown

[JuanP]

@MHBrown We just released Vectorworks 2022SP4, I suggest you updating Vectorworks, and if the problem persists, feel free to contact me directly at jalmansa@vectorworks.net  and I'll be happy to connect you with one of our support specialist to check your files or see if there is anything else we can do.

It would be ideal if you could provide as part of your signature, computer specs, and operating system.

[jdclemoes]

I've just started using 2022 SP5 and the basic 2D drafting zooming is noticeably slow/laggy 😶

[ThreeDot]

I have the same problem with SP5. Constant pauses with simple actions, like selecting and moving 2D objects. 

[Scott Butler]

I am having trouble with my keynotes.  The tool is very slow and makes it impossible to use.  Does anyone have a fix for this issue?

 

[Fakenews]

Im on MacBook Pro 15" 2019.  I just was forced to install macOS Montery to update new devices. My Vectorworks 2021 runs extremely slow now, pinwheeling between moves that involve, groups, keynotes, fonts, dimension strings, etc.  We have found this to be the case with VW with other computers in office when forced to upgrade operating systems.