Sketchup runs too slow on Windows Vista

[Ayush]

Hello Everybody,

I'm running Windows Vista as my operating system. As i'm an architecture student, i most often uses Sketchup software on my system. The problem is that it runs too slow on Windows Vista. I don't understand why i'm having such problem on my system. I need this software everyday in order to get support, to work with AutoCad and 3D Studio Max. Can any one please help me out to get rid of this issue? Any help on this issue would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Eric B]

You can try to disable many visual features in Vista, in order to take a lot of load off of your CPU and drastically increase speed.

1. Disable the fancy Vista Interface and return to the "Classic" windows interface. To do so, go to the Control Panel and hit "Classic View" on the left side, this will bring up a lot more icons which are easier to navigate. Then click on the "Perfomance Rating and Tools" button. This will bring up a new window with a lot of features to help improve the perfomance of Vista. On the left side click on "Advanced Tools" and go to "Adjust the appearance and perfomance of Windows" near the bottom. Under the "Visual Effects" tab click on "Adjust for best perfomance".
2. In the same window under the "Advanced" tab you can choose to change your page file or virtual memory size. This is what windows uses to store application data when there is not enough physical memory on the computer(RAM). It allocated a certain amount of space on the hard drive, and by increasing this value by a couple hundred it can cut down on the amount of time windows spends resizing this file.
3. Reverting to the windows "Classic" theme can also cutback on CPU and GPU load to help improve perfomance by making the graphics less consuming. To do this right click on the desktop and go to "Personalize" you can then click on "Theme" and change it to "Windows Classic".
4. You can also use the many tools in the Control Panel--> Perfomance Rating and Tools to look for suggestions from Vista as to why your computer is running slow. Check under the "Perfomance Issues" area on the "Perfomance Rating and Tools" main menu.

[Glenny]

• Check whether the display driver is up to date and that it is working with Hardware Acceleration on (Window-->Preferences-->OpenGL)
• If getting the above to work doesn't help, the only way is to get a supercomputer or optimize the model. Big or complex models bog down SU very fast.
• I would call a model with 100000 edges (including components) big (see Window-->Model Info--> Statistics with "Show nested components" enabled).
• About 98% of models that I have seen, where the user has complained that they have "suddenly turned slow" have contained 3D plant, car, or people components downloaded from the Web.
• Avoid those because of the high polycount and use 2D face-me components instead.
• Turning off textures and shadows, and hiding the parts you don'tcurrently work with while modeling will help you to increase the speed.

Note that, technically speaking, SketcUp is a single-threaded application, so it can use maximum one half of your dualcore
processor's capacity.

[JonathanD]

Many things can make a system run "Slow". Too many processes running on your system. Too little system memory. Hard Drive near full OR badly in need of defrag. Or it may be some Spyware / malware problem.

Just to name a few. I would start by bringing up task manager and see how many processes are running AND if one or more is using a lot of cpu time.

Note system idle process should be up at 95% or so. This shows the system at rest.

[Macarenas]

Just go with GMAX, it's better in the long run.

[kattman]

I think the problem is with a graphics card, this means SU will run very slowly because the onboard graphics that come with the mini dot handle openGL very well. (openGL is the system SU uses to draw all the geometry, sort of, its hard to explain.)

So basically there isn't a lot you can do about it, especially in a mini because it doesn't really lend itself to putting in your own graphics card.

The thing you can do is go, in SU, Window-->Preferences-->openGL and try switching 'hardware acceleration' off and use 'fast feedback' off.

[ghamauricio]

Just for the record guys, I'm also an architecture student and I was using a Windows XP Professional SP3 untill earlier this year. The computer had a XFX GeForce8 8600GT, which is more then enough for Sketchup, and I made a few projects for college - yes, some of them with trees, cars, people, shadows etc - but Windows XP could handle it.

Last year I upgraded the VGA to a GeForce GTX260. Couldn't notice much difference in Sketchup though.

This year I formatted my HD and put in a Windows 7 Ultimate. When I open one of my college projects, the shit is simply unusable. Takes about 5 minutes to RESPOND to any command: even the "Camera Orbit" takes ages, clicking on the "Window" menu takes about 5 minutes, clicking on "Layers" takes 5 more, clicking any layer to disable it takes another 5 minutes etc. That's unusable.

Now I'm having trouble making a new project. I even tried to disable the visual themes etc, but the model is coming to an unusable point in Windows 7.

I'm thinking seriously about going back to XP again...

[ghamauricio]

Just for the record pt 2: I'm working on my Macbook Pro 5.5 (VGA is a GeForce 9400M) on the Mac OS X and the model works perfectly smooth. The very same file that started to get unworkable in Windows 7 64.

And don't tell me it's a malware in my Windows 7 because it's been like that since i've installed it.
I'm downloading a new VGA driver that showed up in Windows Update, but I doubt it will make any difference...

[TrophyJoe]

I have a NEW laptop dm4-3050us. Windows 7, 6gb of ram, i5 processor. Aero is turned off. Sketchup runs crappy and I'm just learning and my files are about a small and simple as one could build.

SKP runs great on my old XP netbook with 2gb, so it's tempting to blame the program. But, after playing around with the battery optimizing options and 3D (in Graphics Properties), things are better.

[Viceman]

I have a NEW laptop dm4-3050us. Windows 7, 6gb of ram, i5 processor. Aero is turned off. Sketchup runs crappy and I'm just learning and my files are about a small and simple as one could build.

SKP runs great on my old XP netbook with 2gb, so it's tempting to blame the program. But, after playing around with the battery optimizing options and 3D (in Graphics Properties), things are better.

The problem with Sketchup being slow also happens when you are using an outdated and very old video drivers on your laptop. Users facing this problem can also try to go to Window>Preferences>OpenGL and selecte "Use hardware acceleration" and see if the performance is increasing or not for the software.