Mac, running Simlify3D bogs down machine

[tmorris9]

I noticed that when I am running Simplify3D my machine seems very slow, mouse movements are sluggish, playing videos will skip and just seem sluggish as well, even typing text will sometimes fall behind in what I am typing VS. what is showing up on screen.

My Mac is no slouch either. I have an iMac 1.93GHz quad core i7 (8 threads) with 32GB of RAM running Yosemite.

I normally have up to 10 programs running at once and have never had any slow down except for with Simplify3D

Using Activity monitor is shows the Simplify3D app is only taking between .6% to 14% of the CPU (only 1 of the 8 available at that). But the memory seems a bit high at 375MB for with a modest size part printing. Not sure if that's the reason but my 3D software uses 2-3 times that when it's running and even rendering a 48 hour image does not cause any other software to lag at all.

Any idea why this is?

[CompoundCarl]

If it's only using about 10% of the CPU and 375MB of RAM, then that is definitely NOT the reason your computer is running slow. That's almost nothing as far as program resources are concerned. On my Mac, I don't notice any slowdown from the rest of the OS until I start hitting CPU usage above 90% or RAM around 5GB. FWIW - S3D also runs fine on my Mac and I don't experience any slowdown. I have a feeling there's something else causing your problems, cause it's definitely not those tiny resources that S3D is taking! That's incredibly small!

[jimc]

I have to agree. My imac is a late 09 model with an i5, 12gb and only 512k on the graphics card running 2 monitors and mine isnt sluggish at all. S3d used to hog up 5-6gb of memory and even then it didnt slow down. The resources its taki g now is nothing and would not be your issue.

[ABSolutely]

No problems on older mac with 16g ram with S3d on Snow Leopard, Yosemite and now El Capitan.

Consider:

• Once per month, OSX does a system clean and nightly (between 12 and 4 am if the machine is on) it does a daily clean. However, you can force this cleaning - do the following:
• Close all programs.
• Empty trash.
• Open up the Terminal (in Utilities) and type:
  “sudo periodic daily weekly monthly” without the quotes and press enter. It will/should prompt for your password (unless you’ve recently done a ‘sudo’)
• When the prompt returns, Exit Terminal and Run S3d.

Also:
You say you have many apps running… Apps and the system make background calls via the internet when running - calls that send info you’re probably not aware of (and/or happy about if you know it). In addition to sending app/system and personal info, these can bog-down system speed and can interrupt current activities - especially large and non system apps. Many people write code incorrectly and generate cumbersome internal threads that tie up resources don't close properly when exiting apps.

If you use something like Little Snitch, you can inspect and block data. Example (image attached - shown is one day’s worth with over 2000 connects and Meg's of data sent/received on a machine that slept most of the day. Point being that it was busy sending out data and using system resources to scan drive, spy and pump out data. The only app open was Mail but others and fragments that use system resources were awake in memory. It may not be a problem for you but, it’s good info to know…

There are other things to consider, including how your printer buffers/receives data from S3d… So, it’s best to try isolating the problem by not having other apps open (including Mail, browser… all apps).

[ZGainsforth]

I experience this too. It happens after S3D has been open for some time, generally > 6-8 hours. At first glance it seems like it can't be S3D because the CPU use and memory use are not high, but the mouse becomes very laggy -- sometimes up to several seconds to get it to move. I know it is S3D because it happens while printing, and pausing the print will make the machine responsive, and restarting the print will result in a sluggish machine once again. One can make the machine responsive and sluggish over and over and over. I know it is not a problem with general computer speed because of the low CPU usage, and because when I first start S3D it prints fine and the machine is responsive.

I can give another hint. I notice that when I switch to single layer view, it is fine. It only becomes sluggish while rendering the whole model, while printing, after the program has been open for many hours.

(Hopefully that also provides the other user with a workaround.)

[jimc]

are you leaving the preview up in the display? its sounds as if you don't have enough graphics processing power or memory to handle the 3d preview. after you slice and get the printer going click "exit from preview mode"

[CompoundCarl]

are you leaving the preview up in the display? its sounds as if you don't have enough graphics processing power or memory to handle the 3d preview. after you slice and get the printer going click "exit from preview mode"

Agreed. Either do what he said and exit the preview after you get the print started, or just uncheck the "live preview tracking" option.