Why are drawings so un-responsive?

robert_doughty

I'm having issues with the drawing workbench being very slow and unusable.

I've seen posts about this but they all seem quite old, is there anything I can do to make drawings more responsive?

Cheers,

Rob

viru

@robert_doughty, Please refer below link,
https://cad.onshape.com/help/#webgl.htm?Highlight=system
If your system have good internet speed and above requirement then also it giving poor performance then you can open support ticket for this by using feedback tool to Onshape support team. they will definitely solve your problem.

jim_taylor335

Manipulating even simple 3D objects on my system is very jerky ( appreciable lag between mouse movement and 3D object movement).

Does Onshape specify a minimum machine (CPU speed, RAM, HD capacity, graphics card) requirements and also internet speed and browser (Firefox etc).

I have been watching the Hoffman Engineering Youtube videos ( Best Free CAD Program:...) which look very smooth. What could the spec of their system.
I live in the N.E. UK.

viru

@jim_taylor335, Please refer below information if then also you facing performance issue then kindly contact with Onshape support team they will definitely help you.
To ensure optimal GPU performance when using Onshape, browse the recommendations below and compare to your configuration.

Browsers

Onshape currently supports these tested and approved browsers:

• Safari (Mac OS only)
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Opera

Internet Explorer is currently not supported.

WebGL

Onshape requires WebGL. To ensure that you are taking advantage of the highest performing configuration, make sure your preferred browser has WebGL enabled. On Chrome, it should be enabled by default, unless your graphics card does not support WebGL (check the black list: https://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/BlacklistsAndWhitelists). On Safari or Firefox, you may have to enable it manually:

Safari	Firefox
Click Safari menu, select Preferences. Click the Security tab. Select Allow WebGL.	In the address bar, type about:config. Click through the warnings. Search for webgl. Confirm webgl.disabled is set to false (or set it to false; this will not affect any warranties).

If you make these changes while running Onshape, simply refresh your browser for the changes to take effect.

Graphics cards

Many computers have more than one graphics card installed (GPU). Often, on Windows machines with NVIDIA graphics cards, Optimus technology is also involved, meant to optimize the workload between GPUs -- to assign the proper graphics card to applications needing a high performing graphics card and applications needing more battery life and lower performing graphics card.

If you do not have NVIDIA or NVIDIA with Optimus technology, you can skip this topic.

To get the most out of your graphics cards:

• Make sure the the graphics card you use is not on the WebGL blacklist, as some video graphics cards do not support WebGL.

  See https://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/BlacklistsAndWhitelists for more information.

• Onshape performs best when Optimus technology is not involved in the management of graphics cards. To ensure that Optimus technology, if present, does not interfere with the best performance of the graphics card when working with Onshape:

  Determine whether or not your computer uses Optimus technology:

  1. Open the NVIDIA control panel.

     Select System Information and then Components. If Optimus technology is present, it will be listed somewhere in the right column.

  2. If Optimus technology is present, make the NVIDIA graphics card the default card for Onshape (for the browser you use with Onshape), through the NVIDIA control panel.

To make the NVIDIA graphics card the default GPU for Onshape, or rather, the browser you want to use for Onshape:

1. Open the NVIDIA control panel.
2. Navigate to 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings and then the Program Settings tab.
3. Locate the browser you use for Onshape.
4. Set Select the preferred graphics processor for this program option to High-performance NVIDIA processor.

If this method doesn't work, see below for more options.

In a nutshell

You want to use your high performance GPU when an application (like Onshape) demands it. Having a management technology involved (like Optimus) doesn't always result in the performance you are hoping for.

If you don't know what your computer has by way of GPUs, you can download and use a utility such as Speccy (for Windows) or gfxCardStatus (for Mac) to discover what is installed on your machine.

You want to use the faster, discrete NVIDIA GPU (when available) for Onshape, always. For applications that don't require high performance graphics or require longer battery life, you can use an integrated GPU such as Intel's integrated GPU. To this end, assign the appropriate GPU to a specific browser.

Alternative

As a last resort, you could try to go into the machine's BIOS settings and switch off Optimus technology completely and run using the discrete NVIDIA GPU all the time. This carries serious risk, however, so make sure you know what you're doing here, or seek help before attempting this solution.

Additional information

More resources include:

• http://alteredqualia.com/texts/optimus/ -- more information and specific instructions
• http://alteredqualia.com/tmp/webgl-maxparams-test/ -- for immediate and install-less detection of graphics cards on your machine using WebGL