Mac specific multiple scene slowness loading

[colin]

I’m trying to help someone with slow performance issues with models that they make. They use the PlusSpecs extension, which I think isn’t part of the problem, it just happens to be a quick way to create a scene with quite a lot of components in it.

I have their model and can certainly see problems, even without me having that extension. I can’t really send the model, it isn’t mine, but hopefully my description of the issue will be enough.

The model is not a very large one. It does happen to have 31 scenes, but even then the skp is under 7 MB. In my tests I made a single scene version, and that is 3.8 MB. The number of scenes may be important.

The main symptoms are that it takes a long time to open the file, and when working on the file SketchUp sometimes needs to be force quit, because it becomes that locked up.

For my test I opened the model, eventually, was then able to whiz around in the scenes without any performance problems, then I would do a Revert. I gave up after 20 minutes of waiting for the revert to finish. By that point SketchUp was using over 128 GB of memory. Here’s part of Activity Monitor:

My single scene version of the model opens quickly and reverts immediately.

I tested under Windows 10 as well, still on my MacBook Pro (which at the time had 15 apps open) using Parallels. The problem model opened as quickly as my single scene file, and it reverted as quickly as well. The memory used by Windows 10, which would include SketchUp, was under 3 GB.

So, it seems to be Mac specific, and the number of scenes may be important.

Does this sound like a familiar problem to any of you?

[colin]

The forum tells me that 16 people have looked at my problem! No answers so far, so I guess it’s not a well know problem. I think I did figure it out though.

I tried a lot of things before I found a solution. In addition to having 31 scenes, the model had 105 layers. I put everything into one layer, made there be only one scene, and still had the issue. If I deleted that one scene and made a new scene, the problem went away.

I don’t know why the scenes were having problems, but it helped me find a solution. I bought Eneroth View Memory for $20, exported all of the scenes, deleted all of the scenes, and imported them again. That made the file be half the size, and it fixed the slowness. I did those steps in the Windows version.

At one point, before I had found a solution, I was away from my Mac for a little while. I came back to this situation, where SketchUp was now using 243 GB of memory. I feel lucky that my Mac wasn’t on fire.

[eneroth3]

Has the original model author looked at the model after you re-created the scenes? I’m wondering if PluSpec saves some additional data to the scenes that weren’t carried over. Attribute Inspector could also be used to see if any additional data were saved to the scenes.

Btw, are scene previews rendered for the model, and if so, what changes if you disable them?

[colin]

I sent my version back, and did say that they shouldn’t throw out their one until they are sure my one has everything. But, yes I feel sure PlusSpec has some of its own data in there. You should find away to export third party data as well!

If by previews you mean the thumbnails for the scenes, those only seem to be created if you look at the Scenes panel. Strangely, they get created even if you are in List view. All of my early testing was with the Scenes panel not open, so I don’t think the thumbnails are part of the problem.

Attribute Inspector does show a lot of RubySketch attributes in the model and scenes. I’ll try a test where I delete those in Windows, and see if Mac SketchUp opens the file any quicker.

[colin]

Removing all of the RubySketch attributes seems to solve the long time it takes to open the file, but my make some changes and then revert test, still starts using extra memory at about 5 GB more per minute, and I have to force quit.

[eneroth3]

Yup, scene preview. I don’t know when they are generated: when displayed or when the file opens. I’m thinking generating these images is already a slow process and might take even longer if there’s something taking up a lot of memory.

I’m not sure how to best handle third party attributes in Eneroth View Memory. While it is entirely possible to copy it, I’m not sure about interfering with attributes belonging to other extensions. Some extensions may not expect that and run into issues, e.g. if two scenes gets assigned the same ID or if scenes reference geometry not present in the model.

Do you think it would be possible to share a version of the file containing only the scenes, not the geometry, so I can look at their attributes?

[AndrewRubySketch]

Hi Colin, it sounds like an observer issue, the first thing to do is to disable all existing plugins, I assume that the opening time will dramatically increase and the memory usage will stabilize.

If this solves the problem then enable the other plugins one by one until you can replicate the result. Once you find the Plugin that is creating teh issue can you post it?

We developed PlusSpec and would like to know if there is something we need to change as PlusSpec is about increasing work flow not decreasing.

[colin]

Thanks for the comments. In my testing I start by deleting my application support SketchUp 2019 folder, so I’m on a completely fresh start plugin wise. I also tested as a Guest user, which had no system add-ons at all.

Thinking that it might be a Mojave related issue I tested under Sierra. I also tested under SketchUp 2016 and 2018. In all cases, when I do the Revert test, SketchUp never reverts the file, and memory use grows at 5 GB per minute.

To fix the slow opening, I can delete all of your attribute data from the model. To fix the Revert problem I have to delete all scenes from the model.

One thing to note, I am trying to find out why a PlusSpecs user gets performance issues, but I don’t have PlusSpecs. Could something strange happen when reverting a model with a lot of RubySketch attributes, if you don’t have the extension?

Feel free to PM me if you have an extension you want me to try!

[AndrewRubySketch]

Hmm, it is strange one mate, but there is no reason for anything to slow down if you do not have PlusSpec installed. At the end of the day, it is still a Sketchup model so If you do not have PlusSpec or another plugin installed it takes away from it being a Plugin observer issue, the thing I find perplexing is why does it only happen on Mac? Half of our users are Mac users and I am not hearing the same.

PlusSpec has a scene generator which essentially prepares the model for Layout and also makes it easier to navigate. Here is a tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTEJ9mIBgs

Unless I saw the model I would have to stick to the original assumption of an observer from another plugin, yet you have disabled all so, to be honest, I am buggered if I know.

If you are cautious about sending the model, can you have the PlusSpec user contact us Via support and we will have a look and then let you know the result if that helps?

Any feedback we get on improving speed will gladly be taken on board and we will make changes once we are clear on the reasoning for the issue…

It would be good to see if the layers you’ve imported after using Eneroths plugin still have the same functionality as the original PlusSpec layers do. Yet to test I would still require the model.

All PlusSpec users have access to support so ideally, your client contacts us. There is something strange about this instance and it would be good to get to the bottom of it.

Thanks for taking the time to do all of this research Colin:+1:.

[colin]

More things to know, this is just one example problem model, other ones I have use other plugin attributes, and show the problem. So, it’s not PlusSpecs specific.

The model owner has been in touch with you, and you had him look at the Ruby Console to see what happens when creating things with your plugin. As I’m not creating things, the Ruby Console remains empty.

I am pretty sure it’s a SketchUp problem, just not sure what provokes it.

Hey, I made a version of the file that has no geometry in it. It’s 123k, and with no geometry it opens quickly. But, draw anything, then choose File/Revert, and you’ll see how the memory races upwards.

It’s 2016 format, so you can see that the problem is still true in older versions of SketchUp.

emptyscenes16.skp (120.8 KB)

[AndrewRubySketch]

Thanks Colin, I tested the file on Pc and the memory stayed constant, in all versions SU 14 through 19. I am interested to see why it happens on Mac.

[colin]

Feel free to try it on Mac too!

As I mentioned, even much bigger files have no problem running on my Mac under Windows 10, it’s only a problem on macOS.

[AndrewRubySketch]

Thanks Colin will do.