Is anyone out in Sketchup land running it on an Macbook Pro with an M4 chip? I am currently running Sketchup Pro on an M2 chip and I have been disappointed that the speed wasn’t really noticeable vs the intel chip. Someone on the community forum told me at the time that While the M2 chip was faster, Sketchup wasn’t optimized for multi-core processing, and that is the reason my file still crawls along. Is Sketchup still single core only? If you’re using an M4 chip I’d be interested in hearing how it runs for you.
SketchUp (and most CAD / modeling programs) are limited to single core processing for modeling functions (they are most of the time linear, so not matter how many cores you have step a needs to be complete before step b). RAM and the graphics card are big helps when using shadows, materials, and when orbiting.
I have the Studio M2 Max and have been very happy with the performance upgrade over my 2019 iMac (maxed out).
What kind of modeling are you doing? Are you using the old or new graphics engine? Are you using fast styles for modeling and reserving shadows, profiles and materials for presentation?
Are you able to post a problem file (drag it to the reply window, or if it is too large use wetransfer or Dropbox)?
And before Dave gets here - update your forum profile (are you still using 2019?) - SKP has been optimized for metal (the Mac M chips) for awhile now…
all of them.
rendering can be multicore, but designing is single core, always has been.
a M2 chips is about 3,5Ghz when running top speed. lower most of the time.
so depending on the clock on your intel chip, it might not feel like a massive difference.
a massive gap might be felt if you’re switching from an older pre 24 version to SU24, because it started using Metal as a 3d engine instead of the (old 2009) openGL one.
but if as your profile currently states you’re still running sketchup 2019, you may not find a massive difference indeed. Actually, sketchup 2019 wasn’t optimised for M-series chips (not released yet). The first version was 2020. so you might indeed get lower performances due to mac os having to emulate sketchup through rosetta.
Thanks BMike and Ateliernab: I am modeling museum exhibitions, current model is about 18,000 s.f. and has a lot of small artifacts and textures mapped on floors and walls. the file is currently about 2.5gb, and will probably double in size as the exhibit develops further. I don’t do my own rendering, so I am just concerned with being able to design fast. I am running SU2024; I always upgrade when available. currently running an early 2023 Macbook Pro M2 chip, 64gb ram. If you have any other ideas about hot to speed up the display, that would help. I end up modeling with the mapped textures turned off; not optimal, would love to see the speed improve.
SKP isn’t yet compatible with Sequoia, so you may want to wait to upgrade, or at least keep your current machine setup as a fail safe.
2.5gb! That’s a big model.
How large are the textures (use Material Resizer plugin to see and optimize)? I aim for no larger than 512 or 1024 for SKP and LO work. For rendering that changes depending on the end use and level of detail as well as size of outlook. But I usually setup separate models isolating only what I need for my renders, so I wouldn’t have high levels of detail throughout the whole house (I do custom timber frame residential).
I’d be curious to know how many faces and edges you are working with. Model Info will show this, be sure to toggle on the components check box.
I’m assuming you aren’t modeling the art / artifacts and are using scans or assets made by someone else or someone else’s software? Are you simplifying these at all? Replacing with low poly placeholders? Or even images / textures?
Are you using tags to control visibility so you can model efficiently by turning off the high poly stuff? I have separate tags for entourage / furniture / etc.
Have you considered setting up a master file and importing components that are separate rooms / exhibit halls / spaces that can be worked on separately but then combined into 1 file for presentation?
bmike: thanks again for all the good thoughts. Sorry I don’t know how to view the faces and edges count. I took a 2 day course about 5 yrs ago and did as many tutorials as time allowed, but I’m under such pressure to produce that am mostly self taught and stumbling through it. I am modeling artifacts as well as the space.
re: artifacts I am modeling both the space and the artifacts. The artifacts are mostly small 3d files, but there are a lot. The wall textures that feature graphics are mostly 500Kb or smaller, but in some cases higher so that the typography is readable; again there are a lot of them. Re master file idea: Is there a tutorial on how to set up a master file and components? this is something I should learn how to do.
I just spewed my beer across the airport lounge. 
. 2.5gb is beyond large, it’s preposterous, farcical, a ludicrously bloated file. What can you possibly have included in that file to reach that size? Have you ever purged your file? I wonder how much dead weight of discarded components you are carrying around? If you can’t share the file post it to a sharing service and PM me the link so I can put that file on a diet!! Be careful it might break the internet when you upload it.
Seriously, jokes aside, you could benefit from some training I believe, whole large detailed buildings should be under 50mb on the big side, I have some very large files bloated with detailed point cloud information imported from large laser scans that I consider enormous at 250mb. No change in hardware is going effect a substantial change in your SketchUp experience on a file that big. You cannot buy your way out of this, you must learn and change your modeling habits.
It’s a bit like you are saying: I have a 1000lb weight in my backpack and I’m finding it too hard to carry around. Would a more expensive, better designed backpack help me carry this 1000lb weight? No, it won’t, you need to lighten the weight.
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This is a pano tour of a rendered (Enscape) sketchup model. The model (inc the textures) is 48.9mb on disk, that > 1/50 the size of the model you’re describing.
@DCLaufer there’s something very very amis with that file and I regret saying, but your management of it.
https://www.tours.blockcpm.studio/00_stpeters_lurgan/tour/.
If any file of mine gets NEAR 500mb (½ gb) then I’m looking for what I’ve done wrong/what erroneous content has snuck in.
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Window > Model Info > Statistics
Post a screenshot here, be sure to tick the box for the components.
Then I suggest that you purge unused components, purge unused materials and see if those statistic changes (materials aren’t reflected there, but they affect overall file size).
If you want to share a file privately you can go to my forum profile and email or private message me. I won’t be able to look at it until I return from holiday.
Along with using the Statistics menu, to help diagnose which elements might be impacting your model performance, try using the CG Impact Report extension.
ChrisD
That might be a touch more sophisticated than needed for someone who is still coming to terms with the complexities of Entity Info.
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I use Sketchup 2024 on a M4 Max with 128 GB Ram and Mac OS Sequoia. It runs excellently even with complex models. But even an M2 Max gets bored with a complex model. I know this because I’ve been working professionally with Sketchup for years and am lucky enough to receive an upgrade every year. Even the M1 Max had no problems, just like the Intel i9 before the M-Era. Apart from the fact that it always sounded like it was about to take off. That’s what I love about the M processors - they feel like they never have a fan on.
As PaulRussam has already mentioned, this is not at all due to the machine. I’m sorry to have to say it like this. But in this case, an upgrade is of no use to you. Your model is unfortunately much too large. Too complex geometry, too large textures, the forum is full of hundreds of such cases.
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All - thanks for taking me to the woodshed - I get the message- slim down the file. taking all your great suggestions to heart & planning to split my bloated file into areas so they run faster. I appologize I am prohibited by NDA from sharing the file, but your suggestions are all great. (Probably still buy a new machine, even if my main justification for it is kaput!). excelsior, d
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Did you check in the SketchUp preferences the graphics settings and verify that the graphics engine was set to your M4 chip model?
I had huge slowdowns on my MacBook Pro M3 Max until I did the setting indicated above.
by default in M series machines sketchup uses Metal, the new engine.
But M series macs don’t have multiple GPU. so technically, both OpenGL and Metal use your M3 or M4 GPU.
but Metal is way more powerful.
however in this situation, the lag has to do with the fact it’s a 2,5 Gb file
to have such a file, you need a ton of faces wearing another ton of materials. and no matter the machine, it’s a lot to handle.
I’ve never been above 150Mb, despite working on a few project close to an hectare.
as the other suggested, try purging, check the extension “material resizer” to see if you can make some materials lighter. Check an extension named SKIMP, it allows you to import files and lower their polygon count, making them less complex while retaining their aspect.
and maybe, in your case, you might benefit in breaking the project in several sketchup files (with a couple rooms in each) to work, and have another file where you import / assemble the lot.
I get that. In that case perhaps we can still help you slim your file by working together in the abstract. First, go to Window>Model Info>Statistics and lets see what your file statistics are. At the top of that window be sure to select Entire Model from the drop down menu and check the Show Nested Components check so that you are seeing statistics for everything. Here you can see the number of edges and faces in your model, as well as the number of materials and other statistics. At the bottom of that window is a button for Purge Unused. Save your current file first then open this window and press Purge Unused. This will remove any attached components or materials that you are not using from the file. Save-as the new post purge file with a new name and check the file size of that new file. Let us know what the pre purge and post purge sizes are. This is the first step to determining where and how your file is bloated and if there is anything you can do about it without deleting geometry. Let us know how this goes and we can take the next step, likely resizing used materials.
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