SU-2025 - MacOS Ram usage increases just by moving around my model using 3D mouse .. then Crashes

SketchUp Pro
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Can someone help me understand if constantly increasing memory usage as reported by the MacOS (Sequoia v15.4.1) Activity Monitor, is normal SU-2025 behavior ?

Asking because after updating from SU-2021-pro → SU2025, and MacOS Sonoma v14.7.4 → Sequoia, I have experienced SU lockups after an hour of work, that I did not ever see in my old SU-2021-pro on the same Mac with 64gB RAM, i9-6700 cpu, AMD RX Vega-56 video card (8gB video ram), while working on the same model (size approx 50mB).

Noticed during the SU lockups: Activity Monitor reported SU RAM usage had ballooned to 20+gB ! When SU-2025 initially loads the model, RAM usage is a perfectly fine 1.2gB.

Troubleshooting steps so far:

Removed Curic extensions.

Disabled 90% of installed extensions, leaving only the few regularly used enabled.

Under Sketchup/settings/Graphics/: selected my AMD RX Vega-56 video card instead of “system default”, but left “Use New Graphics Engine” selected. Left “anti-aliasing” = 4x, but disabled “use maximum texture size”.

Quit SU … then restarted by double-clicking on my model.

RESULTS: MacOS Activity Monitor shows SU-2025 RAM usage is still growing but at a slower pace than before when lockups/crashes were happening after approx 45 minutes of usage.

RAM memory usage grows when leaving the SU window open without working in the model at all.

RAM memory usage grows by 1/4 gB if I move around the model for 20 seconds using a 3D mouse (3Dconnexion SpaceMouse-Pro-Wireless with latest MacOS driver). CPU threads mostly remain = 66.

I used the 3D SpaceMouse-pro extensively under SU-2021 working in the same model and it never crashed … unless I tried to select a new texture category, which was a known unfortunate SU crash resulting from Apple macOS updates changing the Mac texture picking code and since fixed in SU-2025. Thank-you to SU developers.

Memory leaks and unreset RAM usage growth in applications is serious. My other programs on the Mac are working fine under Sequoia v15.4.1 … no issues, no crashes.

Any thoughts regarding SU RAM memory usage creep are appreciated. Perhaps a few others are seeing the same issue, or others not. Information from both groups is helpful.

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Im not a mac user but there was a known memory leak issue with the 3d connexion.
Have you installed the latest drivers for it?
One of the mac users will come with better info before long.

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I am wrestling with random Beachballs in SU2025, is this how your lockups manifest? I also have the SpaceMouse Pro that was ok in SU2024. I usually lockup when using Profile Builder 4, but it may be there is a connection with the SpaceMouse usage. Opening SU fresh with a simple model at 720Mb Memory usage, 2 minutes of randomly flying round (no modelling) and the model ups that to 1GB. I don’t know if that is expected behaviour, but it seems like a high percentage memory creep.

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Thank you for your reply and input - another datapoint.

Yes, my lockups manifest as the macOS spinning beachball after working on the model for perhaps 45 mins to an hour. I have Profile Builder 3, but seldom used it, so for my SU-2025 memory creep testing I disabled most extensions including Profile builder 3.

As you mention: “2 mins of randomly flying around” with my 3D SpaceMouse-pro, but doing nothing else in the model, no tools used, nothing selected, results in the mac Activity Monitor showing SU RAM memory usage has increase by 0.25 gB … sometimes as much as 1gB from the initial commited RAM, which for my 50mB model is usually 0.8 gB - 1.25gB initially.

Just letting SU-2025 sit open but idle, no 3D mouse, nothing and macOS Activity Monitor shows RAM memory used increasing under Sequoia 15.4.1 running on my i9-6700 intel cpu.

I double-checked and indeed my system is using the very latest 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse-pro driver for Macs: 3DxMacCore version = 1.3.7.529 (529) and 3DxWare version = 10.8.7 (3836).
My SpaceMouse Pro Wireless firmware = 4.39. May I ask what firmware version are you using ? I contacted 3Dconnexion requesting the firmware update tool, which is NOT provided on their website. Old links to firmware are broken on their site. Many owners of 3Dconnexion mice love the hardware but frequently complain support is horrible as are the Mac drivers.

Yes, indeed 1gB is a very high RAM memory creep just for flying around. When SU-2025 eventually locksup for me with the spinning beachball the RAM used has grown to 12gB - 20gB starting from a base of approx 1gB. My Mac has 64gB of DDR4 RAM, but when SU reaches the range mentioned above all hope is lost and I have to Force Quit.

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Users of 3D mice find these devices make 3D modeling much more efficient and intuitive. It is very, very difficult to go back to manipulating the model view with Pan, Zoom, Rotate tools. I would almost rather try AutoCAD if I could keep my 3D mouse.

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From what you have indicated I shall keep an eye on my memory usage and see if there is any unexpected increase by SU or possibly a trip threshold point.

We have the same 3Dx software, my Firmware is 5.04.

I have an I9 from 2019 with SSD & 16Gb memory, (I missed the boat on upgrading the RAM). So this may make my system a bit more sensitive to memory load.

Nothing would drag me back to AutoCAD, I would be regressing 30 years!

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Had a bit more of a play without modelling and it does appear that the SpaceMouse is jacking up the memory usage. If I have the SM connected, but only use my Logi MX Master 3S or Apple Magic Mouse 2, the memory usage remains pretty stable +/- 10Mb. The more I use the SM the more the memory usage creeps up. I don’t know the reason (leak?), but coupled with my limited memory I can see why this could sneak up and cause problems.

I’m not sure how you might escalate this issue as the extra memory usage is being logged under Sketchup.

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I just tried this. Opening a model and then doing nothing except maneuvering the view using my Space Navigator (obsolete version of Space Mouse that still works fine), I see SketchUp’s memory usage slowly but surely growing. If I don’t touch the SN, the growth stops. This strongly implies there is a memory leak in the 3DC driver or SketchUp extension.

They had an even worse memory leak several years ago. It took them a couple of years to acknowledge and fix it! Their Mac versions alway lag behind the Windows ones and lack features found there. I have long suspected that they outsource their Mac development to an outside vendor who is not responsive or particularly competent!

Edit: turning off their center of rotation overlay seems to stop or at least greatly slow the memory creep. Perhaps that is where the leak occurs?

Edit2: I posted on their Mac discussion forum to see if they respond.

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Thanks for the testing. I have one of those obsolete corded space mouse, I will try the same test.

The overlay may be the problem.

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Very much appreciate your testing SU memory issues with Space Navigator mouse input. I am out of town until next Monday: May 12th, so not able to apply your experience to my desktop mac for evaluation, however I will do so right after I return and report back to this thread.

You mentioned “turning off their center of rotation overlay…”. I have used my 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse-Pro for several years, but do not recognize your reference to the “center of rotation overlay”. Could you help me understand how to disable this setting. Many thanks.

I did bring my SpaceMouse to use with my MBP-m1 laptop while out of town and have the most recent version of my SU model for testing. The MBP-m1 runs macOS Sonoma v14.7.2, while my i9 mac desktop was just recently updated to Sequoia v15.4.1(?) so not an apples to apples comparison (pun unintended), but might be useful info anyway.

Takes a village to work productively with SU on Macs, but worth the effort.

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I had to try and remember how to get to the rotation overlay settings…

  • Open SketchUp, (that’s the important bit!), and Apple System Settings.
  • Go to the bottom of the System Settings List or search for and open “3Dconnexion”.
  • Change the Configure: setting to SketchUp and additional tab will appear for Navigation which contains the “Rotation Centre” options.

I am still seeing some creep, but I am not sure based on your comments if it is proportionate to the model size. As my models aren’t that big I may not be seeing the same scale of memory usage increases.

Screenshot 2025-05-06 at 09.08.31
Screenshot 2025-05-06 at 09.08.311992×1498 154 KB

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When @TheOnlyAaron did his first live modeling after the 3dx update, he had the center of rotation showing, so it may have been a new feature with that update. I’m guessing Aaron turned it off using the steps DGSketcher gave.

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Your explanation was very helpful. In mac → System Settings → 3Dconnexion → Sketchup (two “Sketchup” entries listed and “Sketchup Web”) when I selected one of the “Sketchup” entries a “Navigation” tab appeared as you cited and I unchecked Rotation Center: Auto, and set Visibility = Hide (?). Closed System Settings.

As DGSketcher mentions, when I reopened System Settings → Sketchup → 3Dconnexion => the “Navigation” tab is no longer visible if Sketchup is not running. To test for memory leaks with the Rotation-Center setting ON/OFF it is necessary to have Sketchup running, change the setting,… quit SU, … restart SU and see if memory usage changes over time.

Disappointing that good 3D mouse hardware is hamstrung by clueless 3Dconnexion Mac Driver coders. Severe memory leaks are a sign of horrible driver quality. We users should not have to guess/test which 3Dconnexion driver settings expose memory leaks that cause our applications to crash. I will look for other 3D mice manufacturers in the future because, at least on the mac platform, 3Dconnexion is a poor choice, unless driver induced application crashes are acceptable.

Turning OFF the “Rotation Center” setting has improved/reduced the severity of SU-2025’s memory leak. Will report back with more testing to help other mac SU users evaluate the changing situation regarding 3Dconnexion drivers.

Thanks again to all who commented on this thread - “… we’re all in this together” (Red Green).

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@Colin Now I’m confused and sorry if this muddies the waters. I left my Space Mouse (bluetooth) switched off this morning. Yet as I was taking a break for lunch I checked SU memory usage and my 350Mb file was at 2.8Gb! I have just restarted SU with the same model and using just my Logi MX Master 3S mouse I can still see the memory usage creeping up (faster than SM) even though I am only zooming & panning with the middle button/scroll wheel. After 15 minutes I am up about 130Mb without drawing anything.

Switching to the Classic Engine, the mouse has minimal effect, but turning on my SpaceMouse for navigation it causes a steady and significant increase in memory usage.

Going back to the experimental engine and MX mouse only, there is a pattern to the memory increase if you pan holding the scroll wheel then zoom in and out and repeat.

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To be clear about the term you used, do you mean the new graphics engine in SketchUp, or the experimental graphics in LayOut?

I still didn’t do my space mouse test, I will try the combinations you mentioned.

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Sorry Colin, Yes that should be the “new graphics engine in SketchUp” - SU 25.0.633 Mac Intel using Sequoia 15.4.1.

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I haven’t really had need of LO recently, but started documenting today, Again just using my MX mouse I am seeing LO memory usage accumulate significantly when zooming in and out. A little over an hour of use just adding dimensions (no other imports or layout files open) and my file starting at 230Mb is showing 920Mb. :frowning:

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Thanks, I will try that as well. I brought my old Intel Mac home from the office, in case it being Intel and not Apple Silicon matters. I should find time today to try some tests.

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Any updates on this Colin? It’s becoming a bit frustrating having to reboot to clear out all the memory usage

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I did do tests, and didn’t really see much increase in memory, whether the rotation center overlay was on or not.

Could there be something in your models that is making a difference to the rate at which memory usage goes up?