Cura 3.1 is SO slow (GUI and especially layer preview)

[hoegge 6]

So what kind of information would you like to get? 

 

In legacy mode everything runs smoothly. Haven't updated drivers recently (3-4 months ago) and since CAD program like Autodesk Fusion 360 runs nicely I have not had any incentive to do so. But can try that now. What other troubleshooting suggestions do you have? Any tests to run? Any way to get useful logfile, profiling data etc?

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

On 1/8/2018 at 10:04 AM, nallath said:

The layerview should be 2x as fast next release. We didn't enable backface culling. Whoops.

 

Just to keep your hopes down, I don't think the issues we are talking about here are caused by fill-rate problems. The 2x as fast may be a little too hopeful.

[nallath 1,120]

If it runs good in legacy mode, it means it's an issue with the shaders that we use to generate the 3D lines. Is updating the settings also faster (eg; within acceptable parameters) if you run it in legacy mode of the layerview?

[hoegge 6]

Yes, the settings updating is also much faster - i.e. it is smooth and fast as you would expect with no delays. So all seems to have to do with shaders. 

 

Is there a GPU / Graphics test tool you would like me to rune to rule out or pinpoint what graphics operation might be slow on my machine?

 

PS: Although (another issue) changing from extruder 1 to extruder 2 when using Ultimaker 3 Extended takes 2 seconds. Not sure why it has to take that long. Also changing between printers takes 4-6 seconds

[kmanstudios 1,120]

8 minutes ago, hoegge said:

Yes, the settings updating is also much faster - i.e. it is smooth and fast as you would expect with no delays. So all seems to have to do with shaders. 

 

Is there a GPU / Graphics test tool you would like me to rune to rule out or pinpoint what graphics operation might be slow on my machine?

 

PS: Although (another issue) changing from extruder 1 to extruder 2 when using Ultimaker 3 Extended takes 2 seconds. Not sure why it has to take that long. Also changing between printers takes 4-6 seconds

While I do not change printers, I do have the same lag in changing extruders in the side bar.

[hoegge 6]

I have now updated my NVIDIA graphics drivers to the latest (390.65 from January 2018) and also tried to turn off all extra effects like anti aliasing in the NVIDIA control panel for Cura. No difference it is still slow (2 FPS). Fusion 360 for comparison runs smoothly with 20 FPS in complex models with antialiasing, smoothing and so on. Concerning:

On 1/10/2018 at 10:19 AM, nallath said:

I understand the frustration, but comparing one application to another proves nothing. Looking at slicer, or any other program, won't provide us any information what is going wrong, because the software is fundamentally different. This is the equalivant of saying; "Hey, my android phone is slow and it does run fast on my iphone. You guys might want to port the iphone software to the nokia!".

 

I disagree that this does not provide any information. It shows that a similar type of program rendering more or less the same amount of lines (g-code passes) in 3D with shading can rotate a much higher frame-rate. That shows, that it is not a graphics driver / machine problem and that the DirectX or OpenGL you use for the rendering works. So it indicates that it is probably not a machine problem but either a problem in Cura OR the combination of Cura and my specific PC/ installation. After I updated to latest driver, now Simplify3D is slow too - but Slic3r is still super fast and they do use lines with a volume and not just hair lines - although it might not be useful to you ;-)

 

PS: Have ordered an Ultimaker 3 Extended today, which I understand only works with Cura and not Slic3r and Simplify3D, so really hope this will be solved at some point :-)

 

Thanks

[paulbeumer 0]

hi... just want to add my experienced with cura 3.XXX to this discussion before its overlooked
follow link ... but basically on a clean windows 7 x64 install i experience  a slow, sluggis responding version of cura 3.1 ion my system.... i wished i could be of any help to solve this.. but i'm not a programmer :-/   
(using multiple kinds of printers UM2 / UM2+ / UM2 Extended / Witbox)
 

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by paulbeumer
addition

[hoegge 6]

Thanks @paulbeumer - it seems like you have a similar or the exact same problem with Cura 3 as I do.

[ahoeben 1,948]

@paulbeumer:This is an issue with a specific set of Intel drivers. Upgrading to a newer version of the Intel HD Graphics driver should fix it.

 

See https://github.com/ultimaker/cura/issues/2068

Edited January 12, 2018 by ahoeben
clarified who I was responding to

[nallath 1,120]

14 hours ago, hoegge said:

 So it indicates that it is probably not a machine problem but either a problem in Cura OR the combination of Cura and my specific PC/ installation. After I updated to latest driver, now Simplify3D is slow too - but Slic3r is still super fast and they do use lines with a volume and not just hair lines - although it might not be useful to you ;-)

Not quite true. We don't handle shaders in the same way. It simply shows that it can be fixed, not how it can be fixed (or if we will be able to figure it out). There are still tons of variables that could cause it.

[hoegge 6]

I fully agree. Let me know, if I can provide any information or run any tests that can help you find the issue. Thanks

[furdterguson 0]

23 hours ago, paulbeumer said:

hi... just want to add my experienced with cura 3.XXX to this discussion before its overlooked
follow link ... but basically on a clean windows 7 x64 install i experience  a slow, sluggis responding version of cura 3.1 ion my system.... i wished i could be of any help to solve this.. but i'm not a programmer :-/   
(using multiple kinds of printers UM2 / UM2+ / UM2 Extended / Witbox)
 

14 hours ago, ahoeben said:

@paulbeumer:This is an issue with a specific set of Intel drivers. Upgrading to a newer version of the Intel HD Graphics driver should fix it.

 

See https://github.com/ultimaker/cura/issues/2068

 

 

 

I have AMD processor and experience the same sluggish issues, on board graphics card is ATI Radeon 3000. Just installed a new video card 30 minutes ago, and still have the same sluggish issues.

[furdterguson 0]

13 hours ago, nallath said:

Not quite true. We don't handle shaders in the same way. It simply shows that it can be fixed, not how it can be fixed (or if we will be able to figure it out). There are still tons of variables that could cause it.

 

Would it help to narrow down the issue(s) by focusing on the overall sluggishness? It takes almost a minute for cura 3.***** to fully open. Then without a model loaded, there is about a 7 second delay between mouse clicks and cura response.

[alexbln01 2]

that is the same for me, all drivers are up to date ... can not use cura so that's no fun .... all programs run smoothly only cura 3 makes problems .... I've given up the time is too bad for me, currently I use s3d .... I have also made all the tricks described but it remains so slow ....

[ahoeben 1,948]

My suggestion about the Intel driver was purely about the offset rendering in the posted screenshot.

[eldrick 65]

I don't know if anyone has asked, but if you are using the Layer view, it slows down everything drastically.

Do your tweaking while in Solid view, and turn Layer view on after you make multiple changes, then back to Solid again.

[furdterguson 0]

2 hours ago, eldrick said:

I don't know if anyone has asked, but if you are using the Layer view, it slows down everything drastically.

Do your tweaking while in Solid view, and turn Layer view on after you make multiple changes, then back to Solid again.

 

Please see the video here , that video demonstrates the issue. The slowness is not about layer view, the slowness when you change a custom parameter, it will take 6 to 7 seconds before you can change another parameter. This slowness with changing parameters happens even with auto slicing turned off. One hypothesis is that when a change is made to one custom parameter, a software change is made to other parameters with the intent of reducing the slicing time.

[nallath 1,120]

Certain settings can indeed influence other settings, but this should not take that much time. It might be the culprit, but the interesting bit is that it doesn't happen on all machines. That's also what makes it so hard to actually fix.

[hoegge 6]

How is this coming along - any improvements planned for the 3.2 release? There is absolutely no reason for the parameter section to become slow and unresponsive because you have turned on layer view - when you don't orbit, it should take 0 CPU and not slow down the GUI in general. So something must be wrong in your rendering loop / GUI update / event loop.

[ahoeben 1,948]

Test it for yourself, Cura 3.2 is released.

[hoegge 6]

I have tested the current beta - I'm talking about the final release - assume they are still working on the release!

[Bossler 8]

With Cura 3.2 compared to Cura 3.1:

it starts a little bit faster on my MacBook Pro Retina but the other issues - slow slicing, close to unusable layer view - remain the same.

 

Just opened another thread about that - did not recognize this one before, sorry.

[neotko 1,417]

On 10/1/2018 at 10:19 AM, nallath said:

I understand the frustration, but comparing one application to another proves nothing. Looking at slicer, or any other program, won't provide us any information what is going wrong, because the software is fundamentally different. This is the equalivant of saying; "Hey, my android phone is slow and it does run fast on my iphone. You guys might want to port the iphone software to the nokia!".

 

Yes, it should be possible, no-one is disagreeing. Simply put; None of our developers can reproduce it. That makes it orders of magnitude harder to figure ougt what is happening, which is something you need in order to fix it (and of course, test any fixes).

All that being said; How fast is it if you put the layer view in legacy mode? Did you recently update drivers?
 

 

That’s an interesting point. Maybe you could make a ‘benchmark’ mode that records the time to slice using A settings (not editable) and makes a log. Maybe with a high count poly (not a box, maybe a ultirobot x3 scale). Then it could make a speed log that you guys could actually use to check. Like a CuraBenchmark for releases. That could be used to post it anywhere (counting that it should log cpu, gpu, os, and speeds). Bad idea?

[hoegge 6]

So, now we have a version 3.2 release that is still slow. CURA needs to speed up a factor x 10 to become a nice tool. It is a magnitude too slow: update GUI (parameters) and orbiting sliced models. Layer preview slows everything down at it all all all too slow compare to any other slicer. Please make that a focus area for 3.3: speed - speed and speed

 

Thanks

 

[Vernie 0]

22 hours ago, Bossler said:

With Cura 3.2 compared to Cura 3.1:

it starts a little bit faster on my MacBook Pro Retina but the other issues - slow slicing, close to unusable layer view - remain the same.

 

Just opened another thread about that - did not recognize this one before, sorry.

 

Same observation on linux running under MacBook Pro Retina (mid 2015), loaded a little faster with Cura 3.2 but I believed this can be made even better at this time of computing technology. Solid view is instant response on viewing at different angles but layer view is very slow even on models at 3 cubic cm size as if it is hooked unto some slow rebuilding routine on every move you make just to view from a different angle. What I love about Cura is it is spot on at producing prints, I always get the expected size of prints.

 

Cura 3.1 loads around 33 seconds on linux while Cura 3.2 at 8 seconds. Just to get some rough figures, I use "time"  program to measure the loading time then close as fast as I can when Cura able to display itself. It requires several sessions to get consistent reaction time to close the program. The reason for being slow on linux could be the loading of its own version set of libraries, a sacrifice made to make it more portable at a price of speed. There's still more room for improvement and thank you to people behind Cura for making progress.