Has V23 solved sluggish behavior and small dimensions?

[GDBranch]

I opted out of maintenance, again, because of sluggish behavior in V22 and small dimensions. Infuriatingly unproductive for me and I could see no justification in another $460 of maintenance. I was honestly happier with pre V22 revs.
So, has the incredible shrinking dimensions issue been permanently resolved? Or do you continue with workarounds?
Does the hole feature still take 6 seconds to load?
I read the forums daily and subjects seem to be more about new features and not basic productivity.
I realize I could download a trial of V23 but that's quite honestly a pain in the ass to uninstall, install, uninstall and then a final re-install and hope you haven't missed anything. I'm a grumpy old man who doesn't have a lot of time to waste.

 

[HaroldL]

If you are talking about the size of dimensions in part sketch mode you can adjust them thru the part properties. Don't know about how to fix the sluggish behavior on your computer, seems others don't have that issue, as far as I know.

 

[kw856]

 

[simonb65]

So, has the incredible shrinking dimensions issue been permanently resolved? Or do you continue with workarounds?

Still not fully fixed in v23 (build 23050)! I still see this time to time and it only sorts itself out if you maximise the workspace window. If the workspace opens in anything other than maximised, then occationally (not as repeatable as it was before v23) it gets the sketch dimension text scaling wrong. So, the release notes Improved some cases ..." ... is just that ... some, not all! Saying that, this 'bug fix' is listed in 2D Sketching, so not sure if this means the '2D drawing workspace' or the 'Part workspace' and 2D sketches(?)

 

[simonb65]

Then it does it on cue ...

Not maximised Window ...


Maximised Window...


Window sized ...

 

[simonb65]

Window size remains constant, but zoom in on the model ...


So, no, definitely not fixed in v23!

 

[Hunter]

So, has the incredible shrinking dimensions issue been permanently resolved? Or do you continue with workarounds?

No, that one is still around.

 

[HaroldL]

Window size remains constant, but zoom in on the model ...
View attachment 33754

So, no, definitely not fixed in v23!

I don't know why Alibre shows extrusion dimensions as annotations if you cannot select and edit them. For me, it is just clutter on the screen so I turn off the display of annotations.

My concern is that although you can resize sketch dimensions, they still take some time to "resize" when zooming in on a sketch when there should be a smooth transition to keep them at the set size no matter what zoom level you are at. But it seems better than it was in v22.

 

[GDBranch]

I paid $460 for V22 and it brought shrinking text. 12 months later it's still doing it. Another years maintenance and shrinking text will cost $920. Sorry, but I'm just not seeing the value in maintenance. A large percentage of my time is spent dimensioning sketches and much of that time is screwing around trying to see them. In 14 years I've needed support maybe half a dozen times but I paid for it every year. "Be patient, we hope to fix this in another version" just isn't acceptable. Maybe V24 or V30?

 

[simonb65]

I paid $460 for V22 and it brought shrinking text. 12 months later it's still doing it. Another years maintenance and shrinking text will cost $920. Sorry, but I'm just not seeing the value in maintenance. A large percentage of my time is spent dimensioning sketches and much of that time is screwing around trying to see them. In 14 years I've needed support maybe half a dozen times but I paid for it every year. "Be patient, we hope to fix this in another version" just isn't acceptable. Maybe V24 or V30?

I do agree with the sentiment that bugs reported on active 'maintenance', should be fixed before new features or 'internal' ideas are implemented. I also think that they should also be fixed within a reasonable timescale (weeks or months, not years) and they should be issued/released to the user who reported it even though their maintenance may have lapsed. After all, it was broken when they paid for the maintenance, they a therefore fully entitles to the fix without further cost! I do also appreciate that some fixes are out of the hands of software suppliers that rely on 3rd party tools and libraries, but that pain shouldn't be at the additional expense of the customer.

After all, you wouldn't buy a fixed maintenance plan for a car, report a problem within that period, then be expected to pay more after the plan has expired even though the fault has already been reported and still awaiting a date for repair!

 

[JST]

The sluggish behavior was variable, and did not repeat in the same model repeatably (for me) at any time. Still usig V22, no opinion on V23.

V22 has not been sluggish for some time.... it seemed to depend on usage style, and what else had recently been used. As I have learned the required "work arounds" for this problem, that may explain some of my improved results.

It IS necessary to close every open model , or even close Alibre altogether, from time to time if working on a large model (speaking specifically of V22, but there seems to be no improvement in V23, based on comments made here and elsewhere in the forum). Even with 16 gig, it runs out of memory, becoming very sluggish and finally simply quitting with no warning.

The workaround is to close Alibre regularly. That seems to reset the memory, releasing everything. Closing all models "may" release memory, but is not a reliable technique, better to exit all and close Alibre, then re-open.

 

[MKR]

If you are working on a larger assembly, Alibre is always slow.
I think it's because Alibre only uses 1 core in your CPU no matter how many cores it is equipped with.
Alibre's built-in memory leak does not help either.

 

[JST]

If you are working on a larger assembly, Alibre is always slow.
I think it's because Alibre only uses 1 core in your CPU no matter how many cores it is equipped with.
Alibre's built-in memory leak does not help either.

It can be slow with huge assemblies, sure.

And V22 is already so slow that it is easy to get ahead of it with mouse clicks. (that leads to some strange results). I hope V23 is better, I may upgrade eventually.

But if you do not close it to clear the unreleased memory, it will not just be slow, it may get stupidly slow, with many seconds to respond to a mouse click, even with solid state memory. Eventually it will just error and close itself.

 

[OrjanB]

When working on a project going in and out of parts/assemblies in an efficient way (fast) is important for good workflow.

I suppose most of (or all?) of Alibre users have modern computers with late type CPU’s.
Perhaps better utilization of modern CPU`s could be a task of priority? In my opinion yes.

This way Alibre could attract more professional users - not mainly hobbyists.
In the professional world efficiency is important, and the basics has to respond without annoying oddities.

 

[simonb65]

In the professional world efficiency is important, and the basics has to respond without annoying oddities.

^this

 

[bigseb]

I suppose most of (or all?) of Alibre users have modern computers with late type CPU’s.
Perhaps better utilization of modern CPU`s could be a task of priority? In my opinion yes.

This way Alibre could attract more professional users - not mainly hobbyists.
In the professional world efficiency is important, and the basics has to respond without annoying oddities.

+1

 

[KeithH]

If you are working on a larger assembly, Alibre is always slow.
I think it's because Alibre only uses 1 core in your CPU no matter how many cores it is equipped with.
Alibre's built-in memory leak does not help either.

I just did a simple google search. Even solidworks runs on a single core. Turns out most 3d CAD does. Usually when there is a problem with slowness its the hardware, same in professional video editing programs.

I'm learning Davinci Resolve video editing software now. Very Professional grade, but it uses a massive amount of hardware resources. Every day we hear people on the faceboook group complaining that they have this or that problem, and we ask what their computer specs are and what they are trying to do. Most of the time they are trying do do things like a hollywood film with VFX, and special effects, massive amount of "Fusion" compositing (no relation to the cad program by the same name, it's a compositing engine in Davinci Resolve) and they are using a computer that just cant handle it. SO the answer is get a better computer or don't try to do all that on your current computer. Plain and simple

Plus there is the whole laptop vs desktop thing. You can have the same spec gpu per say in a laptop as a desktop or an I7 processor in both etc, but the laptop has to underclock the CPU, and they cut back on the watts to the GPU. (the laptop gets a mobile version spec to begin with) then that gpu gets a Max-P or a Max Q). They have to do all this because all those compents heat up like crazy when they work, and theres a lot more space in a desktop tower and bigger fans and airflow to cool those components down so it doesnt melt and burn the users fingers. there is a lot more i could teach but it is a computer problem not the software

 

[KeithH]

I just did a simple google search. Even solidworks runs on a single core. Turns out most 3d CAD does. Usually when there is a problem with slowness its the hardware, same in professional video editing programs.

I'm learning Davinci Resolve video editing software now. Very Professional grade, but it uses a massive amount of hardware resources. Every day we hear people on the faceboook group complaining that they have this or that problem, and we ask what their computer specs are and what they are trying to do. Most of the time they are trying do do things like a hollywood film with VFX, and special effects, massive amount of "Fusion composting" (no relation to the cad program by the same name, it's a compositing engine in Davinci Resolve) and they are using a computer that just cant handle it. SO the answer is get a better computer or don't try to do all that on your current computer. Plain and simple

Plus there is the whole laptop vs desktop thing. You can have the same spec gpu per say in a laptop as a desktop or an I7 processor in both etc, but the laptop has to underclock the CPU, and they cut back on the watts to the GPU. (the laptop gets a mobile version spec to begin with) then that gpu gets a Max-P or a Max Q) there is a lot more i could teach but it is a computer problem not the software

Also for those of you that have an Nvidia GPU, go to the NVidia website and download their free software. Update the drivers and install the "Studio" drivers when you are doing CAD, Video editing, photography any content creation. You want the Nvidia studio drivers turned on for Cad, because it makes a big difference.

If you are a gamer just open the program and switch the drivers back to gaming driver and vise versa. It takes about a minute to switch once both are updated.

I say this because most people buy gaming desktops or laptops now because, well you couldn't buy a GPU by itself right now anyways. And the game drivers are default.

 

[simonb65]

Every day we hear people on the faceboook group complaining that they have this or that problem, and we ask what their computer specs are and what they are trying to do. Most of the time they are trying do do things like a hollywood film with VFX, and special effects, massive amount of "Fusion composting" (no relation to the cad program by the same name, it's a compositing engine in Davinci Resolve) and they are using a computer that just cant handle it. SO the answer is get a better computer or don't try to do all that on your current computer. Plain and simple

The problem here is that Alibre Design is an application that has been slowly degrading in performance without any real increase in functionality. Most performance degradation has been through UI and core engine 'updates'. That says to me, as I have demonstrated in numerous posts, that the problem lies within Alibre. I've run every version on the same PC since AD V14. The responsiveness of the last 3 versions have been by far the most noticeably worse ... to the point I created a performance profiler utility to measure it. Alibre are aware of my post and I have had email conversations with them, so they are aware too. Whether we see any improvement in upcoming coming releases is yet to be seen, but performance is something that is very important to applications that process large amounts of data and particularly ones that run on a single core.

You can't just throw processing power at an application in the hope it fixes performance issues. Other CAD packages and 3D editors I use don't have these issues (load and save times, laggy, etc). Adding warnings (proposed for v24) to limit the amount of sketch figures to a very small number is not the solution, this is a bandaid (plaster) on the problem, not fixing the cause. In my line of business, that is caused a 'soft limitation' or 'concession', both of which are not acceptable to customers. You can't always blame the PC or Windows for everything!

 

[KeithH]

The problem here is that Alibre Design is an application that has been slowly degrading in performance without any real increase in functionality. Most performance degradation has been through UI and core engine 'updates'. That says to me, as I have demonstrated in numerous posts, that the problem lies within Alibre. I've run every version on the same PC since AD V14. The responsiveness of the last 3 versions have been by far the most noticeably worse ... to the point I created a performance profiler utility to measure it. Alibre are aware of my post and I have had email conversations with them, so they are aware too. Whether we see any improvement in upcoming coming releases is yet to be seen, but performance is something that is very important to applications that process large amounts of data and particularly ones that run on a single core.

You can't just throw processing power at an application in the hope it fixes performance issues. Other CAD packages and 3D editors I use don't have these issues (load and save times, laggy, etc). Adding warnings (proposed for v24) to limit the amount of sketch figures to a very small number is not the solution, this is a bandaid (plaster) on the problem, not fixing the cause. In my line of business, that is caused a 'soft limitation' or 'concession', both of which are not acceptable to customers. You can't always blame the PC or Windows for everything!

I understand what your saying. I'm not having any of those problems myself; however, I am sure you are much more complicated designs than me.

However you have to be honest, simon65, Alibre just acquired the company back at that point "3 versions ago". I think they have come far considering starting over when they bought it back. Maybe we give them some time. They have down a lot in the times since (at least I think so).

I have a lot of respect for you simon but i also have a lot of respect for Alibre. I just think we just need to let them do their thing. A person complaining about as they zoom in and the line goes through the 50 dimension on the part tab when you know it wont print like that on the tech drawing is kinda frivolous to a company trying hard and doing good to come up.