AutoCAD 2004/2005/2006 DWG Format

[#1]

We are having performance issues with drawings that have multiple copies of
an xref that is clipped in various ways.. Using Acad 2006, win XP sp2
Pentium 4 3.2 with 2Gb ram.
The drawings are of precast concrete panels. We produce elevation drawings
of the complete wall (may be 50 or so panels in the whole wall). We then
xref this elevation into another drawing and xclip each panel so we can
dimension it up on it's own drawing for fabrication. Each panel has a
paperspace tab with it's titleblock information in it.
After setting up the first panel, we copy the tab and pan the viewport over
to the next panel. If there are 50 panels in the elevation we end up with 50
copies of the xref, each one clipped differently for each panel.
The whole system works really well, except that AutoCAD slows down
substantially as the number of copies of the clipped xref increases, to the
point that it can take 40-50 seconds to change tabs. It seems that the
regeneration of the paperspace tabs is the problem because once they are
cached switching is almost instant.
For a drawing with very little in it, it takes a VERY long time to regen!
Does anyone have any ideas for improving the performance? Our only solution
at the moment is to limit the number of panels in each drawing to around
10...

Thanks for any suggestions

Max

[#2]

I might be all wet, but I have 2 thoughts.
Maybe send it to someone who is using a computer made for really heavy duty AutoCAD use, rather than the OK one you have, to see if there is a performance difference. If you do jobs like that all the time, a $3000+ machine might be needed.
Are the xclips odd shapes? Do they need to be?

BOB

[#3]

Using INDEXCTL set to 3 can improve the performance up to 10 times I have
seen, especially in combination with xrefs, xclip and viewports.

--
Best Regards, Jimmy Bergmark
CAD and Database Developer Manager at www.pharmadule-emtunga.com
Blog: http://jtbworld.blogspot.com
JTB FlexReport (FLEXnet / FLEXlm report tool) -
http://www.jtbworld.com/jtbflexreport
SmartPurger (Purges automatically) - http://www.jtbworld.com/smartpurger.htm
or download some freeware at http://www.jtbworld.com
More on AutoCAD 2006 and 2007
http://www.jtbworld.com/autocad2006.htm
http://www.jtbworld.com/autocad2007.htm


"Andrew Dunn" wrote in message
news:5113765@discussion.autodesk.com...
We are having performance issues with drawings that have multiple copies of
an xref that is clipped in various ways.. Using Acad 2006, win XP sp2
Pentium 4 3.2 with 2Gb ram.
The drawings are of precast concrete panels. We produce elevation drawings
of the complete wall (may be 50 or so panels in the whole wall). We then
xref this elevation into another drawing and xclip each panel so we can
dimension it up on it's own drawing for fabrication. Each panel has a
paperspace tab with it's titleblock information in it.
After setting up the first panel, we copy the tab and pan the viewport over
to the next panel. If there are 50 panels in the elevation we end up with 50
copies of the xref, each one clipped differently for each panel.
The whole system works really well, except that AutoCAD slows down
substantially as the number of copies of the clipped xref increases, to the
point that it can take 40-50 seconds to change tabs. It seems that the
regeneration of the paperspace tabs is the problem because once they are
cached switching is almost instant.
For a drawing with very little in it, it takes a VERY long time to regen!
Does anyone have any ideas for improving the performance? Our only solution
at the moment is to limit the number of panels in each drawing to around
10...

Thanks for any suggestions

Max

[#4]

I doubt this would be your problem, but with large sites (civil work), I've
seen inappropriate LIMITS settings seem to cause some fairly serious
performance problems. It might be worth a quick look, anyway.

"Andrew Dunn" wrote in message
news:5113765@discussion.autodesk.com...
We are having performance issues with drawings that have multiple copies of
an xref that is clipped in various ways.. Using Acad 2006, win XP sp2
Pentium 4 3.2 with 2Gb ram.
The drawings are of precast concrete panels. We produce elevation drawings
of the complete wall (may be 50 or so panels in the whole wall). We then
xref this elevation into another drawing and xclip each panel so we can
dimension it up on it's own drawing for fabrication. Each panel has a
paperspace tab with it's titleblock information in it.
After setting up the first panel, we copy the tab and pan the viewport over
to the next panel. If there are 50 panels in the elevation we end up with 50
copies of the xref, each one clipped differently for each panel.
The whole system works really well, except that AutoCAD slows down
substantially as the number of copies of the clipped xref increases, to the
point that it can take 40-50 seconds to change tabs. It seems that the
regeneration of the paperspace tabs is the problem because once they are
cached switching is almost instant.
For a drawing with very little in it, it takes a VERY long time to regen!
Does anyone have any ideas for improving the performance? Our only solution
at the moment is to limit the number of panels in each drawing to around
10...

Thanks for any suggestions

Max

[#5]

INDEXCTL seems to do the trick!!
Dropped tab swapping times from 40-50 seconds to only 4-5 seconds.
This is a life saver... thanks guys.


"Jimmy Bergmark" wrote in message
news:5113838@discussion.autodesk.com...
Using INDEXCTL set to 3 can improve the performance up to 10 times I have
seen, especially in combination with xrefs, xclip and viewports.

--
Best Regards, Jimmy Bergmark
CAD and Database Developer Manager at www.pharmadule-emtunga.com
Blog: http://jtbworld.blogspot.com
JTB FlexReport (FLEXnet / FLEXlm report tool) -
http://www.jtbworld.com/jtbflexreport
SmartPurger (Purges automatically) - http://www.jtbworld.com/smartpurger.htm
or download some freeware at http://www.jtbworld.com
More on AutoCAD 2006 and 2007
http://www.jtbworld.com/autocad2006.htm
http://www.jtbworld.com/autocad2007.htm


"Andrew Dunn" wrote in message
news:5113765@discussion.autodesk.com...
We are having performance issues with drawings that have multiple copies of
an xref that is clipped in various ways.. Using Acad 2006, win XP sp2
Pentium 4 3.2 with 2Gb ram.
The drawings are of precast concrete panels. We produce elevation drawings
of the complete wall (may be 50 or so panels in the whole wall). We then
xref this elevation into another drawing and xclip each panel so we can
dimension it up on it's own drawing for fabrication. Each panel has a
paperspace tab with it's titleblock information in it.
After setting up the first panel, we copy the tab and pan the viewport over
to the next panel. If there are 50 panels in the elevation we end up with 50
copies of the xref, each one clipped differently for each panel.
The whole system works really well, except that AutoCAD slows down
substantially as the number of copies of the clipped xref increases, to the
point that it can take 40-50 seconds to change tabs. It seems that the
regeneration of the paperspace tabs is the problem because once they are
cached switching is almost instant.
For a drawing with very little in it, it takes a VERY long time to regen!
Does anyone have any ideas for improving the performance? Our only solution
at the moment is to limit the number of panels in each drawing to around
10...

Thanks for any suggestions

Max

[#6]

Yup, I had tried that one... but Limites makes no difference.
Indexctl seems to have done the trick though..
Thanks..


"TomD" wrote in message
news:5113960@discussion.autodesk.com...
I doubt this would be your problem, but with large sites (civil work), I've
seen inappropriate LIMITS settings seem to cause some fairly serious
performance problems. It might be worth a quick look, anyway.

"Andrew Dunn" wrote in message
news:5113765@discussion.autodesk.com...
We are having performance issues with drawings that have multiple copies of
an xref that is clipped in various ways.. Using Acad 2006, win XP sp2
Pentium 4 3.2 with 2Gb ram.
The drawings are of precast concrete panels. We produce elevation drawings
of the complete wall (may be 50 or so panels in the whole wall). We then
xref this elevation into another drawing and xclip each panel so we can
dimension it up on it's own drawing for fabrication. Each panel has a
paperspace tab with it's titleblock information in it.
After setting up the first panel, we copy the tab and pan the viewport over
to the next panel. If there are 50 panels in the elevation we end up with 50
copies of the xref, each one clipped differently for each panel.
The whole system works really well, except that AutoCAD slows down
substantially as the number of copies of the clipped xref increases, to the
point that it can take 40-50 seconds to change tabs. It seems that the
regeneration of the paperspace tabs is the problem because once they are
cached switching is almost instant.
For a drawing with very little in it, it takes a VERY long time to regen!
Does anyone have any ideas for improving the performance? Our only solution
at the moment is to limit the number of panels in each drawing to around
10...

Thanks for any suggestions

Max

[#7]

Thanks for letting me know what did work for you.

"Andrew Dunn" wrote in message
news:5114800@discussion.autodesk.com...
Yup, I had tried that one... but Limites makes no difference.
Indexctl seems to have done the trick though..
Thanks..


"TomD" wrote in message
news:5113960@discussion.autodesk.com...
I doubt this would be your problem, but with large sites (civil work), I've
seen inappropriate LIMITS settings seem to cause some fairly serious
performance problems. It might be worth a quick look, anyway.