AutoCAD 2010/2011/2012 DWG Format

[#1]

I do 2D drafting and have noticed that AutoCAD 2012 hesitate and can be slow when working on 2D drawings.  The drawings are small around 250KB.  What settings can I change to speed up AutoCAD?  The properties palette seems to slow things way down. 

My computer is an HP Z200 with plenty of Ram (6 GB).  I know it can't be my computer because this is the "recommended" computer by Autodesk for AutoCAD.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks!

[#2]

Hi,

>> can be slow when working on 2D drawings

And besides of the property-window (which makes some pickfirst-selection slower, not only in 2012) what means "slow" for you? Loading of drawings, copying objects, some specific commands (which one), ....??? Just the words "it's slow" does not give us enough info to give you serious/valid answers! Also necessary to now, what's the version of AutoCAD you are comparing to when you say 2012 is slow?

What objects do you have in the drawing? To say 250kB doesn't mean anything if you have XRef's included, or MINSERT-objects (I can show you a drawing having a few kB and you can't open it without having 16GB). So what objects do you have in your drawings?

Have you looked to servicepacks and hotfixes? (E.g. >>>this one<<<)

Have you searched for existing threads around performance with 2012? You would have found >>>this thread<<< giving a lot of tips you can try.

- alfred -

[#3]

The problem is that whenever I select an object (text, hatch, lines, blocks etc) with the properties palette open is hesitates maybe 1 or 2 seconds.  

[#4]

Hi,

what have you tried from the two links I provided? It does not make sense to repeat here what was already suggested there!

- alfred -

[#5]

I installed the service pack 1.  Changed windows 7 theme to classic instead of Aero.  purged and audited the drawing, it contains no x-refs.  Restarted the computer.  Autocad is a bit faster now with the aero theme off, but it still hesitates when I have the properties palette open.

Does yours do this with all drawings? I tried several different drawings from the autocad website and it still does this hesitation. 

Thanks!

[#6 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

>> Does yours do this with all drawings?

honestly I never thought about 1 or 2 seconds anything uses to show me some infos

Using Civil3D I'm used to sometimes wait 10 or 20 seconds when selecting e.g. a surface- or a corridor-object.

What I know you can save time is for complex polylines (polylines havign a lot of vertices) the calculation of the area seems to use the most time before the property-window refreshes the info. If you minimize the "geometry"-part or the prop-windows the speed/time of reaction get's better.

- alfred -

[#7]

Ya I think that working with the properties palette closed will speed up things.  I can see it calculating the area of polylines.  Also, i found that LI (list) command is good for listing properties.  Thanks for the help.

[#8]

try  turning off visual effects

selectionpreview= 0

and

vtenable  =0

also turn off quick properties palette

and see if its faster

[#9]

The drafting settings buttons are by default set to "use Icons" and there a lot of them truned on that don't need to be. This could be a performance drainer. Lineweight(LWT), Dynamic UCS (DUCS), Selection Cycling (SC), Transparency (TPY), and Dynamic Input (DYN) is the worst offender... I turn these off unless needed. One tip that helps to see what icons are turned on is to turn them to text. To do this, simply right click over any of the "drafting settings" buttons and uncheck "use Icons." This might not be a great fix but it helps me and other people at work when AutoCAD gets sluggish.

Turn off "Use Icons"

Don't get me wrong, I like and use these tools but they shouldn't all be turned on by default since they drain performance. I simply use them as needed..

~Greg

[#10]

Thanks for the tips, I just turned them all off so I will see if that helps.  AutoCAD is an awsome programs but it can be tricky sometimes.