Massive Viewport Lag - Maya 2015

[Anonymous]

Hello friends, 

I'm relatively new to Maya (3 days in), but extremely eager to learn every aspect of the program and start creating short films or be able to call myself "Maya Proficient" for CGI internships.

Unfortunately, I’ve run into a problem that is causing Maya to be almost unusable for me.

Tumbling, selecting, or toggling viewports through the spacebar causes Maya to freeze for anywhere between 6-15 seconds before the command I issued appears.

This does NOT occur when in simple projects (and by “simple”, I mean like 2 or 3 cubes and random floating joints – 3days in people 😛 ), but is constantly coming up in a Solar Panel project I’ve begun to create.

My first thought was that my computer specs were just too weak to handle this professional grade software, but other people seem to be running it on laptops or various toasters without a problem.

Here are my computer specs. 

I've attached the actual file of the Solar Panel I'm in the process of creating below - in case that doesnt work, or you don't want to spend a few minutes downloading and opening a Maya file, here's a couple screenshots of what I'm looking at and is causing the lag. 

It is most noticable when I select the panels as a whole, grouped in the Outliner. Even if I hide it, the Viewport still lags when toggling between Cameras. 

Could anyone help me with this issue? I'd greatly appreciate any advice! Also, apologies in advance for my poor English; it's not my first language. 

[Anonymous]

I've had endless problems/issues with Maya 2015 ( problems that only occur in 2015 ) so I've switched to 2014 and everything is butter smooth.

[Anonymous]

First this is not going to be a maya 2015 vs 2014 thing. Maya 2015 works just fine.

So, first and foremost save the scene (There is good and potentially bad with deleting histories). Now, have you deleted your history on everything you created? Maya keeps a history of everything you do in your scene and this can really bog down the system in the viewport (depending on your graphics card). If you have not, delete all history and see what happens, I would bet it will speed up. If not, then you have a ton of geometry in your scene that your graphics card in your computer cannot handle. This would show the problems you are having as well. I am betting that if you delete the history you will see an improvement. Let us know!

Also no file was attached to post FYI!

[Anonymous]

Thanks the replies guys! 

The file should be at this link now: http://puu.sh/e7295/4a00056f96.mb

I cleared history several times through the Edit > Delete All by type > History command. 

Also, I have 2048mb of GPU Memory Limit, but opening my file throttles all that to full use and still lags.

This is my exact Graphics Card

Do you think it is an issue with my hardware? 

Also, I'm not even sure if I can download Maya 2014 >.< I'm on a student license ATM, and requested the 2015 version. 

[Anonymous]

Which Series 200 do you actually have? I have the Quadro 5000 and your file works fine in Viewport 2.0 unselected, but slows when selected. The legacy is a little worse and HQ is straight slow. I think it is definately your card, though since I do not know which one it is exactly I cannot compare. Worse case, just work in wireframe mode and it will all be smooth sailing until you can upgrade your card!

[Anonymous]

I believe I have the R7 200 Series o-o I'm not sure if it goes into much more spec detail than that. 

http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/desktop/r7 

This one right here. 

Is the project really that complex? I feel like it's extremely simple. I mean, say I wanted to create a whole environment! I imagine there'd be far more polygons than what I have now.

Like, what if one scene I was working on contained 5 of those solar panels?

What type of graphics card would I need for that?  

[Anonymous]

I have been looking at it and no, it really is not that complex or too many poly's. I have had millions and not had any issue in my viewport. Might be something with the scene itself. I optimized everything and still the same. When selected tumbling hesitated a second then all is fine. This is in viewport 2.0. Still very workable but I am not sure why it is bogging things down.

[Anonymous]

I just did a test where I made a sphere and smoothed it 3 or 4 times and duplicated it up to 600k polygons and I have zero issues in any viewport type. Something with your scene for sure.

[Anonymous]

Try this and see how it moves for you: (attached)

[Anonymous]

WOAH, That works much better :o. What did you do to it? 

I ended up creating a layer for the panels and setting it only to Reference - the lag was only occuring when I selected on the panels themselves, or tried loading up the project/closing it. 

On a side note, I finished with my first ever Maya Model (though guided heavily by a tutorial)!! 

http://puu.sh/eaMkL/9797f326a4.mb

I'm still intrested in a response if you have the time though - the more I learn, the better. 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Well, you just have all of the half cylinders nurbs still. These do not show up on the poly count but can slow the system down for sure. Something in your scene seemed to be slowing things down so I just converted all the nurbs to polys and then exported the GEO as an OBJ and imported to a new scene. This combined everything but also sped it up significantly.

I still do not know why your scene had the lag it did though. And if you seperate the obj model again it kind of lags again as well.

I was just trying to figure out what was actually slowing it down. Probably the many nurbs you had in the scene but I am not too sure.

Congrats on your first Maya model!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I'll remember to convert from NURBS to Polys in the future - and strange indeed, my new scene seems to be fine with no lag. 

I suppose the issue is closed from here, but if you don't mind I have one more question I'd like to ask. It's unrelated to the thread title, but you seem to be online at the moment. I'd greatly appreciate any help 😄 

I'm about halfway through creating a Satellite Model: http://puu.sh/eaU1N/f5fa6467d0.png 

I've gotten through most of it without having to google or refer to anything, but I'm completely stuck and can't find an answer online - is it possible to create radial symmetry of an object around a chosen axis? 

I want to try to create a sort of "nub" over the top of my satellite, like so (just a poly sphere sunked into the roof of it)

but symmetrically spaced around the top. 

Any clue on how to do this? 😛 Thanks in advanced. 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, well I really do not understand what you are trying to do???

[Anonymous]

Something like that, with the nubs around the edges evenly spaced. 

[Anonymous]

Like this (attached) image?

It is very simple. Create that first "nub" where you want it, then put its axis in the spot you want to array around. You will use duplicate special and set the rotate to the degrees you want the duplication to be. If you pick 20 for example you would set the number of copies to 17 to complete the 360 degree array.

[Anonymous]

I'm on a new project now, but I eventually figured out I was trying to rotate the X, and having the objects spin in place (derp).
From then on I've been putting random numbers in all the fields every time I use a new tool just to learn how it works - it's actually pretty educational.

Nonetheless, thank you so much for all the help man, I really appreciate it 🙂 It's actually awesome you were willing to download it, fix it, then send it back and explain to me what happen 😄 If I ever succeed in this field, it's going to be because of generous people like you who voluntarily teach.

Er.. given all the time you've already used to help, I'm a bit hesitant to ask, but would you mind checking out this thread >.< ?

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-general/a-quick-question-for-any-people-working-in-cgi/td-p/54607...

It's probably going to be a while till I've "mastered" Maya, but it doesn't hurt to get started on the right track early. 

[Anonymous]

I saw your other post. I do not work in the CG field, I have another career that I am happy with for now. I have been working in maya for 15+ years, but started getting some great education in Maya, Modeling, Rigging, and Dynamics in about early 2011. This is when I REALLY started learning a lot and actually getting to a level I could create some stuff for a proper portfolio/Demo reel. I have learned from many instructors who work (modeling, rigging, dynamics and animation) at studios including Disney, ILM, Pixar, Dreamworks, and Blue Sky studios. I have done some freelance, but limited due to my availablity.

These professionals I learned from for even this short time have taught me a lot as well as spoken of the hiring at studios. I will not go into it all of course, but what really matters is what you can DO, not what credentials you have. Your demo reel is nearly everything, and making a good demo reel should be priority. DO NOT put anything into your demo reel that is not to the highest level. Those who look at it will be ripping it apart in their minds while watching, so you should as well. Many do not do it, but even things like showing the topology is important. And clean topo is a very strong thing you should develop very early on.

You should figure out what part of CG you want to do for your career and become the best at it. You can also be a generalist if you want, but I would pick an area and master that but also learn at least some of the other areas. That extra knowledge will make you even more marketable and better at your job. I am a generalist (Maya generalist), but I LOVE Maya Dynamics, and also love Modeling. Learned a lot of rigging and like that as well since it is so logical. If I had to pick one (and I probably will at the point I try and work in the field full time) it would probably be modeling. Being able to create things from a picture or bring drawings alive (or at least to 3d) is pretty awesome. Dynamics though is really the fun stuff haha.

If you want modeling, learn Maya and zBrush. zBrush is pretty cheap actually but is widely used at studios and you will be jumping back and forth between the two on each project (especially ones involving any organic modeling). But software is like opinions. Everyone has there own and favorite. I was told once that you should figure out the "studio" you want to work for and taylor everything you learn around what they use in house. That makes a lot of sense does it not haha?

Good luck with everything and spend a lot of time in 3D. The more time you spend, the better and faster you will become.

[Anonymous]

Does this work if a curve or nurbs is used as a constraint on an object?