Autodesk recently introduced a Performance Analyzer tool in AutoCAD 2023. This tool is not as functional as the performance evaluation tool available in SOLIDWORKS but it can be helpful.
Why would you use a performance analyzer? As anyone who works in CAD knows, high productivity is essential. Most of us are working on deadlines or schedules. If we can work faster, we can meet our deadlines. The 30 seconds we wait on our computers, watching that spinning wheel, adds up and negatively impacts our ability to meet schedules. How many of you have had a supervisor or colleague walk up to your desk and ask, “Why is this taking so long?” while you stare at your screen and at that spinning wheel.
When frustrated with a slow machine, most users demand a new workstation. However, a new workstation may not be within your company’s budget. What’s more, a new workstation may not solve the problem. There are four components in any computer that impact how fast it runs: CPU, graphics card, drive and memory.
To determine how your workstation is configured, you type System in your Start bar and select System Information.
Locate the CPU information under Processor.
It is not always easy to replace a computer’s CPU. Many workstations and laptops have the CPU soldered in place. This forces you to replace the machine’s motherboard. If you have to do that, you might as well get a whole new workstation with an upgraded CPU. Autodesk recommends a 3+ GHz processor (base), 4+ GHz (better) and, by the way, ARM processors are not supported. Check what type of CPU you have installed on your workstation. If it doesn’t meet these requirements, you can make an argument for an upgraded workstation.
Locate the amount of memory under Installed Physical Memory.
Many users make the mistake of throwing in extra memory. Memory cards are cheap, so they tend to be low-hanging fruit. Upgrading memory means better performance. Except when it doesn’t. You can fill up every memory slot in a workstation and see absolutely no improvement in your processing time. This can be particularly annoying when you have told your supervisor that this will solve your problem. Autodesk recommends at least 16 GB of RAM for decent performance but I use at least 32 GB in my primary CAD workstation. I do a lot of 3D modeling.
To find out what type of video chip or graphics card is installed in your workstation, look under the Components category and highlight Display.
Many workstations and laptops don’t use graphics cards. Instead, they have a video chip soldered onto the motherboard. If you are lucky enough to have a workstation that allows you to swap out the graphics card, do not use a graphics card geared toward video games. That’s a rookie error. CAD software often relies on DirectX, which is not supported by most gaming video cards. Instead, look at Autodesk’s website (or the website for the CAD software you use the most) and search for their graphics card recommendations. This ensures that the graphics card you purchase has been tested and certified to work with your software.
If you go to https://knowledge.autodesk.com/certified-graphics-hardware, you can search for video cards that have been tested and certified to work with AutoCAD. When I select a graphics card, I try to max out the memory that is on that card. If I have a choice between a certified card with 8 GB of RAM or 16 GB of RAM, I pick the one with 16 GB of RAM even if it is more expensive.
To find out how much storage is available on your workstation, locate the Storage category and highlight Drives.
Autodesk recommends at least 10 GB of free space on your hard drive for AutoCAD to perform optimally. This is because whenever you open a drawing, AutoCAD requires enough space to save the open drawing plus room for a backup drawing plus space to keep track of your UNDO operations. Many users don’t realize that they need this much free space just to work in the software. If your hard drive goes under 10 GB of free space, AutoCAD will start having issues, may crash, and may even fail to launch. I recommend that you perform a disk cleanup at least once a month and delete any unnecessary files or move files that you want to save but don’t need to access readily to a server or external drive.
If you are a CAD manager or are supervising a CAD group, I want to walk you through the best practices I developed when managing a team to improve performance by evaluating their workstations.
I started out by creating an Excel spreadsheet:
I used the following column headers: User Name, Asset Number, Software Used, CPU, RAM Installed, Graphics Card and Hard Drive Size/Free Space.
This allowed me to do a quick comparison of everyone’s machines when I ran the Performance Analyzer. The final column has the test results from the analyzer.
To test each workstation, I wrote a short script that would be run on each machine. I save the script to a jump/flash drive so that I can walk to each person’s machine, launch the Performance Analyzer, run the script and then save the results.
By using a script, I ensured that I was comparing apples to apples. Each machine would have to run through the exact same commands and tasks. One machine would be the fastest. I would then modify the rest of the team’s workstations to match that machine.
- Zoom extents
- Restore several saved views
- Select all circles
- Delete the circles
- Undo
- Draw a polyline
- Plot to a PDF
- Save and close the drawing
I want to restore views and zoom to check how well AutoCAD performs regenerations of each view.
Follow these steps to create a script file:
- Set the FILEDIA system variable to 0 to stop dialog boxes that access files from opening.
- Run through the steps that you want to automate using the command line only. Write down (or type in Notepad) the steps. You can copy your command line entry directly to Notepad. Press F2 to open the AutoCAD text window for that purpose.
- Press Enter at the end of each command or use a blank space, which is the equivalent of pressing Enter. The script reads every space, so you need to get it exactly right. The script is easier to read if you put each command on its own line.
- Enclose layer names or file names (and file paths) that contain spaces in quotation marks.
- Insert comments periodically for explanation. To insert a comment, precede the text with a semicolon.
- Save the file with an SCR filename extension by typing “.scr” after the file name.
- Set FILEDIA back to 1.
You will be prompted to give the script a name. Note where the file will be saved.
Click OK.
I start by opening Notepad. That’s where I will write my script.
This is my script:
--------------------------------------------------------------
FILEDIA 0
OPEN
"c:\filename.dwg"
ZOOM
EXTENTS
-VIEW
RESTORE
"kitchen 1"
ZOOM
EXTENTS
-VIEW
RESTORE
"kitchen 2"
-VIEW
RESTORE
"ALL"
ERASE
all
UNDO
1
PLINE
500,-400
W
0.4
0.4
500,400
1800,400
1800,-400
CLOSE
ZOOM
EXTENTS
–PLOT
_NO
MODEL
ADOBE PDF
_NO
_NO
_YES
SAVE
"c:\filename.dwg"
YES
FILEDIA 1
CLOSE
------------------------------------------------------------------
To bring up the Performance Analyzer, type PERFANALYZER—or allow AutoCAD to prompt you for the command by typing PER.
Click Start Recording.
You will see a timer start a countdown. The Performance Analyzer shouldn’t use a script that lasts longer than 30 minutes. I keep my scripts relatively short. If I can, I select a really large drawing to use for the test to check the open, save and close rates.
Type SCR to run your script.
When the script is completed, click Stop Recording.
Don’t forget: If you use the above script, make sure that FILEDIA is reset back to 1 or users will not get any dialog boxes.
I hope that Autodesk will expand this tool in future releases. It does not currently provide enough data when running simple scripts. And can we have the ability to store scripts to be run for testing as well as assist with script writing? Ideally, one would be able to run a script to batch process several files or a directory to fully test each machine.