sidebar features
sidebar content

Go Back   Blender Artists Forums > Support > Basics & Interface

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
marksmith marksmith is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 4
Hi there,

I've just downloaded Blender for the first time :-)

Got a quick question though, I find the interface very slow, for example if I click on "File" I can watch it draw the drop down menu and fill it up (only takes a few seconds, but shouldn't it be almost instant ?

Is it because the whole things is done in OpenGL ? My systems not exactly slow (being a 2.4Ghz PV HT with 512Mb RAM) and my graphics card is only a GeforceFX 5200 but shouldn't that be enough ?

Thanks

Mark
#1   Old 24-Sep-03, 07:17   


S68's Avatar
S68 S68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Florence - Italy
Posts: 5,663
Yup, all blender is OpenGL, so you must have a card with OpenGL drivers
up and running

It must be that because my system is slower than yours and I have no problems.

Default answer is 'get the latest driver'

Advanced answer is 'look this thread'

http://www.blender.org/modules.php?o...ewtopic&t=1419

Welcome

Stefano
............................................
** You cannot make foolproof stuff - fools are too smart. **
#2   Old 24-Sep-03, 07:29   
marksmith marksmith is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 4
Hmm,

Not found a solution in that link yet, all AA is switched off, got the latest NVidia drivers.

Anyone have guesses ?

Machine is :

Windows XP (Home)
P4 2.4Ghz (Hyperthreading enabled)
512Mb DDR400 (2 * 256Mb for Dual channel)
GeforceFX 5200 128Mb

Not really a powerhouse in todays world but it should (in theory) be able to run Blender nicely.

Regards

Mark
#3   Old 24-Sep-03, 07:49   
_namke _namke is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: York, UK
Posts: 35
Ok, so I'm new to Blender, but this seems wrong... I'm seeing really nice 3D responses (manipulating shaded objects, nice responses to mouse movement etc.) but rendering text in the UI (i.e. menus, render progress indication) is so slow as to be ridiculous!

I've found that I can get good rendering speeds as long as I minimise the blender main window (so that the progress text is not displayed).

decreasing the colour depth improved things slightly, it's now usable at least!

My setup? Yes I'm using a low end ATI card - but I need the dual-heading for my music s/w

WinXP Pro
P4 2.4GHz
256MB
ATI radeon VE (32MB DDR, Dual headed - both @ 1074x768) - latest catalyst drivers

Cheers,

_namke
#4   Old 24-Sep-03, 12:53   
sten sten is offline
inactive admin,DONT PM ME
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: NOT active admin, don't PM me
Posts: 3,388
I have no issues at all, and my system is even slower, excepts for my new graphic card:

1 Ghz Thunderbird (AMD) yeah, it is 2 year old CPU and I can't even upgrade to a faster one if I don't buy a new mainboard first, heh :P

512MB RAM (2 memory slots each 256MB - 266Mhz bus system, nothing fancy)

FX5600 128MB with dualmonitor setup... (ony AGP 4x speed, no 8x on my mainboard :P )

so it works flawless and I got Latest 45.23 drivers from Nvidia and my system is Win XP Home...

so I don't know what you flaw is...what Blender version do you try?
............................................
I AM NOT AN ACTIVE ADMINISTRATOR, SO PLEASE DON'T SEND ME ANY PM'S BECAUSE I CAN'T HELP YOU, PLEASE RESPECT THAT...THANKS IN ADVANCE!
#5   Old 24-Sep-03, 14:25   
_namke _namke is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: York, UK
Posts: 35
Sorry, should have said v2.28a

Weirdly enough, it works perfectly well on the machine I am using now which uses the built-in intel 82815 graphics controller - opengl here is the microsoft version...

_namke
#6   Old 24-Sep-03, 16:36   
z3r0 d's Avatar
z3r0 d z3r0 d is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 7,270
some machines draw to the front buffer really slowly
(I hope I don't need to explain the front buffer, back buffer ...)
essentailly the menus are drawn to the front buffer because then blender doesn't have to re-draw the entire scene when erasing the menus. On some systems it would be faster to re-draw the entire scene. Maybe it should be an option?

it isn't usually the hardware, but the drivers.
............................................
For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.
#7   Old 24-Sep-03, 20:47   
Desoto's Avatar
Desoto Desoto is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 2,375
I hope you tried shutting off international fonts. That did the trick for me.
............................................
http://www.getfirefox.com
#8   Old 24-Sep-03, 22:37   
marksmith marksmith is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 4
Being a noobee :-)

How do I change that ?

Mark
#9   Old 25-Sep-03, 07:49   
_namke _namke is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: York, UK
Posts: 35
Ok, here's some more information about my home system - looks like I'm using the 'accelerated' ATI OpenGL renderer; wonder whether it's worth trying the default MS version (which seems to be adequate on the machine I have at work)??

GL Vendor ATI Technologies Inc.
GL Renderer RADEON 7000 DDR x86/SSE2
GL Version 1.3.3920 WinXP Release

I did a few approximate timings last night when rendering - with the main window and rendering window open, a simple frame takes about 5 or 6 seconds (according to the Blender 'DOS' window) to complete; minimising the main window brings this down to about a second; whilst minimising the rendereing window as well brings the render time down to about 0.1 seconds... So as you can see, writing the progress-text in the main window takes a significant amount of time!

_namke
#10   Old 25-Sep-03, 09:04   
SoloCreator's Avatar
SoloCreator SoloCreator is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Germany
Posts: 489
Hi,

It might have something to do with what's running on your system tray. There are programs such as Quick Time player that appear in the bottom right corner of your windows screen.

Programs that do appear here are usually constantly running and therefore could slow blender's performance down. To solve this problem, try exiting any programs that you don't need.

Other program such as Nortan anti virus can also slow down performance as these programs are constantly running.

Well, I hope I was of some help.

Cheers

Jon
#11   Old 25-Sep-03, 19:49   
marksmith marksmith is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 4
Thanks Jon! You gave good advise, Norton Internet Security slows Blender down to a crawl!

Odd really as it doesn't effect any other applications (at least not so I notice)

Thanks again

Mark
#12   Old 26-Sep-03, 00:50   
Closed Thread

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:44.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Logo and website design copyright © 2006 by froodee design bureau. All rights reserved.
Other Blender Sites
new icon Blender Homepage »
The official Blender homepage
new icon BlenderNation »
Fresh Blender News, Every Day
new icon Blenderart Magazine »
Blender articles, tutorials and images.
Blender Headlines
Featured Artwork
Short animation: Barrel by Phlopper
Woolly mammoth by sebastian_k
Photorealistic classic furniture by eMirage
Social BlenderArtists