Why is Blender starting up so fast?

ShadowFantasy1 · September 30, 2009, 10:49pm

Actually no Roofoo. For instance, let’s look at video games for a second here. Now video games can’t obviously place all their models in each level, it isn’t practical and causes tons of slowdown. So there are loading screens that pull up certain files such as sound and models that the game requires to be playable, then leaves the rest in the disk. A disk is no more than a compact hard drive, so if there was a loading screen for blender, it could optimize itself as it went from mode to mode, which is probably contradictory to blender’s amazing ability to model quickly.

But the upside would be if one was working on a project that only requires one mode or if the person did not mind the constant load times, thus it could be more efficient with the faces.(come on blender I know you could render 12 million faces on my old windows machine!)or(yes! sculpting at 5 million faces and still as smooth as butter!) or even (HA! With graphic quality of my game with normal mapping, along with 2000 tris each object, and running at 120 fps it pwns even professional games!)   "really unpractical in a sense,but still one could only dream.... :D"

~‘note most of this is pure speculation from a 14 year old, thus one must not get their hopes up or mad rage at any information misrepresented’

ElAkimein · September 30, 2009, 11:45pm

Because it doesn’t use Windows registry? No license/DRM checks?

ideasman42 · October 1, 2009, 1:34am

One reason I think is that it doesn’t have many library dependencies

Blender


    linux-gate.so.1 =&gt;  (0xb7f9b000)
    libGL.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 (0xb7ec6000)
    libGLU.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libGLU.so.1 (0xb7e58000)
    libjpeg.so.7 =&gt; /usr/lib/libjpeg.so.7 (0xb7e24000)
    libpng12.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 (0xb7dfe000)
    libz.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0xb7dea000)
    libXi.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXi.so.6 (0xb7de0000)
    libutil.so.1 =&gt; /lib/libutil.so.1 (0xb7ddc000)
    libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7c96000)
    libm.so.6 =&gt; /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7c70000)
    libpthread.so.0 =&gt; /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7c57000)
    libstdc++.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb7b65000)
    libX11.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb7a48000)
    libdl.so.2 =&gt; /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb7a44000)
    libpython3.1.so.1.0 =&gt; /root/opt/python/lib/libpython3.1.so.1.0 (0xb7816000)
    libfreetype.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6 (0xb7791000)
    libsamplerate.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libsamplerate.so.0 (0xb7626000)
    libgcc_s.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb7607000)
    libGLcore.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0xb669e000)
    libnvidia-tls.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libnvidia-tls.so.1 (0xb669c000)
    libXext.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb668d000)
    /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7f9c000)
    libxcb.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0xb6674000)
    libXau.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb6671000)
    libXdmcp.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb666b000)

Gnome terminal


    /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb8083000)
    libICE.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libICE.so.6 (0xb7798000)
    libORBit-2.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libORBit-2.so.0 (0xb7300000)
    libSM.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libSM.so.6 (0xb77af000)
    libX11.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb74f7000)
    libXau.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb72ee000)
    libXcomposite.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXcomposite.so.1 (0xb7440000)
    libXcursor.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1 (0xb7443000)
    libXdamage.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXdamage.so.1 (0xb743d000)
    libXdmcp.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb72e8000)
    libXext.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb7469000)
    libXfixes.so.3 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3 (0xb7437000)
    libXi.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXi.so.6 (0xb7453000)
    libXinerama.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1 (0xb745d000)
    libXrandr.so.2 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2 (0xb744c000)
    libXrender.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0xb7460000)
    libatk-1.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0 (0xb7b56000)
    libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7639000)
    libcairo.so.2 =&gt; /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2 (0xb7a2c000)
    libdbus-1.so.3 =&gt; /usr/lib/libdbus-1.so.3 (0xb78ad000)
    libdbus-glib-1.so.2 =&gt; /usr/lib/libdbus-glib-1.so.2 (0xb78e6000)
    libdl.so.2 =&gt; /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb740d000)
    libexpat.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libexpat.so.1 (0xb7355000)
    libfontconfig.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1 (0xb793a000)
    libfreetype.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6 (0xb7965000)
    libgconf-2.so.4 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgconf-2.so.4 (0xb7904000)
    libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0xb7b70000)
    libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 (0xb7aaa000)
    libgio-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0 (0xb7aeb000)
    libglib-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0 (0xb77c0000)
    libgmodule-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0 (0xb7936000)
    libgobject-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0 (0xb7872000)
    libgthread-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgthread-2.0.so.0 (0xb7fa2000)
    libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0xb7bfb000)
    libm.so.6 =&gt; /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7613000)
    libncursesw.so.5 =&gt; /lib/libncursesw.so.5 (0xb74a9000)
    libpango-1.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0 (0xb79ea000)
    libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 (0xb7a9f000)
    libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 (0xb7ac4000)
    libpcre.so.0 =&gt; /lib/libpcre.so.0 (0xb7478000)
    libpixman-1.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 (0xb73b4000)
    libpng12.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 (0xb7411000)
    libpthread.so.0 =&gt; /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb777f000)
    librt.so.1 =&gt; /lib/librt.so.1 (0xb7f99000)
    libstartup-notification-1.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstartup-notification-1.so.0 (0xb77b8000)
    libuuid.so.1 =&gt; /lib/libuuid.so.1 (0xb72f1000)
    libvte.so.9 =&gt; /usr/lib/libvte.so.9 (0xb7fa6000)
    libxcb-atom.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb-atom.so.1 (0xb72f5000)
    libxcb-aux.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb-aux.so.0 (0xb72fc000)
    libxcb-event.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb-event.so.1 (0xb72f9000)
    libxcb-render-util.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb-render-util.so.0 (0xb73b0000)
    libxcb-render.so.0 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb-render.so.0 (0xb73a8000)
    libxcb.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0xb738f000)
    libz.so.1 =&gt; /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0xb737b000)
    linux-gate.so.1 =&gt;  (0xb8082000)

Unluckily blender 2.5 runs EVERY script on startup, expect blender to get slower

ankit_pruthi · October 1, 2009, 1:53am

Unluckily blender 2.5 runs EVERY script on startup, expect blender to get slower

Is this only for a while or will it stay so in all future releases of blender?? I hope it has a workaround (other than deleting scripts)

Oxben · October 1, 2009, 2:08am

I’ve noticed that Blender 2.5 SVN starts slower than 2.49 on my system (a couple more seconds). As anyone else noticed the same thing?
Is it caused by the parsing of UI elements from the Python files?

coryalantaylor · October 1, 2009, 5:13pm

I can’t tell if y’all are being sarcastic or not. I like the fast loading speed. I hoped they keep it fast.

J09 · October 1, 2009, 5:19pm

I have noticed the same time difference as well, though for me they both come up in 1 sec or less, so its not a really big deal.

ideasman42 · October 2, 2009, 4:39am

Initially brecht and I planned to store all script data in 1 file and only load the classes as needed, but surprisingly loading every script isnt THAT slow.

Python compiles into bytecode and reuses this so after the first load its not too bad. I did some tests and on my 3-4 year old system it could load 500 or so of our interface scripts in under a second IIRC.

options are

cache class info and know which ones to load first.
write our own import function which does less file lookups then pythons
have scripts load in the background (can do some trick where buttons/ui scripts load first)
write a python to C converter that only needs to handle our simple UI scripts. (ok, this is just silly - but possible)
make users suffer and just accept slower loading times!

Basically if it becomes a problem we can work around it :), have no fear!

Oxben · October 2, 2009, 6:49am

Excellent.

2.49 is so fast to start, (on my rig, it takes only 2 second before the whole interface is displayed), so, when Blender took 2 more seconds to display the interface in 2.5 I noticed it. That’s all.

A couple of seconds to start an application like Blender 2.5 is still an amazing performance!

Blender_Gorilla · October 1, 2018, 2:59pm

You have to pay to get the slow-loading programs.

Photoshop takes MUCH longer NOW to load than it did ten years ago. I take note of the quickness every time I open Blender.