Maya 8.5 framerate drop

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:53 am

Hi.

I'm using Maya 8.5 on windows xp 32 bit OS. Recently I bought SpaceNavigator PE and installed the latest drivers from your website.

The problem I have is drastic framerate drop when I use SpaceNavigator to move the camera around. When I switch to mouse, it works perfectly smooth. All I do is let go navigator and move around with mouse, no turning Maya off and on.

When I tried to work with navigator at home with Maya 8.0, there is no such problem. I use practically the same computers at work and at home.

My guess is that Maya 8.5 has a problem with drivers, am I right? If so, will there be an update soon?

Thanx for your time,
AR

Post by **rstadie** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:15 am

Hi Raayaar,

Can you give me an example how and in which situation you measure the framerate-drop?
If possible please give me an step-by-step-instruction using this example: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya8.5\presets\toon\examples\CarrotTopKick.ma - I will try to reproduce this.

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 1:21 am

Well, it's quite simple and it's the same with this example scene and with new empty scene.

When I navigate around using my mouse and keyboard, framerate is normal, everything runs smooth. Then I grab my space navigator and even simple or empty scenes start to behave like there was a lot of geometry in them, framerate drops to barley acceptable level. This is particularly noticeable in empty scene with just a grid, where framerate difference is very big.

I noticed something else yesterday - a few moments after selecting a new tool, when the help text is still on the screen, performance with space navigator is normal. When the help text disappears, framerate drops again. This lasts maybe for a second after the change of the tool.

Oh, and fps meter in Maya always shows the same framerate, even though you can easily tell it dropped to about 10 fps.

As I said before, at home I don't have this problem, working with space navigator is very smooth, but I use Maya 8.0.

Post by **rstadie** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 2:02 am

I have just tested Maya 8.5 and currently I am not aware of a framerate-drop while using our SpaceNavigator.
Please look at the task-manager - how much cpu-time is Maya using when panning and zooming around with / without the SpaceNavigator? Do you use similar VGA-Cards at home/work?

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:50 am

There is no difference in CPU usage. Since Maya FPS meter doesn't show any change either I suspect there must be some internal space navigator refresh rate issue or something. There are fractions of time when it works very smooth and because of this display of smoothness slow jerky movement irritates me even more

At home I have identical graphic card (Nvidia GF 8800 GTS 320), the only difference is AMD CPU here at work and Intel at home. I also have dual screen desktop at work, but I tried to unplug one monitor and it was the same.

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:46 am

My coworker just confirmed my observations - he has the same problem with his space navigator. His computer is the same as mine and he also runs Maya 8.0.

We noticed that every selection of an object in the scene is followed by a very short performance boost (approximately 0.5 second) when camera turns smoothly with space navigator. After that it gets slower again.

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:48 am

Sorry, I meant he runs Maya 8.5.

Post by **rstadie** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:25 am

Hi Raayaar,

Does this also appear when you are in Single Perspective View?

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:00 am

Yes, it also appears in Single Perspective View.

Post by **rstadie** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:08 am

I am still unsuccessful in reproducing this.
Perhaps you are able to send me a short video of this issue? Or a step-by-step-manual to reproduce this problem.

orionlogic · Post by **orionlogic** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:11 pm

i have the same problem with Spacepilot + Maya 8.5

I open fraps to see fps and open task manager to see cpu load.

When i try to move with mouse it is smooth no problem and i get 100fps. CPU load is 20~30% (quad core)

However when i try move with spacepilot its not that smooth as mouse and i get 60 fps.CPU load is 15~18.

i wish i had the same look in my spacepilot. Is there something wrong ?
related with usb interface or driver or whatever???

Post by **rstadie** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:01 am

Hi,

When you open the Maya Script Editor right after starting Maya - do you see any errors? Do you see any output in the Script Editor while pushing buttons or moving around? (Perhaps you have to toggle the "History-Output"-settings).

Post by **jwick** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:08 am

60fps is the max the SP will produce. But, 60 fps is extremely fast. I don't think anyone would complain about 60 fps. In fact, it's the max frame rate of most LCD monitors.

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:40 am

No, no errors in script editor.

It's much less then 60 fps, I'd say it's around 15 to 20. I will try to make a short video of the fps difference when using SP.

Raayaar · Post by **Raayaar** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:54 am

Update: In empty scene framerates are exactly:

- 60 fps when using mouse
- 17 fps when using space pilot

I tested with Fraps 2.9.3.