Slowdowns and Constant Refreshing of Dialogs

[Mike Truly]

OK, I have posted about this issue before (couple of years ago/couple of MAX versions) but the issues are still the same and no one ever explained why they must be this way.

Currently using the SpacePilot on XP x64, 32GB, Dual QuadroFX 3450s, MAX2010_64, latest drivers, etc.


My workstation runs a 4 monitor desktop... so I have plenty of screen real estate for dialogs, etc. When I run MAX2010_64 (primary app using the SP) I have it setup such that there are many important dialogs that are always visible on the screen. The MAX viewports are displayed on a single monitor and the other 3 monitors have various dialogs on them. Particularly, the Layers dialog and the Selection Floater dialog which are used to show/hide objects and select objects as well as display their hierarchical structure... very important dialogs.

If I use the standard mouse and keyboard combinations (NOT using SpacePilot) to orbit around a model... it moves at lightning speed and responsiveness. If I use the SpacePilot to orbit around the model... it seems to be somewhere between 50% to 60% of the mouse manipulation speed. In addition, while using the SpacePilot to orbit... the Layers dialog and Selection Floater dialog flash constantly with manipulation of the SP knob.


This is because of the way the SpacePilot software has been designed to work where it is constantly creating the mystery 3dxStudio Perspective object whenever the user manipulates the SP knob. I understand that this mystery object is important to the way the SP operates. But because this mystery object is constantly being created again and again... it is making these two dialogs that I constantly use (Layers and Selection Floater) refresh repeatedly which is not only hugely distracting but also contributing to the SpacePilots slow manipulation of viewing objects in the viewports. I know this because when I close, minimize or roll-up these two important dialogs (so they are not visible on the screen)... the SpacePilot gets noticably faster at viewport manipulation (NOT as fast as the standard mouse/keyboard combinations... but visibly faster).

So my questions are:

1. Why recreate this mystery object all the time? Why not create it once and re-use it whenever the user touches the knob. If it doesn't exist, create it then keep using the existing mystery object. The Layers and Selection Floater dialog seem to be refreshing because of this constant creation.

2. Objects that already exist and that are hidden NEVER affect the refresh of these dialogs, because they already exist and are hidden. So it seems that when the mystery object is created, it is created as visible therefore these dialogs must refresh to show it's newly created presence. Isn't there a way to make the mystery object only once and always be invisible so as not to make these dialogs refresh?

As I orbit a teapot using the SpacePilot and look at the Layers dialog and Selection Floater dialog... the 3DxStudio mystery object is constantly created and shows as VISIBLE. This approach seems to be slowing things down significantly.

Thanks!

[shogoboom]

I have a user with a similar problem with Pro Engineer. The computer constantly locks up while he is working and it can be anywhere from a few seconds to more than ten minutes till the computer begins to respond again. The only resolution we've come up with is unplugging his 3d space pilot pro. If anyone has any suggestions or possible fixes they'd be much appreciated.