Maximising Computer Performance When Using Measure PC
The article below was written in March 2019. If you are experiencing performance issues with Measure, the suggestions will be useful, but we can advise that later in 2020, we will be releasing the 64-bit version of Measure Desktop. We are already using it in beta, and I am pleased to report that not only has performance improved dramatically, but a number of very cool new functions have also been introduced. We will keep you posted on release. - Chris Ogden July 2020.
For residential and small to medium commercial projects, Measure is going to perform satisfactorily for most users on even older PCs. If you are working with large commercial plans, or if Measure is working sluggishly, you will want to explore some ways to get optimum performance out of Measure on your current hardware.
One of the most common reasons for Measure to slow down is leaving pdf files in their vectored state. Measure will give you all the information you need to quantify a plan if the pdf is simplified (or rasterised). Measure will prompt you with the option to create a rasterised file when it recognises that you are importing a large pdf file; we recommend that you select Yes to simplify the file. If you want to know more about Vector files and Raster files, click here.
Even simplified files can mount up in size. If you are working on a large multi-level project and you notice performance deteriorating; start a new Measure file for the balance of the project. Within Measure you can combine multiple files to get overall totals for a single project.
Measure will handle multiple pdf images per sheet, but again you might notice some slowing if you have more than three or four pdf images on a single tab within a Measure project.
On a large tile project, quantify by Tile Area and not by Tile Count. Tile Count uses a lot more horsepower than calculating by area, and in a large project, doesn’t add a lot of value.
In Measure Options/Drawing, you will see a new setting, Blueprints. The purpose of this setting is to improve performance, but you will note that it requires heavier memory usage. If your computer has insufficient memory resources, having this box checked could exacerbate poor performance. Uncheck the box to see if performance improves.
If Measure is getting a lot of use in the course of the day, reboot the program from time to time. Measure can hog resource, and use up file memory; when you reboot the program you free up the memory cache and reset.
Similarly, restart your computer from time to time. Most IT experts recommend once a day.
Ensure that Measure resides locally on the machine that your are working from. Measure is not designed to be used from a server, but often it does and it performs well, until it doesn’t. By all means save Measure files to a network location, but it is recommended that you have Measure on your local machine.
If you are doing all of the above, but are still experiencing performance issues, it’s time to look at your hardware. Our recommendations to clients purchasing new PCs change from time to time reflecting Measure development and improvements to PC technology, but you can see the latest recommendations on the measureflooring.com website. Click here to go direct to the recommendations.
Measure is snappy and responsive. If this is not your experience, work through our recommendations above, and if you can’t achieve some improvement, contact us and we will be happy to help.