3DxPro/Engineer delays when using SpacePilot

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on Windows.

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blybarg
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3DxPro/Engineer delays when using SpacePilot

Post by blybarg »

I've noticed considerable delays in all modes (Part, Assy, Dwg) of Pro/E since upgrading the SpacePilot software to 3.0 & up. Pro/E seems to freeze for 3-5 seconds then respondes to commands. Rolled SpacePilot software back to 2.8.2 and problem goes away.

Here some more info:
Pro/E Wildfire 2.0 M220
Inventor 10 & 11
Dell Precision 470, 2GB, 3.40GHz
Nvidia Quadro FX 3300/3400, Driver 81.67

Any ideas?
mweigand
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Post by mweigand »

Hi blybarg,

please refer to this thread: viewtopic.php?t=57
blybarg
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Post by blybarg »

Thanks for the response. I did read that thread prior to my post. I have also experienced those problems when switching applications, ie Office, Adobe, or Pro/E. I also removed the Office and Adobe drivers and noticed the end of the app switching delay. Unfortunately this was not my reasoning for posting. My delays are all when staying inside the same Pro/E window. Any command selection, (ie thru right-click menus, model tree menus, or the toolbar commands) seems to freeze the computer for a few seconds. Very annoying. It was getting to the point that any Pro/E work was done without the SpacePilot. I would be happy to help determine the root cause. I prefer the 3.0 drivers and new appications (DWF viewer, picture viewer).

Brian
Bob
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Post by Bob »

I called tech support yesterday on the same issue. I was told that it's a known issue and that the engineers were working on it. We'll see.....
blybarg
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Post by blybarg »

I have just loaded the 3.1.8 software and as of today have NOT had the same Pro/E Wildfire delay issues as before. I was hoping to find some release notes addressing the bug but could not find any.
takedownca
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Same problem in 3.1.8

Post by takedownca »

I just started using my SpacePilot today and am suffering from the same problem that was discussed in this thread. I have version 3.1.8 of the software installed with only 3DxWare and the 3DxProEngineer plugin along with Wildfire 3.0 M060. Whenever the driver is active I can manipulate the model in the graphics area, but any other functions GUI functions are unusable. I can't access any of the menus, toolbar icons, right-click menus, etc. As soon as I deactivate the 3Dx driver everything is usable. So far my first impression of the SpacePilot isn't so great. Please help me brighten my outlook.
blybarg
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Post by blybarg »

I have recently moved to Wildfire 2.0 M240. Actually I didn't, my company did. I have problems with the shortcut keys. The same Pro/E menus are not available to the SpacePilot. With M220, everthing seemed to work great. I realize that even now, most Pro/E users are on Wildfire 3.0. It's a little disturbing that 3DConnexion is struggling to keep up with PTC. But at the same time, I give some (50%) blame to PTC for not keeping third party vendors up to speed.
I must admit that I bought the SpacePilot to use Autodesk Inventor. The SpacePilot works flawlessly with both 10.0 and 11.0. This leads me to believe Autodesk works closely with 3DConnexion for this to be the case.
Take my opinion with a grain of salt. I've used Pro/E for 9 years and Inventor for 2 years and would be very happy to never touch Pro/E again.
alexanderhendrix
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Pro/E freezes 5-15 seconds when switching windows within Pro

Post by alexanderhendrix »

Pro/E freezes 5-10 seconds when switching windows withing Pro/E. When I take out the SpacePilot from the USB or not load 3DxProEngineer I do not have this issue. My colleagues with the same device have the same freeze between switching windows.

I have the following setup:
Pro/E Wildfire 3.0 M200 (previously Pro/E Wildfire 2.0)
SpacePilot Pro
3DxWare Release Version 3.11.3 (previously 3.8.3)
Driver Version 6.11.3
Firmware Version 4.11
I had the same issues with the previous setup.

It's so frustrating :evil: that I do not load the drivers for the device and just use the motion controller and do not use the shortcut keys. I hope you are able to help me with this issue.
Fred
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Post by Fred »

try hitting the Calibrate button in the 3DxWare GUI. If the device is drifting just a little, it will cause ProE to run slowly while it is handling the interrupts.

You can also try uping the priority of 3dxsrv.exe in the task manager.

You can adjust the priority of a process with the Task Manager (ctrl+shift+Esc). Right click 3DxSrv.exe -> Set Priority. You can increase or decrease it. Try both extremes. See if it makes any difference.

Make note of whether the process is consuming more than 10-15% of the CPU time when you are twisting the 3Dx device. It should be consuming ~0% when the device is at rest.
alexanderhendrix
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Post by alexanderhendrix »

Fred wrote:try hitting the Calibrate button in the 3DxWare GUI. If the device is drifting just a little, it will cause ProE to run slowly while it is handling the interrupts.
I have done this, but no improvements. The delay only occurs when I switch to a different window.
Fred wrote:You can also try uping the priority of 3dxsrv.exe in the task manager.

You can adjust the priority of a process with the Task Manager (ctrl+shift+Esc). Right click 3DxSrv.exe -> Set Priority. You can increase or decrease it. Try both extremes. See if it makes any difference.

Make note of whether the process is consuming more than 10-15% of the CPU time when you are twisting the 3Dx device. It should be consuming ~0% when the device is at rest.
I tried this, but 3DxSrv.exe is not consuming a lot of resources. When moving 3DxSrv.exe is still at 0%, while xtop.exe jumps to about 20%. During twisting the 3Dx device I'm still able to click on other buttons in Pro/E.

Pro/E just freezes when I change to another window. Using Alt-Tab in Windows, choosing the window in the Window menu of Pro/E or right-clicking on a part/assy and choose open all have the same outcome:
Pro/E freezes for 5-15 seconds. I cannot rotate, I cannot choose any option in Pro/E. The other strange thing is that no process is higher than 2-3% in the task manager when the freeze occurs.

I disabled the Wildfire 3.0 program in the LCD manager, but this also does not improve the situation. When running it does not update the LCD screen until after the freeze.

The only option that has a positive outcome is to not load the protk.dat. The change between windows takes under a second. I can still use the motion controller, but I can't use any of the buttons on the device.
UtaSH
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Post by UtaSH »

Hi alexanderhendrix,

is it possible that you have our legacy tool 3DxOffice installed? If so, please uninstall it.

Another customer could decrease the delay by removing the 3Dxplugin for Acrobat. You can do this with "Add/Remove Programs" -> "3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware" -> Change -> Modify. In the list with the features of 3DxSoftware please unselect the entry "3Dconnexion Plug-In for Acrobat 3D" and follow the process.

If this does not help you can re-install this plugin with the installation packet that you used to install 3DxSoftware.
alexanderhendrix
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Post by alexanderhendrix »

uludwig wrote:is it possible that you have our legacy tool 3DxOffice installed? If so, please uninstall it.
I don't have this legacy tool installed.
uludwig wrote:Another customer could decrease the delay by removing the 3Dxplugin for Acrobat. You can do this with "Add/Remove Programs" -> "3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware" -> Change -> Modify. In the list with the features of 3DxSoftware please unselect the entry "3Dconnexion Plug-In for Acrobat 3D" and follow the process.

If this does not help you can re-install this plugin with the installation packet that you used to install 3DxSoftware.
I removed the 3Dx plugin for Acrobat and did have no influence. But I did find one that made the difference. The final plugin that I removed was the Logitech LCD Manager. With this one removed the whole delay is gone. I will try to reinstall the Adobe and other plugins to see, if this still works.

Hopefully you can look at why this plugin slows Pro/E down so much.
alexanderhendrix
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Post by alexanderhendrix »

I tried different setups for the installed plugins now and it comes down to the plugin Logitech LCD Manager. As soon as I install this plugin, the freeze in Pro/E occurs.
Fred
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Post by Fred »

We have been unable to reproduce the Lag.
This issue was reported originally in 2007. It only affected a hand full of users. During that time we found it was either our Office addin, and Pro-E had to fix an issue with one of the release versions. This worked for 2 later releases then the delay returned.

The L CD manager is checking all of the Feeds and processes
that are enabled.
Do you remember which programs were enabled in the LCD manager?

This would help us so we can report it to the programmers.
alexanderhendrix
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Post by alexanderhendrix »

The only program that is running in the LCD Manager is Wildfire 3.0. This only runs when Pro/E is running, of course. I did not install the LCD applets, so these are not present in the LCD manager at all.
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