- 360 Publisher
- Alias
- AutoCAD
- AutoCAD Civil 3D
- AutoCAD Electrical
- AutoCAD for Mac
- AutoCAD LT for Mac
- AutoCAD Map 3D
- BIM 360 Glue
- Building Design Suite
- Constructware
- Creative Finishing
- Design Review
- Factory Design Suite
- Flame Premium
- Green Building Studio
- Infr. Map Server
- Infrastructure Modeler
- Installation Help
- Inventor
- Inventor ETO
- Inventor Fusion
- Inventor Fusion Technology for Mac
- Inventor LT
- Inventor Publisher
- Navisworks
- Navisworks Freedom
- PLM 360
- Product Design Suite
- Project Galileo
- Project Photofly
- Project Simulus
- Revit
- Revit LT
- Robot Structural Analysis Professional
- Sim 360 Pro and Sim 360 Moldflow
- Simulation 360
- Simulation CFD
- Simulation DFM
- Simulation Job Manager
- Simulation Mechanical
- Simulation Moldflow
- Simulation Moldflow Adviser
- Simulation Moldflow Communicator
- Simulation Moldflow Insight
- Simulation Moldflow Insight 360
- Smoke
- Vasari
- Vault
Community Scoring
Tag Tags0
Page statistics
Table of contents
Performance
Performance refers to how long it takes Autodesk Inventor LT to complete an operation on your computer, including loading files.
There are many reasons for performance issues on a CAD system. You can resolve some of them by upgrading to a faster computer or adding more RAM. Keep the CAD system “tuned up” by performing regular maintenance, such as defragmenting the hard drive, also resolves performance issues.
This section covers hardware requirements, best practices, and techniques to use when you have reached a performance impasse. The following information is a guide to areas you can fine-tune to have a positive impact on performance. You can employ only a few of the tips provided to improve performance!
There are options you can configure in Autodesk Inventor LT that strictly go to improving performance. For example, if you open a drawing file with Defer Updates enabled, you increase performance, but you do not change what Autodesk Inventor LT loads into memory.
Capacity
Capacity refers to how much memory is required to do an operation combined with how much memory is being used by your computer at any single moment.
Note on 32-bit operating systems: Microsoft Windows has a limit of 4 GB of memory for every process or application such as Autodesk Inventor LT. By default, Windows reserves 2 GB of that space for the operating system, thus leaving 2 GB for tasks performed by applications.
If you routinely work with large data sets or can resolve performance issues by adding more RAM, consider upgrading to a 64-bit computer which can access terabytes of RAM.
2 GB of memory is not enough for users who commonly work on extremely large files and consume the full 2 GB of virtual memory space. It is important to keep this concept in mind when working with large files, and to determine whether the 3 GB switch feature is an option your computer may benefit from. By changing a few system files, you change the default, so that 1 GB of memory is used by the operating system and 3 GB are available to applications.
Click the Procedure tab, and then click Autodesk Autodesk Inventor LT 3 GB feature (Applies to 32-bit operating systems only) to learn how to set up the 3 GB feature.
The following table compares the memory capacity of a 32-bit system with a 64-bit system.
| General Memory Limits | 32-Bit | 64-Bit |
| Total virtual address space (based on a single process) | 4 GB | 16 Terabytes |
| Virtual address space per 64-bit process | N/A | 8 Terabytes |
| Paged pool | 470 MB | 128 GB |
| Non-paged pool | 256 MB | 128 GB |
| System Page Table Entry (PTE) | 660 MB to 900 MB | 128 GB |
- Switch to the Classic interface style.
- Make it a practice to purge all unused style definitions. Each time a material or color change occurs, the file caches the style definition.
- Suppress large feature patterns on parts. Consider using a bitmap texture in place of large feature patterns.
- Reduce unnecessary details in parts. For example, do not model physical threads, fillets, and gear teeth if the detail is not required for manufacturing.
- Minimize the usage of Move Bodies in a multi-body part. Use click to add to group moves into one feature whenever possible.
- Keep the size of drawing files as small as possible by minimizing the numbers of views on a sheet.
- Minimize the number of sheets in a drawing file.
- Before inserting a .bmp into a title block, make sure the .bmp is saved in the smallest file size permitted by your company's standards. In Microsoft Paint, the default file type is 24 bit-Bitmap. Reducing the file type to 16 Color or Monochrome type Bitmap, will increase capacity.
- In the Drawing tab in Document Settings, set Always in Bitmap Resolution drop-down menu with a low bitmap resolution to help reduce memory consumption when working with large or complex models of shaded views.
Autodesk Inventor LT 3 GB feature (Applies to 32-bit operating systems only)
Background
Microsoft Windows reserves the upper half of the 4 GB virtual address space of any process for the operating system, and leaves the remaining 2 GB for the application process, including the space for the code pages, the stack, and all dynamically allocated memory.
Thus, Microsoft Windows operating systems support no more than 2 GB of memory usage for one application. The 3 GB feature divides the memory space differently, providing 3 GB for the application and 1 GB for the operating system. This is not a network server limit, but is relevant to users working with large, memory-intensive data sets.
To set the page file size, right-click My Computer 
Properties Advanced Tab Performance Settings Advanced Tab click Change in the virtual memory section. Enter 4096 in Initial size box as well as in Maximum size box and click on Set. Click OK.
To enable the feature
You must change your boot.ini file (which is typically located at C:\boot.ini) to have the 3 GB option, as shown below. It is recommended that you copy the original line, and then modify the copied line to add the option and the identifying string. This sets it up so you can choose at start time whether to use the option or not.
The copied line is show in green (last line), with the modified portions of the line shown in red.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)disk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect
To ensure this is working
To insure that Autodesk Inventor LT is actually allocating memory in the 3 GB range, start Autodesk Inventor LT. Click Help About Autodesk Inventor LT. The first line of text under the splash screen image should say: "Autodesk Inventor LT [release number] - 3GB" If the - 3GB is shown, Autodesk Inventor LT is successfully using the feature.
Limitations
Each executable must be specially built to enable the larger address space. Only the Autodesk Inventor LT.exe has been enabled. Other executables shipped with Autodesk Inventor LT have not been enabled. Most likely, the applications provided by other software vendors have not been enabled to use this feature.
The feature only works on Windows XP. Furthermore, the Windows XP SP1 service pack disabled it. To re-enable it for Windows XP SP1, there is a hot fix from Microsoft that must be applied. To apply that hot fix (q328269_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe), follow the instructions in the hotfix.txt file in the associated zip file. It is not possible to enable the feature on Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows 9x.
You may find that by using some of the other techniques described previously, you eliminate performance issues. If not, the next section offers suggestions for adjusting the Application Options to consume the least amount of resources.
Access: |  |
The following settings on the tabs listed below can affect performance and/or capacity:
Show command prompting = Off
Undo: Make sure there is enough free space on the specified partition to accommodate the size of the undo file.
Work path: Working from your local drive is the preferred method. Avoid working on Autodesk Inventor LT files across a network.
Background = 1 Color
Appearance Settings
Shadow options can effect performance for hardware supporting feature level 3.1 and lower. To find out which feature level your graphics card supports:
- On the Tools tab, in the Options panel, click Application Options.
- Select the Hardware tab, and click Diagnostics.
- In the displayed dialog box, under the AIRViz Device Manager, you find the information about the Feature Level supported by your hardware.
Turning off shadow effects will improve performance for lower feature levels. It is recommended that you experiment with one level at a time, in the following order, to find the right level of shadow usage.
Ambient Shadows = Off
Object Shadows = Off
Ground Shadows = Off
Other options for improving graphics response are:
- Reducing the number of visible components in large assemblies.
- Use simplified representations for components in large assemblies.
View transition time = 0 Inventor manages view transitions automatically, however, you can override the automatic setting by reducing view transition time.
Minimum frame rate = 10 This option displays less graphical information during Pan, Zoom, and Rotate. This is automatically managed, however, the setting is there for you to manually override the automatic feature.
Use Direct3D graphics hardware
Be aware that memory consumption varies with different graphic cards. Review recommended video cards and other hardware components on Autodesk's Web site.
Use the default settings on this tab. If you experience stability issues, work your way down the list of available options on this page.
To improve performance and capacity:
- Select the Enable Background Updates option on the Drawing tab of Application Options. This option quickly displays raster drawing views for large assemblies and calculates precise drawing views at the background as you work. You can review the drawing or create drawing annotations before calculation of drawing views finishes.
- Cancel the selection of Display line weights and Retrieve all model dimensions on view placement.
- Enable one of the Show Preview options, Bounding Box options to reduce memory consumption. The bounding box option displays the least amount of graphics, and gives the best performance.
- Enable Show Preview options, Bounding Box options to reduce memory consumption. The bounding box option displays the least amount of graphics, and gives the best performance.
- Select Section View Preview as Uncut to preview a section preview as uncut.
Leave the Autoproject edges for sketch creation and edit option not selected to improve performance and not sacrifice capacity when not needed
Leave Note Icons not selected to increase capacity.
Enhanced Visualization System and Graphics Requirements
Inventor offers simple, easy to use visualization effects to enable realistic looking models in the viewport. The effects available depend on the capabilities of your graphics hardware, operating system, and the Inventor graphics hardware setting in the Application Options > Hardware tab.
The following illustrates the visual effects you can experience at the various Autodesk Feature Levels, and the table below specifies the minimum system requirements for each level.
You can query your system to find your Autodesk Feature Level in two different ways:
- Within Inventor 2011, go to Application Options | Hardware | Diagnostics. The dialog will display the Autodesk Feature Level when using either the "Performance" or "Quality" settings on the Hardware Tab.
- Run the standalone AdskDiagOutput tool from a Command Prompt. It will report the Autodesk Feature Level of your system in addition to other system and graphics hardware related information.
The following table indicates which visual effects are supported by each of the Autodesk feature levels.
| Visual Effect | Advanced 4_1 | Full 3_1 | Medium 3_0 | Basic 2_0 | Legacy |
| Antialiased display (jaggy-free) | X | ||||
| Ambient Shadows | X | X | |||
| Object Shadows | X | X | X | ||
| Realistic Visual Style | X | X | X | ||
| Bump Mapping | X | X | X | ||
| Watercolor Visual Style | X | X | X | ||
| Environment Display | X | X | X | X | |
| Environment Reflections | X | X | X | X | |
| Ground Reflections | X | X | X | X | |
| Ground Shadows | X | X | X | ||
| Illustration Visual Style | X | X | X | X | |
| Monochrome Visual Style | X | X | X | X |