Print to PDF slow on Windows 11

[Michael_Gia]

Hey all. 
 

I’ve been praising my new switch to Windows 11 from macOS with respect to PBR but printing a set of plans to PDF is excruciatingly slow on a pc compared to a Mac. 
 

The Mac is at least twice as fast. 
 

is there some trick to this?

 

I have used both the Chief pdf print option and the windows pdf option. 
 

Am I missing something?

[DBCooper]

I'll just ask the obvious first, are you using the same DPI?  Did you try it with the same plan on both machines?

 

I have not used a mac myself so I don't have any thing to compare to.  I have seen some big differences on windows though when I have a layout with live views or when I tried to set my DPI too high.

 

[Michael_Gia]

4 hours ago, DBCooper said:

Did you try it with the same plan on both machines?

Yes I compared the same plan. 
 

I use 144 dpi which is not too high.

 

68 seconds vs 138 seconds. 

 

[tundra_dweller]

6 hours ago, Michael_Gia said:

68 seconds vs 138 seconds. 

 

There almost has to be something in your layout/plan causing this I think. I opened up the Chief sample plan/layout "Bachelor View" layout and printed to pdf using Chief's "print to pdf" and it took 6 seconds at 300 dpi using the Lenovo desktop in my signature. Most of my layouts take 3-4 seconds to print to pdf. Unless I'm misunderstanding what your process is.

[WCjake]

Do you have pdf's imported into the document? I've found that when you import pdf's for layouts or cad details it really slows down the print to pdf process. When I have a survey pdf incorporated into my layout, it can take 30-40 seconds to send to pdf vs if I only reference in house (chief) data, it will print in a few seconds. Just my experience, not sure if that's across the board, so tifwiw.

[Joe_Carrick]

An alternative is to convert the pdf's to png's - much faster

[Michael_Gia]

On 11/17/2024 at 11:22 PM, tundra_dweller said:

Chief sample plan/layout "Bachelor View"

I will test that out and post the results.  thanks for the comparison. 

[Michael_Gia]

21 hours ago, WCjake said:

Do you have pdf's imported into the document?

No pdf's.  I usually convert to png by way of screen shot of pdf as @Joe_Carrick mentioned.

 

I'm anxious to test out the Bachelor View layout to compare.

[Michael_Gia]

On 11/17/2024 at 11:22 PM, tundra_dweller said:

I opened up the Chief sample plan/layout "Bachelor View" layout and printed to pdf

I can confirm that the Bachelor View Layout takes around 3 seconds to print to PDF on my Mac.

Haven't tried it on the PC but I'm sure it will be similar.

 

Therefore there is definitely something gravely wrong with what I'm doing in my layout files to take so long to print.

 

and I've had this issue since X14.  I'm doing something wrong.  

 

I did notice that in the Bachelor View Layout, every 3D image is a png, every elevation is "Plot Lines" and the rest is Cad Details, Text boxes or Saved Plan Views.

 

In my Layouts, every 3D image is a Full Cavera Live View, and every elevation is a Live View and not Plot Lines. plus of course, the usual text and cad details.

 

So, are my Live Views causing the delay in pdf printing?  Or my Live elevation views?

 

 

[tundra_dweller]

27 minutes ago, Michael_Gia said:

So, are my Live Views causing the delay in pdf printing?  Or my Live elevation views?

 

Yeah I think it would be the live views, I only ever use plot lines and update on demand.

 

For any 3D renderings I put on my layouts I've been using the new screenshot tool in Chief and copying to my layout. I don't do any highly detailed renderings at this point, just screenshots to give the general idea of how things would look. This is what works for me and my clients, so far no one is interested in paying for intricate renderings.

[Michael_Gia]

2 hours ago, tundra_dweller said:

so far no one is interested in paying for intricate renderings

 

The 3D views are just Standard Render mode which are updated on the Layout on demand, is what I meant to say.

 

The reason is simply so that they reflect the latest change in the plan.  That is I don't have to constantly take screenshots and replacing 3D images on the Layout.

 

I guess I will try to print to pdf without all those Camera Views and see what happens.

 

Thanks a million for the feedback.

[Michael_Gia]

OK!

 

I changed all elevations to Plot Lines Color Fill = 30 seconds total to print to PDF

 

Then chose Plot Lines Color fill for all 3D Camera Views (as well as all elevations) = 10 seconds total to print to PDF

 

If I delete all my 3D Camera views = 3 seconds or less to print to PDF 

 

TL:DR

PC and Mac both print to PDF in under 3 seconds unless you start adding live link standard render views to your layout.

 

I guess a good tradeoff is to keep the live 3D views but at least make sure your elevations and cross sections should be Plot Lines (30 seconds to print vs over a minute)

 

 

[SHCanada2]

51 minutes ago, Michael_Gia said:

I guess a good tradeoff is to keep the live 3D views but at least make sure your elevations and cross sections should be Plot Lines (30 seconds to print vs over a minute)

 

thats what I do, until the ghosting appears on elevations, then I switch those to live (update on demand)

[Michael_Gia]

3 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

until the ghosting appears on elevations

 

Oh god, I noticed that but I thought that it was just something that occurred because the original view was not sent as Plot Lines.

 

Don't tell me this is a thing?...

[SHCanada2]

it is a thing but not sure why, but now that you said it, maybe that is the cause. 

[tundra_dweller]

47 minutes ago, SHCanada2 said:

it is a thing but not sure why

 

I've run into the ghosting occasionally in X16 and haven't been able to pin it down either. My hunch is that it's connected to the poche function in some way or another. Hopefully the poche function gets refinement in X17.