Performance M2 Max isn't good enough

[deeds]

I used to think it was the old Intel and AMD combinations that were the problem.

It isn't.

 

Performance on a maxed on m2 Max Mac is atrocious, too.

[Callum]

Hi Deeds, please could you navigate to the apps preferences and send me a screenshot of the entire performance section?

Thanks
C

[smadell]

Hi, @Callum and @deeds. I need to add my voice to this choir. I have had ongoing issues with lagging in Affinity Photo, and it seems to be worse in version 2. I am shooting with a Nikon Z7ii, so I am creating 45 MP images. I normally develop the raw files in Capture One, and use Affinity Photo to finish up using TIFF's exported from Capture One. Response time from AP suffers (sometimes greatly) if (i) there is more than 1 document open at the same time, even as few as 2 or 3 will slow things down quite a bit; (ii) virtually ANY use of live filter layers slows responses down to a crawl, even if only 1 or 2 are used in a document; (iii) longer editing sessions, on the order of 30 minutes or more, show degradation of the response time as the session gets longer.

I just recently purchased a Mac Studio with an M2 Max, 2 TB SSD, 64 GB of RAM, and am currently using macOS Ventura 13.4. I am running version 2.1.1 of Affinity Photo, which is the most recent available retail version. I am including a screenshot of my Performance settings, as you requested of @deeds above.

Please note that I have turned Metal compute acceleration OFF, and have turned the Display to OpenGL (instead of the Metal option). These settings are definitely better, as using Metal in ANY capacity slows things down to a crawl and makes me want to tear my hair out. But, still, the lag seems to get worse and worse over time, and is really annoying with any documents that introduce any real degree of complexity.

I am not tech-savvy enough to even guess what to do next. Do I turn off system stuff that runs in the background (things like Dropbox, Little Snitch, etc)? I'm not at a point where I want to toss Affinity Photo and try to find something else; I am way too invested in AP and way too happy with everything about it other than its speed. I eagerly look for suggestions.

[deeds]

Same settings in Affinity Designer.

 

Though I switch from Metal to OpenGL frequently, hoping one will be better than the other.

 

They're not.

 

The redrawing is ridiculous. Can't you cache the rendering so that zooming and panning is smooth?

Why are many of the effects still not rendered accurately, instead changing their dimensions and other qualities based on zoom level?

[v_kyr]

On 8/18/2023 at 7:03 PM, smadell said:

Do I turn off system stuff that runs in the background (things like Dropbox, Little Snitch, etc)?

If those don't have any impact on every other app too, then the problem shouldn't be related to those third-party apps at all here. - For example I use Little Snitch too, though on an Intel based Mac and older OSX, and there are no conflicting problems at all with the Affinity or other apps here.

On 8/18/2023 at 7:03 PM, smadell said:

I'm not at a point where I want to toss Affinity Photo and try to find something else; I am way too invested in AP and way too happy with everything about it other than its speed. I eagerly look for suggestions.

I think there is little you can do from your side here, instead Serif has to adapt and optimize it's apps in a much more better manner to the latest silicon based Apple eco-systems (hardware + OS versions) here. The later said includes flawless Metal support and optimized (bug free) memory management too.

All in all V2 apps have sadly decreased in their stability and instead introduced a bunch of more additional new bugs. Serif overall has to do some better software quality management here.

[smadell]

Good morning, @v_kyr. I'm out of my league trying to talk about programming, but (1) it certainly seems as if getting Metal support right should be high on Serif's list; and (2) the issues I'm having largely must come down to memory management, since the lag seems to accumulate over time, and seems to clear up incrementally as I close windows or restart the application. Everything I've read (though not really understood) about "memory leaks" indicate to me that that's what happens with flawed memory management.

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, smadell said:

...but (1) it certainly seems as if getting Metal support right should be high on Serif's list; and (2) the issues I'm having largely must come down to memory management, since the lag seems to accumulate over time, and seems to clear up incrementally as I close windows or restart the application. Everything I've read (though not really understood) about "memory leaks" indicate to me that that's what happens with flawed memory management.

Yes both are essientiell here.

Serif isn't exactly covering itself in glory here, the way they're currently handling hardware-accelerated graphics frameworks (OpenCL and Metal). There are still far too many problems in the way they are using these APIs.

Good memory management is the be-all and end-all of any complex application, which in turn affects its performance and stability. Undetected memory leaks are a common evil here, which in turn has often a huge impact on the latter (performance and stability).

[danielsebas1980]

Hi, I have the same problem. I installed it first in an iMac M1, which was a disaster. I thought it was the computer, and I returned it to Apple and bought a Mac Mini with M2 Pro and 32 G of RAM and the same problem. My computer slows down, though I'm only editing vectors.

[jenda]

In generell, I would say that the launch of your app is also disappointing. I was thinking that the performance will be noticeably better with M2 Max. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Is there any plan to improve it?