Blender for PC Running Extremely Slow

Raza Ali Kazmi Games, Windows

Blender is an open source video editing and game creation software that offers incredible animation, modeling, rendering, compositing, simulation and motion tracking features.

Although the software was released as a paid-ware in September 2002, the developer Ton Roosendaal later announced he will stop collecting funds anymore and make it freeware. The software interestingly suffers from extreme lags and performance drop-outs. Let’s look at possible solutions to these issues.

Making your PC and software faster is easy if you have a powerful PC optimizer software. Such a software can clean up your system, optimize computer settings, fix issues in Windows Registry, and more. We have seen positive performance changes in computers having ST Cleaner and also using heavy software such as Blender. You can use it to your advantage here:

Speed up Blender Software Easily

ST Cleaner follows Google Software Principles

 

Upgrade Windows

Your computer system does not meet the minimum requirements to run Blender at its optimum performance. Upgrade Windows or install the latest service pack in case of an earlier Windows version installed on your computer.

 

Remove uTorrent

Several users have reported conflicts between uTorrent and Blender components. You might want to uninstall it and check if the problem is solved this way or if it still persists.

  1. Press Windows Key + R simultaneously.
  2. Type appwiz.cpl and press Enter.
  3. Locate uTorrent.
  4. Right-click and uninstall it.

 

Change Graphics Processor Settings

The Graphics Processor settings on your computer probably aren’t properly configured. Change the settings in the following manner:

  1. Right-click Blender shortcut on the Desktop.
  2. Select Run with Graphics Processor.
  3. Click Integrated Graphics.
  4. Specify Integrated Graphics as the model.

 

Change Nvidia Graphics Settings

If you are using Nvidia Graphics Card, try restoring it to the default settings.

  1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel.
  2. Click Programs | Customize graphics settings.
  3. Add Blender to the list of programs.
  4. Apply the changes and exit.

 

Connect to a High-Speed Wi-Fi

Use an internal Wi-Fi card instead of a USB card. You will notice a tremendous improvement in Blender’s performance.

 

Perform Remodelling

Blender speed greatly depends on the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) in addition to the PC model and the number of polygons in the model. Remodel it or export your model to Blender and then clean up the polygons.

 

Upgrade the Hardware

Do you use an Ultrabook or an older Graphics Card? If this is the case, there are high chances this surely is the culprit. In earlier Windows versions (all versions that preceded Windows 10), locate the Windows Experience Index feature from the Start Screen and follow the on-screen instructions to assess the hardware.

 

Change the Render Engine

Blender’s render doesn’t use CUDA. Therefore, you need to make appropriate changes to your Render settings.

  1. Open Blender.
  2. Press Ctrl + Alt + U simultaneously.
  3. Click the System tab.
  4. Search for Compute Device, see if you can see CUDA. Select it.
  5. If your card and its drivers are CUDA capable, make sure you’re using Cycles Render Engine.

 

Use a Virtual Disk

A virtual machine can be helpful in determining and fixing the issue.

  1. Load your machine from a virtual disk.
  2. Click on Blender.
  3. Set Geforce 9800 GT as the computer device in the User Preferences and then save the settings.
  4. Switch off the machine.
  5. Turn on the virtual machine with the same virtual disk (Given virtual machine can’t detect PCI devices in the case of GPU unavailability).
  6. Remove the card.
  7. Changing the GPU model would cause the same issue. Therefore, click on Blender.
  8. Select User Preferences.
  9. Open Blender again and restore it to its factory settings.

 

Set the Debug Flat

The process of debugging involves identifying and diagnosing software coding issues. This process is usually done by programmers.

  1. Open This PC and then the C Drive.
  2. Make a new folder and name it as Blender_Trunk.
  3. Drag one of the Builder-bot builds into it.
  4. Set the debug flag to Blender.exe
  5. So it will be either
    C:\Blender_Trunk\Blender.exe –debug-all
    Or
    C:\Blender_Trunk\Blender-2.73-280ed32-win64\Blender.exe –debug-all
  6. Apply the changes.

 

Fully Update the OS and Drivers

The operating system and other software components might be getting a little outdated. It’s worthwhile to first check whether the GPU driver supports OpenGL 1.4. If it does, next thing that needs to be done is to install MSVC2013 Redistributable package from here. If the problem still persists, scan for new driver updates using Device Manager.

  1. Press Windows Key + X, select Device Manager.
  2. Expand the top node.
  3. Right-click a driver you’d like to update.
  4. Select Update driver software.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions.

 

Disable your Antivirus

Right-click on the icon of the antivirus software and select Pause Protection. Some antivirus programs reportedly conflict with Blender.

 

Redownload and Reinstall Blender

Open the Control Panel and reinstall the Blender.

  1. Type Control Panel in the Search Box.
  2. Open it from the Search Results.
  3. Click Programs | Programs and Features.
  4. Select Blender | Uninstall.
  5. Complete the uninstaller wizard, and then reinstall Blender again.

 

Restore Blender to Factory Settings

Use the following command-line to restore it to the factory settings:

  • –factory-startup