Viewer Performance

[frlindla]

Mario, will it be possible in this view to enter a keyboard shortcut to remove all panels

No. This is a File Window, not some "full screen" module.
You can always hide all panels by pressing the standard <F9>,<Backspace> shortcut (see Keyboard Cheat Sheet).
But the Media & Folders tree, Category tree etc. will remain, because it is part of the View, sibling to the File Window.

My experience with the viewer is that it can be a little bit slower (lagging).

Strange. I have not experienced any real lagging with zoom in the Viewer. I can zoom in and out an image using <Alt>+Mouse move instantly, between 10% and 800%. Or do you mean lagging while moving between files?

Note that the Gallery layout cannot do any magic the Viewer cannot. Physics, you know 

The Viewer has very sophisticated background preloading with prediction. Unless you are in the habit of stretching things by displaying 6 or 8 images side-by-side, there should be no noticeable delay when you switch between images. Even for 80MP files with 8,000 x 10,000 pixels (which I use often). This depends a lot on how fast the cache images can be loaded and the computer performance of course.

For the Gallery, if the columns are wider than the thumbnail width in the database, the Gallery loads the cache images (like the Viewer), which might involve creating the cache image from the RAW file first (which can take between 1 and 10 seconds, depending on the RAW format and the installed WIC codec).

This will cause lag and images may not show immediately while you scroll in the Gallery layout. Images are loaded on demand (when they come into view), and how fast they can be loaded depends on mostly the performance of your computer and whether or not the cache images already exist, how much memory is available for caching etc.

On a fairly modern 12 core processor with a m.2 SSD for the cache images, it is virtually instant, even when you scroll fast. But IMatch is also used by users who run 10 year old computers (which is why some were affected by the AVX requirement last year) and some run IMatch on notebook computers optimized for battery life and not necessarily for performance.
That said, the Gallery feels quite fluid even on my lowest-end test computer, a small 'box PC' with an Intel 4-core CPU and an SSD.

I have a pc with 4 cores and 32 gb ram. For me it can take some seconds for the next photo to show up in the viewer (time from when I enter the right arrow key to move to next photo) and between 5-10 seconds before face annotations show up (jpeg-files). If I let the pc "rest" a little bit, it works fast again. I also see the blue spinning wheel quite often (meaning Imatch is loading). I have three photos in the viewer. Is it something I can do to speed this up? Close some panels? This is my pc:


Prosessor   Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7800X CPU @ 3.50GHz   3.50 GHz
Installert RAM   32,0 GB (31,7 GB brukbar)
Systemtype   64-biters operativsystem, x64-basert prosessor

[Mario]

I have moved your post into the correct board.
You were posting about Viewer performance issues in the thread about the new Gallery layout in IMatch 2021. Not good.

1. Make sure your virus checker does not interfere with IMatch
2. Which file format do you use?
3. If RAW, do the cache images already exist?
4. Image dimensions, cache image sizes?

Like always, attach a ZIPped log file in debug mode (see log file). Because then we can see which file format was used, if cache images had to be created on-the-fly, how long WIC needs to load the cache image, if your cache images are on a fast or slow disk etc.

We also need to know how you use the Viewer, which overlays you show, if the category panel is open, file versions, ...

For example, 3 80MP pixel images side-by-side means IMatch needs to load ~240 MB * 3 = ~700 MB (!) into the graphic card memory - for every page in the Viewer.
If IMatch cannot load the images faster into memory than you scroll, some lag will occur.
The Viewer cache predicts which images to pre-load in the background based on your scroll direction. If you jump back and forth, the cache may run out of pre-loaded images and has to wait until the now needed images are loaded.

[frlindla]

Sorry Mario, sorry. I will check this. Just gave an answer to your question when we were talking about the new gallery style compared to the viewer! But I get it, should have posted it elsewhere.

[frlindla]

I use Adaware Antivirus. I have not seen any problems with this before. How can I check this?

I mostly use jpeg and dng.

I have to read a little bit more when it comes to cache, not sure what to answer here

Attached is a log file from debug mode. I have also attached a screenshot from the viewer with my display options. As you can see I also have the category panel open.

[frlindla]

Here is the screenshot attached.

[Mario]

You run the Viewer in maximize mode (inside the IMatch UI), which is a bit unusual. Have you tried running it in full-screen mode? Any difference?

IMatch loads cache images at about 0.3s to 0.6s, which is normal.
There is not much difference between loading an image from the cache on the C: disk or original JPG files from the D: disk.

At 23:48:58, you start adding annotations, IMatch performs face recognition, a File window reloads, keywords are assigned, categories are invalidated, metadata updated in the database etc. IMatch becomes quite busy.
GPS data is loaded by an app. Which apps did you run? Did you use the Person Manager, added new persons, ...?

Now, the load times for cache images suddenly become 10 times slower (4s to 6s!) per image. This of course explains why the Viewer suddenly slows down. It cannot longer load the images fast enough.
Very strange.

When you create face annotations in the Viewer or assign persons, IMatch updates the face index for the files loaded in the Viewer to see if there are other unassigned faces which now have a match.
You have only 15 images loaded, so this should be really fast (one second or so). It should not max out your system so much that loading cache images in the background becomes 10 times slower.

Your system reports 12 cores and an AMD processor. I assume your C: disk is an SSD.
There should be plenty of horse power to do expensive calculations (AI) and load files from the disk without slowing down so much.

Please perform these tests (log file in debug mode):

1.  Start IMatch.
Use the Viewer in your normal mode to view, say, 100 images. Just view the images, scrolling with the wheel. No face assignments or anything.
Does the Viewer still slow down?
Make a copy of the log file.

2.  Switch the Viewer to the full-screen mode. View 100 images. Any difference to the maximized Viewer mode?
Make a copy of the log file.

3.  Switch the Viewer back to maximized mode.
Under Edit > Preferences > Application: Process Control, set the "Threads for face recognition" to 2.
Now repeat your Viewer test, add some face annotations, assign some faces.
Any difference to before?

[frlindla]

Ok. I used a folder with 115 photos.

1. When just viewing the photos in maximize mode, everything worked perfect. Fast and without any blue spinning wheel or loading text.

2. In full screen mode, maybe a little bit slower

3. In maximize mode and 2 threads for face recognizion: I added som face annotations and assigned some faces. But now it was slow again and Imatch was slow/little responsive compared to before. Imatch also stopped/closed down, so I had to start Imatch again.

After this windows explorer also didn`t respond.

I tried to go back to the same folder in Imatch in maximize mode and scrolled through the photos again with no problems.

Yesterday I used the viewer to add face annotations and assign faces. I also added titles, descriptions and locationdata in the metadatapanel. And I used the category panel to assign categories. I also used the map panel to add and correct coordinates. And the keyword panel to add keywords.

See my attachments.

Maybe I have to have a closer look if it is other things on my computer that slows down things.

[frlindla]

Here is also a log file for a test now when using the viewer to add face annotations and assign faces. Slow.

[Mario]

After this windows explorer also didn`t respond.

That's very strange. Maybe your virus checker is interfering?
Did you make the folder (!) containing the database an exception and maybe IMatch to?

The logs are not in debug mode so the information is minimal.
The first two log files show typical load times for cache images / JPG files (0.3 to 0.5s).

The second log file shows the same normal load times, until 06.01 20:00:27 where they suddenly increase tenfold!
I've made a quick check but unless you load thousands of files into the Viewer at once and all have faces, the typical time for checking the loaded images for matching faces is about 1 second per 200 files or so.
And it does some database read/writes.
Nothing that should cause such a dramatic slow-down accessing the disk, like, 10 times slower than before.

[frlindla]

The folder with Imatch and the folder with database was not set as exception in my virus program. I have done this now.

Should I repeat the steps in debug mode?

Did the face reqognizion and viewer settings mean anything?

[Mario]

Consider life time should be on (unless you don't enter birth dates). It improves the quality of face recog a lot.
If there is no difference setting the face recognition threads to 2, the problem is not CPU speed but disk speed. Like something (external) suddenly is making the disk so busy that it takes 10 times longer to load a JPG file...

[frlindla]

Good news here!

In the viewer, I closed the category panel and closed some of the display options.

I opened a folder with over 700 photos in the viewer, in full screen mode. Layout with 8 photos. I created face annotations, assigned faces and everything is now MUCH faster! The viewer is now fun to use! Videos will of course need some time to load.

I don`t know if my virus program interfered, but maybe?

Thanks very much Mario! I will let you know if anything changes, but it looks very good now!