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Performance Best Practices

This section covers performance best practices in the following areas:

See also aP pro in the Cloud Analysis Times by Process Group in the Cost Model Guide.

On-Premise Clients

Use all the following:

  • At least 28 GB of RAM
  • At least 16 GB of heap
  • Solid state disk drive (SSD)
  • CPU optimized for single threading

On-Premise Database Server

Reduce latency (the time required for round-trip communication between the aP Pro client and the database server):

  • Use Ethernet instead of WiFi.
  • Locate the database server geographically close to clients.
  • Use in memory or NVMe storage.

See also Network Latency and Bandwidth Requirements between Clients and Servers. See also Database Server Requirements for information on server RAM.

Pro in the Cloud

The Temporary Files directory is the preferred directory for importing CAD files. Files in the Temporary Files folder are deleted at the end of an AppStream session, but once a CAD file is first analyzed, it persists in a cloud storage container and its associated scenarios remain CAD-connected.

Only use the Home Folder directory if you need the CAD file to persist across AppStream sessions until you explicitly delete it. This persistence relies on automatic background synchronization whose high computational cost can slow performance significantly during analysis.

See also AppStream Directories.

CAD Modeling

Suppress unnecessary data, including:

  • Modeled threads, textures, or lettering
  • Unnecessary PMI

Note:

Exporting PMI that specifies tolerances can increase analysis time, but it can save time by removing the requirement to manually enter tolerances with the aP Pro Tolerances Editor. Export tolerance PMI when these time savings outweigh the increase in analysis time.

Scenario Configuration

Overriding an aPriori default sometimes helps performance and sometimes hinders it. Below are some examples:

Scenario configuration:

  • When you know the appropriate process routing, select it manually. This can reduce analysis time by preventing aPriori from evaluating multiple candidate routings.

  • For casting process groups, Forging, and Additive Manufacturing, if you know that your part does not require secondary machining, click the This part is not machined radio button in the Production scenario tab of the Cost Guide.

  • Do not specify tolerances except where you expect tight tolerances to drive extra finish machining. That is, you only need to set tolerances that are close to or tighter than the achievable tolerances of the process aP Pro chooses for the GCD. Specifying tolerances can increase analysis time.
  • Some process setup options have performance impact. For example, in the Casting - Die process group, for the setup option Number of Cavities, selecting Optimize for minimum cost increases analysis time. Whenever you override a default aPriori behavior or value, consider the potential performance implications.

See the Cost Model Guide for more information.

Site Configuration

Site variable values sometimes involve tradeoff between accuracy and performance. Here are some examples:

  • Process groups with a draw direction (such as casting, forging, and plastic molding process groups) or build direction (Additive Manufacturing):

    • drawDirMaxRayDirs: increasing this value increases analysis time but might improve the accuracy of draw direction extraction.
    • drawDirMaxRays: increasing this value increases analysis time but might improve the accuracy of draw direction extraction.
    • maxObscuredVoidRayGridSize: increasing this value increases analysis time but might improve the accuracy of void extraction.

  • Stock Machining:

    • maxNumRays: increasing this value increases analysis time but might improve the accuracy of geometry extraction.

In general, consider the potential performance impact when you change a site variable value. See the Cost Model Guide for more information.