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Performance Problems with Sketch?

almost 9 years ago from , Designer at Camp 4 Creative

Hey Guys,

I just started using Sketch for a new project. The client team uses & loves it, and I was happy to have the opportunity to try it out!

I really love the concept and simplicity of the program but I've been experiencing some major technical issues. To preface, I'm on a Retina MBP, OSX 10.9.1, 8GM RAM. When working in Sketch for more than a few minutes the panels will glitch or the app will freeze and I have to kill the app. I've tried turning my computer off, uninstalling/reinstalling the app, installing system updates, and closing every other application I'm running, with no improvement whatsoever. Yesterday this happened 20+ times, which is kind of outrageous.

The worst part of it is that I've tried to contact Bohemian Coding a few times and they have completely ignored me... so I turn to you. At this point Sketch is practically unusable, but I really want to get this fixed! Has anybody out there had any problems similar to mine?

17 comments

  • Shakti DashShakti Dash, almost 9 years ago

    I gave sketch a shot with a freelance project and I totally gave up on it for serious work. Its buggy with multiple art boards, makes it difficult to export/copy-paste assets to Adobe illustrator or PS and typography (especially) needs a lot of work. Its a well designed software for UI work and I still use it almost everyday for small things or prototyping. But I am back to PS for good, considering Adobe is working harder on it with CC.

    4 points
  • Nathan ManousosNathan Manousos, almost 9 years ago

    Unfortunately, this is pretty much just how Sketch is.

    I still use it every day.

    4 points
  • Tom WoodTom Wood, almost 9 years ago

    I use it every day for all web based work - however it does have performance issues - applying bitmap effects is a pain and whilst they export fine, when displayed they can look incorrect. Resizing vectors with a mouse rather than using the inspector panel can also change the shape of them. Inspector Panel can disappear from time to time too.

    However it's unmatched for speed, and ease of creating web designs. Just the idea of mocking up a website in PS makes me feel fear. Deep fear.

    2 points
  • Martin BavioMartin Bavio, almost 9 years ago

    To all of those who have performance problems, you should definitely move to the Beta version. I used to had these same problems and since I've moved to Beta, most of them are really gone. Try it out.

    1 point
    • David KlawitterDavid Klawitter, almost 9 years ago

      Running the beta now and the only issue I've come across is a lack of endpoint options for Vector Paths. Rarely needed but I find myself jumping back to the current release once or twice a day.

      0 points
  • Giovanni CollazoGiovanni Collazo, almost 9 years ago

    Same here. I was used to OmniGraffle for doing wireframe with dozens of canvases and that didn't worked well on Sketch. I've found that the app performs better whe you have only one canvas, even if it's huge.

    I still use Sketch every day but it really needs to get more performant quick. Waiting for the font panel is going to drive me crazy.

    1 point
  • David KlawitterDavid Klawitter, almost 9 years ago

    I've been using it on a daily basis and have frequent issues with the View Inspector disappearing and slow file window switching. Just today it was crashing because of some large (masked) bitmaps - removing them resolved that.

    1 point
  • Dafydd Evans, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    Just off the top of my head, have you tried the latest beta version of Sketch?

    http://www.bohemiancoding.com/sketch/beta/

    Bohemian Coding are aware of some performance issues with the MacBook Pro Retina models and are apparently working on a new rendering engine:

    https://bohemiancoding.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1363616-sketch-slow-on-mbp-retina-display-

    1 point
    • Alyssa Pelletier, almost 9 years ago

      Haven't tried the new beta, will do! I've read that post re:rMBP issues, but it didn't sound as extreme as what I was experiencing. Mostly I want to know if I'm the only one, and if there's anything I can do on my end to fix it.

      1 point
      • Jonathan YapJonathan Yap, almost 9 years ago

        Definitely try the beta version. I had the same issue with crashing awhile ago but they did fix a lot of them on the beta version. Just keep a backup of your current project just in case you want to revert back to the stable one. I never did need to go back.

        0 points
  • Ken Kelleher, 7 years ago

    The other thing I've noticed is all of my working files are in dropbox folder - which sync's every time a file is saved. Sketch autosaves it's files - I wonder is this creates a churn on CPU - after a while I need to shot off my dropbox and it seems to help...

    0 points
  • Emanuel SaEmanuel Sa, almost 9 years ago

    Hello Alyssa,

    Well, i'm glad you can confirm the beta has improved your performance, it has just been sent to apple for review and will be out in a few days, as 2.4.3 update.

    We're already working on the next one, so if you have any other glitches/bugs, please let us know.

    I noticed you pointed you already contacted us but I just checked it personally and at mail@bohemiancoding.com/emanuel@bohemiancoding.com we don't have any history with your name, do you mind to check to where exactly you sent that feedback? I'd love to take a look, we take it very seriously.

    Best regards,

    • Emanuel Sá
    0 points
    • brad wrage, almost 9 years ago

      Do you folks experience slow-down after a certain amount of art boards? Working with a mobile design now for android, and not sure at what point exactly I started to experience it, did notice after dragging in a png. Could just be the file size has gotten quite large with multiple art boards... :-/

      0 points
  • Kyle MitchellKyle Mitchell, almost 9 years ago

    I'm on a retina mbp and 10.9.1 and have not had any issues with it.

    0 points
  • Maciej ZadykowiczMaciej Zadykowicz, almost 9 years ago

    Strange, I'm on the same config as you and the only performance issues I get is when applying a LOT of background blurs or shadows. I'm not saying it's silky smooth but far from unusable. I remember the previous versions circa 2.1 -2.2 those were all crash happy and slow as molasses, Bohemian has improved the performance a lot in the past year. 5 people strong design team here working on retina's with Sketch, all satisfied.

    0 points
  • Dominik SchmidtDominik Schmidt, almost 9 years ago

    Don't know what you guys are experiencing here, but I am totally satisfied with Sketch and use it everyday for serious design work.

    Even at the company where I work every designer is using it.

    0 points