Why Is Maya Viewport Slow or Laggy

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Try a different Cached Playback mode

   Copy steps
   1. Open Preferences > Animation (Cached Playback)
   2. Switch between Evaluation Cache and Viewport hardware cache and compare; Autodesk suggests experimenting
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Tune Viewport 2.0

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   1. Open Renderer > Viewport 2.0 options
   2. Disable GPU Instancing under Performance
   3. Set memory around 1024 as a compromise
   4. Turn off heavy effects if the GPU is memory-limited
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Update graphics drivers and trim the scene

   Copy steps
   1. Install current NVIDIA or AMD drivers
   2. Delete construction history and remove unused nodes
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Low frame rate when orbiting or playing animation, even on modest scenes.

Why it happens

• Scene complexity, history and node count
• Cached Playback mode not suited to the rig
• GPU memory limits
• Outdated graphics drivers
• GPU Instancing in Viewport 2.0

This guide also covers

• maya viewport slow
• why is maya so slow
• maya lag
• maya playback slow

The same problem in other apps

All slow, laggy or resource-hungry guides →

• Blender Viewport Lag / Slow Viewport (Blender)
• Cinema 4D Viewport Slow or Laggy (Cinema 4D)
• 3ds Max Viewport Slow or Laggy (3ds Max)

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