First of all, THANK YOU to all the developers for developing a native Inkscape app for the Mac. I have been waiting for this for many years. So THANK YOU!!!!
I just downloaded Inkscape 1.0 for Mac? Every time I move something or manipulate a layer, it drags. I have plenty of disk storage and 40GB of computer memory on my Mac.
The Mac release is not up to the quality of the Linux version. The speed issues are well known problems. There's a lot of little things that need fixing, we'll have to see how development proceeds for the next version and the bugfix release.
Hi @DigitalArtGuru -- for now try the following workaround: right-click on the inkscape application in Finder, then select "Get Info" and in the window that pops up check the "low resolution" checkbox.
I upgraded Inkscape after installing the latest OS updates. Unfortunately, I found that Inkscape was unusably slow after these changes. I pulled out an old computer that I hadn't updated to the latest OS version, and kept using the XQuartz version of Inkscape.
However, after switching to "Low Resolution," I find that I can actually use Inkscape on my main device.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. It makes a huge difference to my working life.
I've had the same problem. I am using Parallels Desktop with Windows 10 to be able to use Inkscape 1.0. I can't wait until the Mac OS version is fixed.
This is what I'm doing since years with CorelDRAW (old version), which is exactly what I want to get rid off. Therefore I was so thankful, that Inkscape now supports macOS natively... but also on my somewhat powerful iMac it is almost unusable, even in low res mode. It runs even worse on my 5k iMac, than on my 12" MacBook, which is quite slow, but uses a much lower screen resolution. So it seems that Inkscape uses no hardware acceleration from the GPU, but renders each pixel by the CPU - at leat this is what it feels like.
This should not sound ungrateful, I'm really happy, that Inkscape came this far, hopefully soon GPU acceleration comes also to the macOS version.
Hello, Also having Mac performance. Will this be addressed in next release? Used to use Inkscape back in the day on Windows so would love to return to it on mac. Thanks.
@sedgy It's difficult to know for sure what will happen with Mac performance. The only guaranteed solution is to have a Linux dual boot as Inkscape is made for Linux first and ported to Mac/Windows etc. Although the different people involved in building are trying their best to figure out the issues.
Hi there. Cheers for the response. I haven't braved a mac/linux dual boot yet. Think I may invest in a windows desktop soon and could experiment with a dual boot on that. Would be happy to help with Mac testing in the meantime. Thanks again.
From the Terminal app run Inkscape with using the following command:
GDK_GL=always GDK_RENDERING=image inkscape
For me that improved performance significantly.
There's a catch however: if you resize Inkscape's window the UI will glitch and you'll probably have to restart it for it to be usable again. Because of that I recommend setting Inkscape to start maximized every time, you can se it through Inkscape > Preferences > Interface > Windows and changing the default window size to maximized.
Just in case someone landed on this page for the same reason I did: Inkscape 1.3.2 (now stable) is day and night difference with 1.0 in terms of performance on Mac OS. Thanks, developers!
Beginners' Questions Inkscape 1.0 Slow on Mac OS X 10.15.4
Inkscape.org
First of all, THANK YOU to all the developers for developing a native Inkscape app for the Mac. I have been waiting for this for many years. So THANK YOU!!!!
I just downloaded Inkscape 1.0 for Mac? Every time I move something or manipulate a layer, it drags. I have plenty of disk storage and 40GB of computer memory on my Mac.
Mac OS X 10.15.4
Cheers!
Hi DAG,
You are very welcome.
The Mac release is not up to the quality of the Linux version. The speed issues are well known problems. There's a lot of little things that need fixing, we'll have to see how development proceeds for the next version and the bugfix release.
Thank you Martin. I am looking forward to it.
Hi @DigitalArtGuru -- for now try the following workaround: right-click on the inkscape application in Finder, then select "Get Info" and in the window that pops up check the "low resolution" checkbox.
Let us know if it helped ;)
Hello inkHorst,
I had the same issue and your suggestion did help a little bit... far from being smooth, but useable.
Thank you!
@inkHorst
Thanks for your suggestion. Checking "low resolution" checkbox Helped a little, but still not efficient.
But it will help with testing Inkscape some more and keep working with it, so that when it gets better, I will have mastered the main features.
i am looking forward to the next update. I am excited about the future possibilities.
Cheers!
I upgraded Inkscape after installing the latest OS updates. Unfortunately, I found that Inkscape was unusably slow after these changes. I pulled out an old computer that I hadn't updated to the latest OS version, and kept using the XQuartz version of Inkscape.
However, after switching to "Low Resolution," I find that I can actually use Inkscape on my main device.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. It makes a huge difference to my working life.
I've had the same problem. I am using Parallels Desktop with Windows 10 to be able to use Inkscape 1.0. I can't wait until the Mac OS version is fixed.
This is what I'm doing since years with CorelDRAW (old version), which is exactly what I want to get rid off. Therefore I was so thankful, that Inkscape now supports macOS natively... but also on my somewhat powerful iMac it is almost unusable, even in low res mode. It runs even worse on my 5k iMac, than on my 12" MacBook, which is quite slow, but uses a much lower screen resolution. So it seems that Inkscape uses no hardware acceleration from the GPU, but renders each pixel by the CPU - at leat this is what it feels like.
This should not sound ungrateful, I'm really happy, that Inkscape came this far, hopefully soon GPU acceleration comes also to the macOS version.
Hello, Also having Mac performance. Will this be addressed in next release? Used to use Inkscape back in the day on Windows so would love to return to it on mac. Thanks.
@sedgy It's difficult to know for sure what will happen with Mac performance. The only guaranteed solution is to have a Linux dual boot as Inkscape is made for Linux first and ported to Mac/Windows etc. Although the different people involved in building are trying their best to figure out the issues.
Hi there. Cheers for the response. I haven't braved a mac/linux dual boot yet. Think I may invest in a windows desktop soon and could experiment with a dual boot on that. Would be happy to help with Mac testing in the meantime. Thanks again.
Hello, also having extremely slow performance on Mac Catalina, It's need around 1-2 seconds to select/move an object.
Good News. You can now use inkscape from development channel. The issue is resolved now.
This is good news! Do I understand that I have to compile the app myself? Then I'd rather wait for an official release.
Not really. You can download it from official website.
https://inkscape.org/release/inkscape-master/?latest=1
Great job! I've tested the Dev.1.1 and it runs quite well - not Metal fast, but usable.
I found this workaround:
From the Terminal app run Inkscape with using the following command:
GDK_GL=always GDK_RENDERING=image inkscapeFor me that improved performance significantly.
There's a catch however: if you resize Inkscape's window the UI will glitch and you'll probably have to restart it for it to be usable again. Because of that I recommend setting Inkscape to start maximized every time, you can se it through Inkscape > Preferences > Interface > Windows and changing the default window size to maximized.
The source for this workaround is this GitLab issue: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/issues/1614
It seems the devs have a pretty good hint of how to make things better now.
Seems to be fixed in version 1.3 🚀
@ben.winding, perhaps you mean v1.2.x... 1.3 is not released.
Oh yeah sorry, yes it's the development version
But it seems to work smoothly 👍
Just in case someone landed on this page for the same reason I did: Inkscape 1.3.2 (now stable) is day and night difference with 1.0 in terms of performance on Mac OS. Thanks, developers!
Agree it's much better! Not as smooth as Affinity Desginer but yes, vastly improved. Thanks devs! 🙌
I totally agree! 👍