High CPU Usage During Project Export in Elements 2.0 Beta

Elements Feedback
1

Hello,

I have a question for the engineers of RW Elements, @ben and @tpbradley

Since the Elements 2.0 beta, I’ve noticed that when publishing—or rather exporting—my projects, the CPU on my MacBook Pro (M4 / 48 GB) is being heavily utilized. Both the efficiency cores and the performance cores often reach close to or even above 80% during export. As a result, the CPU temperature rises accordingly and the fans start spinning up.

This surprises me a bit, because this component in my MacBook is usually on “vacation,” so to speak—so much so that all the other components would probably be jealous of how little the fan normally has to do.

So naturally I’m wondering whether this is simply the “power of Elements” at work, or if it’s actually something that shouldn’t be happening.

The project is relatively large, but nowhere near as big as some of my RapidWeaver Classic projects—and I’ve never experienced this behavior there.

I’ve created a short 3-minute video that you’re welcome to take a look at.

I’d appreciate your assessment on whether this is expected behavior or not.

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Not knowing - arm chair quarterback here :slight_smile: - it’s my understanding you can request full cpu power as a dev - I can be totally wrong about this…

But don’t you want the fastest build?

I run an app called Mac fans that keeps my computers - more cooler - than Apple does…

I also have a riser for heat to dissipate

And finally I have a small fan blowing on the machine…

Perhaps overkill… but heat kills electronics

3

Hi @Pegasus,

Elements will use all available system resources during export to complete the process as quickly as possible, so the CPU usage you’re seeing is expected.

That said, it’s also possible something in the export pipeline is being evaluated more often than necessary. For example, a component or resource being rebuilt multiple times, or a processing loop not short-circuiting as intended. In larger projects this can amplify CPU usage significantly.

Would you be able to upload the project to us for analysis? You can do this via Help → Upload to Support in Elements.

Cheers

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Wow you should set up an “Only Fans” account with all them fans! :joy::joy::joy::joy::joy:

3 Likes
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The upload has just been completed. I zipped the project due to its size.

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Thanks @Pegasus,

I’ve received the project and will investigate.

It’s also highlighted another issue, the upload process should automatically compress the project before sending, and it looks like that didn’t happen here. I’ll get that fixed as well.

Cheers

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In this context, perhaps one more note from a user experience perspective:

a small dialog box where you can add some content or include a reference to the relevant forum post would be helpful. That way, when someone uploads a file, you can immediately understand what it’s about.

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Great suggestion, I’ve added this to the support dialog. Thanks @Pegasus