Slow 3D
The 3D view should turn smoothly. If it moves in jerks, your browser is probably drawing it without the computer's graphics chip, or on the weaker of two. Browsers do that without telling you, and it is usually one switch to fix.
Switch the graphics chip on
- Chrome, Edge, Brave
- Open Settings, then System. Turn on "Use graphics acceleration when available" and press Relaunch.
- Firefox
- Open Settings, General, and scroll to Performance. Untick "Use recommended performance settings", tick "Use hardware acceleration when available", and restart Firefox.
- Safari
- It is always on. Nothing to switch.
If it is on and 3D is still slow
- Ask the browser what it is doing
- In Chrome or Edge, type chrome://gpu in the address bar. The first lines list what is drawn by the chip. If WebGL says "Software only" or "Disabled", the browser has turned your chip down, most often because of an old driver.
- Update the graphics driver
- On Windows, run Windows Update and install the optional driver updates, or get the driver from the maker of your chip (Intel, AMD or Nvidia). Restart the computer.
- A laptop with two graphics chips
- Many laptops have a small built-in chip and a stronger graphics card, and hand the browser the small one to save battery. On Windows, open Settings, System, Display, Graphics. Add your browser to the list, set it to High performance, and restart the browser. Plugging in the charger helps too. The box at the top of this page shows which chip is in use.
- A computer with no graphics chip
- Some virtual machines and remote desktops have none. The app works there, only slower.