Is this really the way to go? Shattering blocks

[Rayx1]

I have this character that breaks all this blocks apart, I was shattering them until I applied a gravity field and pressed play, they won't move and will crash Maya in a moment.


So this is what I've done, I shattered a block with all this properties, I figured out that I have to separate a little bit all pieces to avoid iterations, everything now works smoother but if I'm going to make a simulation with lots of pieces breaking apart then this is not a solution...is it normal to shatter and having this iterations issue? Do I really need to set a distance between all the broken pieces before starting the simulation?

[Rayx1]

I just copied 5 columns with a shatter applied and a baked simulation and it plays slow as hell, any help please? What the heck I'm doing wrong?


Here it's the file with the baked simulation. It's for Maya2012.
http://www.mediafire.com/?l3b55az1545co72

Simulation with one column goes really smooth, I can't believe the software gets this slow just with 5 squared columns!

[Rayx1]

I see what might be the problem, I suppose having 5 of this high geometry columns could make the simulation slow down a lot but.... I still don't get why everything gets so slow even with all the keyframes baked down on the timeline, maybe too may pieces with too much keyframes?
Captura de pantalla 2012-04-18 a la(s) 13.05.26.jpg