Sketchup file too heavy

Hi,
i’m new to sketchup and haven’t yet worked out the kinks in my technique :slight_smile:
i am repeatedly facing the issue of sketchup crashing due to file being too heavy (i’m guessing here) my models contain lots of smaller models i.e. a hospital building model contains models of almost everything that can be found in a hospital building
in hopes of making it easy for the machine to process i have tried simplifying surfaces that don’t need a lot of detail and turned every thing into a component yet the model still feels like a drunken elephant when i try to manipulate it with all elements made visible
plus sketchup is crashing frequently
the sketchup file size has reached 143mb and the parking lot is yet to be made

i have 2 questions
1: What am i doing wrong? (pointers that indicate probable issues that i can look up online will do)
2: How do i make the model lighter in weight so that it responds better when manipulated?

You model is indeed getting on the large side at 143Mb for SU to handle easily.

How many faces, edges, groups and component instances have you (see Window/Model Info/Statistics)?

SU on a reasonably powerful machine can cope with files up to around 100Mb, and millions of edges and faces. Your file size is a bit bigger than that, and into the size where SU starts to struggle unless you are carfeul.

If you have downloaded many of the components from the 3D warehouse, it is very probable that they are seriously over-detailed, especially if they have merely been converted from manufacturer’s original CAD files meant to show how the product is manufactured. Many have internal parts shown in full detail, even if they will only be viewed from the outside, and even if drawn from scratch in SU, may have far too many segments in circles for the level of detail you need, or grossly over-large textures.

You can also check each component in the Component Browser - select one in the browser, then click on the Statistics tab. It may be slow to get the Component Browser open in a large model.

You can use Layers to make the model more manageable while you are working on it. Assign layers to components you don’t need to see while modelling, then turn them off

I’m working on a model of over 400Mb file size, with almost 75 million edges and over 30 million faces, a million component instances, and over 100,000 groups. With appropriate layers turned off, it is manageable, but only just, and my machine struggles a little even to orbit and zoom. The developer whose model it is has a more powerful iMac than I do, and finds it more easily workable, but ONLY with careful choice of layers to make visible while modelling.

I had to simplify for him many items he’d downloaded direct from the 3D warehouse, to prevent more serious overload - see for example this thread:

Good practice is to download each component into a new SU model, and inspect it before inserting into your main model. Simplify if needed (in my experience, it usually is!).

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Hmmmmmm
i’m using a AMD Athlon dual core 4400+ (2.5GHz, 64 bit) with 8Gb ram and Nvidia GeForce GT730 card

i just checked my model info/stats n it says that i’ve got
Edges--------------3398939
Faces--------------1452204
Component instances--------------4426
Groups--------------5051

is it too much for my machine?

appreciate the reply btw, yes lots of my components were directly downloaded from the warehouse
is there any short cut to lighten the model or do i have to go through each n every component and simplify them individually?

and i haven’t used any layers at all though i suspect one of the models i downloaded may have some already, but i wasn’t familiar with layers in sketchup so i hadn’t used them so far

It sounds like you got yourself in pretty deep. It’s too bad because a lot of the cleanup is going to have to be done manually. First thing, though, go to Window>Model Info Statistics and click Purge Unused. How much does it change those numbers in your stats?

Depending on the model, it might be easier to start over and work cleanly instead of trying to get through this existing model to repair all the problems and simplify things.

i tried purging unused stuff but there was no change in the stats!
how is that possible…
if there are hidden parts in components which are obscured from view at all times, wouldn’t they get deleted once i purge the unused stuff?

No. Hidden does not mean unused. There could have been unused components, ones that you might have had in the model and then deleted. They remain as part of the file even though they aren’t in the model space. Evidently you didn’t have any unused components.

No, hidden and not visible are not at all the same as unused. Unused components have no instances in the model. Unused materials are not applied to any entity in the model.

It’s not the most powerful machine, but should cope well enough IF you are able to simplify things by a mixture of pruning the most over-complex components, and judicious use of layers.

There’s a plugin called Goldilocks which might help you identify over detailed components.

But you might find it easier and more instructive to try to identify the 3d warehouse components that are contributing most to the the edge and face count, or over-bloating the file size with unnecessarily large textures.

Which components have most instances?

Of those, either use the Component Browser [Statistics] tab (remember to tick the box to show sub components in the statistics), or go back to 3dwarehouse, find them, and look at the Polygon count. Multiply instances x edges or instances x polygons to see which are contributing most to the complexity.

Then see if you can simplify - either find a low-poly substitute, or edit down what you’ve got.

Okay
So i guess i’ll have to go through the components after all
thanks for the help everyone

In addition to the previous suggestions, this suggestion may also help. For views where certain items cannot be seen, for instance if you have equipment which is only visible inside a specific space, convert the items into components (or groups although I only use components and never use groups), place those components on a new layer (use different layers for different components if you like) and turn the layer visibility off in selected scenes. Adhering to this procedure can help reduce file size somewhat if used consistently. Note that raw geometry (items NOT saved as a group or component) must always be placed on Layer 0, but it is acceptable to locate components or groups on a different layer and to control the visibility of those elements in a way that is conducive to the model’s performance.

One other suggestion:

Yes, DO use layers to control visibility.

AND group different ways of looking at your model into Scenes. Among other things, Scenes can save your viewpoint, visible layers, styles, what is hidden or showing and a few other Style settings like whether you are using full colour with textures, Xray view, Back Edges, Monochrome view, etc.

When modelling, work in a Scene that only has visible what you need at the moment. That will speed things up between some and a LOT depending on how much you turn off.

And when you make changes to a Scene, remember to Update it, and if prompted, save a new Style to match.

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