So I’m fixing to render out one of the files here at work. And we just got a new, beast of a machine to render much faster. However I’ve run into a problem, that even the designers admit is causing them issues. The file size is 400 MB which makes rendering in Lumion VERY difficult, even on the new 1080Ti cards… Now I’ve used a Purge Extension but it only reduced the file size by about 8 mb. I’ve done this before on an import from Revit and dropped it from 454 mb to 12 mb. The difference is that that file didn’t have all the designers’ work in it.
They’ve said their textures are all less than 1 mb but it’s still massive. It’s a giant Basketball arena model so it’s possible it’s just the sheer size and amount of geometry within the file. I’m going to cut out the trees first. And I’m betting the guy who imported it (like 2 years ago) didn’t import it cleanly so the model itself has a lot of unkempt data in it.
But I was wondering if there’s any way or plugin to audit the file. Or at least generate a report of the model itself that lists out how many components, textures, etc. are in the file itself.
Any advice would be appreciated. Otherwise this is gonna be a long and arduous journey over the next few days.
Windows > Model Info > Statistics will tell you how many of everything are in your model AND give you access to the Purge command. Purge will dump all of the unused info in your model and (usually) skinny up the file.
Purging unfortunately has no effect on rendering, it only affects the size of your model file when saved. When you are working, everything that matters is “geometry”, that is, the edges and faces SketchUp has to process, and it doesn’t matter much if they are inside components or groups. A file can quickly become slow to handle if you add a lot of heavy components. The 3D warehouse is chock-full of 3D plants, cars and other entourage elements that will bog down your model if used in large quantities.
• “Window > Model Information > Statistics > Purge Unused”
• show everything (unhide objects / switch on all layers), select all and copy & paste to a new document
• CleanUp³
• SketchUp Help Center : Improving Performance
Getting statistics will help you better understand where the bloat might be and if it’s possible to simplify easily. When working with some larger files for I have sometimes had to make multiple versions of a file and cut the job into sections. I make an outer shell version that contains no inner architecture for rendering the building in-situ, then a west and south elevation with the opposite sides of the building removed. Especially removing any trees, cars, people, other potentially poly heavy items that do not appear in the frame of any given render. Choose your battles essentially.
@sketch3d_de I used the CleanUp3 plugin and that worked a little. If I’m reading it right it took out something like 200 million stray edges in the file (says “Edges Reduced”). Which comes from the Revit import I’m assuming. Or maybe it just cleaned all of them up…
Anyways it only took about 50 MB out of the file after I purged; deleting hidden geometry and such with the same plugin. I guess my next avenue is to sit with the designer and figure out which layers can be deleted. Then if all else fails I will have to just copy/paste in place to rebuild it into another file.
Would the number of scenes cause some of the bloat? If so there’s about 60 or 70 scenes and Lumion doesn’t read that data so I could delete literally all of those in my import file.
A scene captures a reasonably small amount of data about how the model is displayed in the view (so that you can return to the same view quickly or create animations that gradually move the camera). It does not add geometry or textures to the model and should not be an important factor in the file size.