Hey there experts! I have a large (700mb) file that has been working well since February. Since updating to 2023 (from 2021), the file now opens like this - any thoughts on what I should be doing differently? I have previously saved it as both a v13 and v3 file, but no luck getting it back to a functional state. Thanks so much!
Without seeing the model it is impossible to say for sure, but do you have scaled copies of parts of the model scattered around in space with the original object still at the model origin?
How about sharing a purged copy of the model?
Is it possible to send it directly to you?
It is too big to put in a PM directly (that is why I recommend purging). You would need to share the file through a cloud service (GDrive, Dropbox, WeTransfer…) and post the link here. If you need the file to be kept private, perhaps @DaveR could take it on. With me it would take until tomorrow.
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Okay perfect, I signed an NDA on this one so if keeping it private is an option, thank would be amazing. The purged file size is 552mb. I am happy to share a google drive link to the file to access.
The backstory - a client had a previous 3D modeler, but wasn’t responsive or local, and then they found me, just a few blocks from their business so it was a great match. The previous modeler used 3ds max, which I am not super comfortable in, so I converted the file to SKP and have been using it ever since. So it is not a natively created file, but has been working smoothly until now.
If I’m going to look at it I’d rather have the unpurged vesion.
No problem, I can share the unpurged for sure. Newbie question, how do I send a pm?
Click on my name and then “Message”. You might need a few more posts under your belt before you can do it.
Please update/correct your forum profile. It says you are using 2021 and you put the operating system in the Graphics Card field.
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No problem, my profile should now be accurate.
Having looked at your file, it is evident that @Anssi has guessed corectly. Objects in the model have been scaled but their definitions have not been updated to the right size. I expect this is a translation error from 3DS Max to SketchUp. Why it didn’t appear immediately I can’t say.
Part of the problem, too is that there are these groups that have been scaled that contain blobs of loose geometry scattered around.
All of the screws and lock washers here should be instances of components not a collection of edges and faces as they are now.
I don’t know if opening the file in an old version of SketchUp would help. I don’t have one to test. I wonder if you have access to the original file you imported into SketchUp. If you do, you might try that and before doing any modeling, clean things up (there’s an awful lot of unneeded triangulation) and, if things look right, correct the scale immediately.
Was all of this imported as a single file into SketchUp or was it in multiple files?
FWIW, you might want to give some thought to how the model will be used and how much detail is required. For example, are the screws and lock washers adding anything useful to the “story” the model is telling? Maybe there’s a lot of this small stuff that could be eliminated.
There were some bugs related to scaling in 2023 - it’s possible that the problems that technically exist in a file opened in another version go wrong when opened in 2023.
I remember seeing others with this issue - but I can’t find the notes as to how you can correct files affected by it.
Scale definition in the file in an old version?
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To convert the single file from Max to Sketchup, I used the D5 converter (that’s the software I render in, and packages the full file into a textured sketchup file that I edited from there).
I’ll go back to the original max file that doesn’t have any of the updates I’ve made over the last 9 months and see if I can start over.
Is there a different way you’d recommend migrating from Max to Sketchup that might be more stable?
Thanks for checking out the problem Dave, I really appreciate it.
ah
found a topic along with a script to run in 2021 that will correct the file
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I’ll check this out too @Elmtec-Adam, I appreciate the digging to find that former topic answer 
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Give the script Adam linked to a try and see if that helps.
Only based on the way I work with models for clients, I probably wouldn’t import anything from 3DS Max. I would use it as a reference and create the model from scratch in SketchUp. I’d rather spend my time making a clean efficient model than fixing up the problems that come with the import. I expect even if the scaling is correct there’s still going to be a lot of weird groups in the model that will be hard to work with.
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Okay will do - this was a unique job with files shared from someone I had never worked with before, without knowing their workflow.
Ideal world, always build from scratch for sure! There is so much junk in the file I was given, there is no reason for all of those bolts and stuff, thanks again!
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I sometimes get SketchUp models from my clients that I don’t even bother opening because I know the model will be more work to fix than to recreate from scratch.
Good luck.
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Thank you all, that script was enough to get the file working again in 2023 - I greatly appreciate the research and lighting-fast communication - I have been fretting since Friday trying to backtrack.
I’ll definitely be rebuilding future shared files now that I am a bit more conformable in the automotive side, after working in architecture / interiors for years.
Happy holidays!
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