How does components help saving computing resources?

I am just wondering if components help saving computing resources or not? If it is "yes”,can anybody explain how it works? Thanks!!!

Yes, components save resources, assuming that the model has more than one instance of a given component. There are two aspects to a component:

  1. The component definition. This is the “master plan” for the component, in particular it describes all the entities of the component such as edges and faces. It also defines the canonical scale for the component. Component definitions are visible via the Components browser window or tray.
  2. The component instances. These are objects within the model space. All instances of a given component definition share the same entities, so the computer only has to remember (in RAM, and on disk) the one master description of all the component’s edges and faces, etc. This is how components reduce the resources required to manage the entities in the model. Each instance of the component can be independently positioned and scaled anywhere in model space. Editing any instance of the component will modify the common definition, and those edits are instantly reflected in all other instances of the component.

To a certain extent, groups behave the same as components. In particular, a copy of a given group shares the same description of all of the group’s entities (edges and faces etc.) as the original group. However, as soon as a group is opened for editing (such as double-click on it), the contents of the group are replicated into a unique copy for that particular group (even if no changes are made).

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Decent answer! Thank you, Tom! :smiley:

Be aware there is a balance between components, groups and raw geometry for best performance and file size.
While components can reduce the file size having lots of them can bring SU to it’s knees even with an apparently small file.