Overweight content on the warehouse

There is of course a wide variety of quality in the models available the 3DWarehouse. This is expected I think from a public repository. Users understand that this is an un-curated space and take care to watch out for very high poly or unpurged or over textured items that might crush a file if added, not to mention plain sloppy modeling. We on the forum continue to assist and educate new users on a regular basis who have locked up their model by indiscriminately adding entourage from the warehouse (I’m looking at you plants). I feel like this is one of the reasons for the distinction of “products” vs “models”. The “products” collection is supposedly verified in some kind of process, but more and more under products I am finding whole collections of models uploaded by supposed manufacturers which are actually converted file types from other CAD platforms and some are ridiculously huge files, sloppily made click bait with file sizes so big they are essentially unusable. I’m curious what the verification process is, and if there is any over-sight on this process.

Check out this little gem, before you click the link, take a guess at the file size of this blocky little end table.

File size: 59mb

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It’s a process, certification is on it’s way

Check the video:
[Webinar] How to Create a Digital Showroom in 3D Warehouse??utm_source=LinkedInShare

Should be 59 KB instead of MB…
Edit: tried modelling it. Untextured model came at 105 KB.

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Interesting, thanks for link, I’ll check it out.

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Wow! This could be used as a case study in bad modeling practices! Some details I found:

  • There are 112 component definitions in the model, yet not one of them has an instance in the model (most are nested inside two unused definitions whose names suggest the model started as imported dwg)! Most of them appear to be variations on fastener hardware. Purge gets rid of them all, immediately reducing file size by about 60%.
  • The entire model consists of loose edges and faces despite the obvious simple structure consisting mainly of a small number of repeated objects. The worst offenders are all the screws, which contribute almost all of the edges and faces of the model despite being details that are mostly non-visible and probably needed only to show the placement of fasteners.
  • Tags are applied to loose edges and faces, giving the impression that there are seperate objects when it is actually all one big mess. Editing will reveal that most things are actually stuck together despite the tags, per SketchUp’s normal handling of loose geometry. Editing this will be an exercise in frustration; it would be easiest to start over and use components properly.
  • There are 16 materials in the model but only 5 of them are actually used! Of those five, two appear to be rotated versions of the same 2.4 mega-pixel texture image. It is significantly over-detailed for the size of the surface it covers. Removing those two cuts file size by another 30%.
  • Materials are, IMHO, applied clumsily producing a very unrealistic look.
  • Materials are consistently applied to the both sides of faces despite the fact that the faces are properly oriented with front side outward on what would be solid components. The materials on the back sides will be invisible. That doesn’t bloat the model, but is unneeded work.
  • It’s more of a nit, but the dowels connecting the legs use 41 segments for their circular ends. Because that isn’t divisible by 4, it is impossible to align the vertices with principal axis directions.
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Yup, it’s pretty bad. I was so curious that I downloaded and unpacked it a bit just like you, and found many of the same things. There are two other complete tables left in the unused component browser that both have component names with .dwg at the end which leads me to believe this is an imported set of geometry which might account for what a terrible SketchUp model it is.

That little stool doesn’t surprise me. Believe it or not… I’ve run into more problems with “Products” models than with those on the “Models” side. Quite often, hobbyist and artist create very realistic or nice looking models with much smaller file sizes (and fewer issues). I’ve seen many very nice “Products” models that I would like to use in my own work, but don’t because of file size. On occasion, I find one where the file size is acceptable and consider using it, but then have to scale it down because it’s humongous.

104KB… Yesssssss!! LOL. Couldn’t help trying to see if I could do better. But I’m happy to know I was able to do as well as a pro. I’ve come a long way.