File Size Problems with extruded objects

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I've been working on 3D models and noticed when i take a circle and extrude it along a path (usually a spline) it adds a lot to a file size. The objects are used as electrical conductors on power poles. After a few city blocks of this the model file size becomes basically unusable.

So my question is why does extruding a circle along a curved path increase the file size so drastically and is there another alternative to keep the file size down?

I greatly appreciate any help you can provide.

DM

[nestly2 · Accepted solution]

Making into a block will help, as will making sure SoidHistory is turned off.  If there are significant numbers of these in a drawing, the best solution may be to reduce their complexity by using solid primatives and/or reducing the complexity of the sweep/extrusion path. 

Can you attach a sample drawing containing one or more of these objects (including the original profile and path).  

[dgorsman · Accepted solution]

If the path isn't curved, it can be stored as a simple cylinder - diameter, length.  The curve requires a lot more information to store, especially if the path is irregular.  There isn't anything you can do to reduce the size of this object.  Normally such irregular shapes aren't modelled or if they are, it is done with application-specific software which is designed to do so.

There's a couple of things you can do to optimize the models:

- don't model what you don't need to e.g. if this will only be seen at 1:100 scale a 3D model of the wire isn't any more effective than a line; if this shape is only shown in a single detail, draw out the detail in 2D

- keep each section small and use XREFs

- use blocks for repeated inserts of the same object

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the response. Here is a small sample of the objects I'm talking about. Between each pole are the four objects. when copied or recreated over several poles the files size of the drawing goes through the roof. I kept the path of each object as requested.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply, I will give those suggestions a try. It might be worth it instead of extruding the circle to just leave the spline as the cable. Also for the file that started the thread, I had each pole as an xref into the site drawing, it might be worth it to do something similar for the cable. Very good advice, I appreciate it.

[nestly2]

For comparison, arraying the non-blocked insulator alone 100 times resulted in a  2.13MB file.

Arraying the pole, crossbar, and 3 of the 15KV pins 100 times, produced a 1.35MB file

Copying your 15KV insulator into my default template and arraying it 300 times resulted in only a 259KB file.

Hopefully this demonstrates the advantage of using blocks for 3D solids that are duplicated.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for looking into it. That definetely makes sense and something I will follow on these models in the future. I was pulling hair trying to figure out what was causing the file size to go so large. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees.

I appreciate the time you took to help!