Dimensions make file sizes huge.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone noticed dimensions making file sizes be much bigger than they are with the use of *D blocks? I have some drawings which are about 2MB in size but a simple explosion and purge of the dimensions cleans out about 1MB of file space and about 3k blocks, from about 300 dimensions. This can cause my saves to take up to 5 minutes in some files. 

This particular file is an architectural file and unfortunately I cannot simply explode the dimensions and let that be that. It is worth mentioning I am using 2018 cad for these files but I can open in earlier version of CAD and the slow downs don't really occur when saving, though I haven't done clean outs in 2016 and studied the results. 

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

can you please send us that dwg-file?
Also please start command _ABOUT and send us a screenshot from that dialog so we know what type and version of AutoCAD you are using.

- alfred -

[BrianBenton]

Without seeing the file, maybe there are blocks being used in the dimension styles and those blocks have blocks within blocks within blocks, etc. So maybe try cleaning up the blocks that are being used in the dim styles??

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Is it possible to share one of your files that displays this issue?  I would like to determine if this is normal behavior.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately I cannot share the files in question due to IP problems and cleaning out the drawing before I upload sort of defeats the purpose. 

The version I mainly use at work is 2018.1.1. The files in question were saved in 2013, I get this message when I open them.

>Opening an AutoCAD 2013/LT 2013 format file.

We think it has something to do with how new version of CAD are handling dimensions, as I understand it the *D dimensions are placeholders for various dimensions blocks of the same dimensions, usually at a different scale? 

I do not believe this is normal behaviours, it doesn't make sense that I have about 4-5 MB of file space that can be purged simply by removing those 'empty' blocks (exploding dimensions and purging out 'nothing'), with data still in the drawing. 

Unless I am missing something. 

My screen shot shows two files. One has had my cleaning process and the other remained how it was received. 

My Process:

-purge out Regapps.

Audit and fix errors (if any, usually has some)

filter for dimensions and explode 

And then purge. 

This removes about 4MB of file space and about 10,000  blocks in this particular drawing, it might be worth noting I exploded ~800 dimensions so about every dimension has 10 blocks inside of it. My next two screen shots shows the Audit dialog before and after purge (how many blocks I had before exploding and purging dimensions). 

I know it's annoying since I can't upload files, but thankyou all. I'll have another chat with the guys at work and see if we can directly message someone some drawings, instead of uploading them. 

[dgorsman]

@Anonymous - this smells like annotative dimensions.  Are your dimension style(s) annotative, and are the dimension entities assigned multiple scales?

[Anonymous]

We do use annotative scaling yes, clearing my scale-list before purging lets me get rid of a thousand blocks in my unused scales. 

I guess we just shouldn't use annotative dimensions? We also didn't create the file in question, they are council drawings. 

By turning the annotation setting off I can clear out most of those blocks. Is this a problem with how we (or the council) did their dimensions? I want to avoid this in future. 

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

you might reduce the file-size when disabling these 2 options settings:

- alfred -

[dgorsman]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

We do use annotative scaling yes, clearing my scale-list before purging lets me get rid of a thousand blocks in my unused scales. 

I guess we just shouldn't use annotative dimensions? We also didn't create the file in question, they are council drawings. 

By turning the annotation setting off I can clear out most of those blocks. Is this a problem with how we (or the council) did their dimensions? I want to avoid this in future. 

---

You only need annotative dimension styles if you want the dimensions to look the same at different scales.  If you are doing everything in model space, or are dimensioning in paper space, then you don't need annotative dimension styles.

You can't turn annotative scaling "off" per se.  There's a few option settings to be aware of to keep your drawings clean and lean.  ANNOAUTOSCALE is one; the "maintain fidelity"/SAVEFIDELITY is another.  If you don't need it, don't create text and dimension styles as annotative.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for sharing your file with me via email.  Your original file is 7MB in size.

I ran AUDIT and 4 errors were detected and corrected. Next I purged your file and was able to remove 22 zero-length objects.

The next thing I noticed is that you have content spread all over modelspace.  Instead of using layering, you seem to copy your plans over and over again to make different representations for display.  This is akin to hand drafting and is not very efficient or quick.  It also increases the file size dramatically.

You also have all your layouts in one file which in my opinion is risky and I would recommend against it.

These are all factors which I would consider much more problematic than the Dimensions.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

That doesn't really explain why I can purge out 10,000 blocks from dimensions by flicking annotation off and on, splitting these drawings, from how we received them, (individual elements in individual drawings) actually increases file size on the server by a sizeable amount, because I think these dimensions with the blocks are being duplicated again and can't be purged out.

Thanks for trying mate. 

[cadffm · Accepted solution]

A simple example:

250 annotative Dimensions with 40 annotative-scales = 10.000 Blocks(not only 250)

If you set all dimension to non-annotative (or explode them),

Acad rebuild the source dimension and you have 10.000 unused Blockdefinitions.

[Anonymous]

yeah so as I thought it's all working as intended and is a necessary evil. The drawings we received had many unused scales and clearing those out it seems I can get rid of most of them.