600MB file??? How to reduce file size?

[Anonymous]

Hi I've converted some quad meshes to t-spline bodies and then to B-rep bodies. My file is 600mb and is killing my computer and workflow with Fusion and it's crashes. It takes 15 minutes for an autosave! Insane.. I have tried to turn off history and before doing that I save copy as each body and imported them into a new file. I only want to work with the B-rep bodies and they appear to be simple but my file is over 600mb.. Anyway to reduce all this clutter in memory and get back to working? Thanks... 

[TrippyLighting]

Depending on the mesh density the T-SPlines and ultimately the NURBS surfaces created from these are very "heavy". The only option is really to reduce mesh density of the imported mesh in the originating modeling software by reducing the subdivision level to 0 and import only the control cage.

[Anonymous]

I had a feeling you'd be the one to answer this..  I do understand that the reduction in mesh density is key. I will have them reduced further next time. But I'm curious on the (0) subdivision level and import only the control cage? They all came from Zbrush and were all quads of course. Can what you said about the  (0) subdivision level be controlled from Zbrush or is this something Fusion can do? Thanks for answering this btw,  I know your a true expert.. 😉

[ahsan.autodesk]

Hi @Anonymous,

Sorry to hear about the issues with file size. While I don't have any immediate suggestions on how to reduce the size (besides those offered by @TrippyLighting), I do want to know if you are experiencing long auto-saves every time, or is it only when you're changing something in the T-Spline data. In other words, if you were to open this file, and dirty it by, let's say create a box and undo it, would auto-save still take 15 minutes? I ask because we'd added some smarts some time ago to only auto-save the T-Spline data if it had actually changed. Otherwise, we would just reuse the previously auto-saved T-spline data. If this is not working, we would like to know about it, and try and fix it ASAP.

Thx and regards,

[TrippyLighting]

That depends on how the geometry was created in ZBrush, If this was re-meshed from an actual sculpt then there is no control cage.

Re-meshing by it's pure nature creates relatively dense meshes as opposed to models that are created using traditional polygon modeling techniques. 

The subdivision level an usually be decreased in the host application, ZBrush.

If it was re-meshed then the mesh density can also likely be changed in ZBrush

[TheCADWhisperer]

Can you post a screen capture of the geometry?

Is the original geometry your work, or is it the work of someone else?

Can you re-create the geometry from scratch natively in Fusion, or is it geometry that cannot be created in Fusion?

[Anonymous]

The long auto saves are I believe simply do to the large file size. I am now up to 1.4 G on the file size! And by the way I just started to work in offline mode to get rid of the autosave and just started to do the manual saves. I design toys for the top toy companies in the world. The character I'm making isn't very detailed and I wish there was a better way to do all this without having the need of a supercomputer to work with Fusion. It would be nice to have options in at the time of converted the mesh to tspline or tspline to B-rep in the level of detail needed. Just like exporting an stl. I could get away with better work flow while sacrificing some details in the model that are not too important.. 1.4G is waaaaaaay tooooo big for any file considering it's a simple shaped toy animal for 4 year olds.. It's a plastic Unicorn btw, not too detailed at all.... 

[Anonymous]

Just a simple matter of the poly counts per model export is all that is needed. I usual put that goal at 10K per part. Meaning if one were to make a Unicorn, then each individual part of the Unicorn would be 10K or less, the head/face might be more but simple features like the horn for example should be 2-3k probably.. It just would be nice to have detailed controls at the time of conversion of the bodies in Fusion like exporting an stl's counts.. A B-rep looks deceiving by it's odd line paths and such, it looks simple after it's been converted but hiding behind that look could be an extremely large file... I'm at 1.4G for my file size and it's a simple creature nothing crazy like a Spawn character.. My computer is barely keeping up, and at times the program will freeze but not crash an that's the worst because I have to purposely crash fusion to start over in fusion. It seems to be a memory VS graphics power crossing issue... 

[TrippyLighting]

So sculpted ans re-meshed ?

[Anonymous]

Sculpted and re-meshed in Zbrush to reduce the polycounts.. Decimation and re-mesh etc. 

[TrippyLighting]

What  is it that you want to do with these files in Fusion 360 ?

[Anonymous]

I'll give you a little backdrop. I mainly make mechanical toys come to life. I work on organic shapes that are made in programs like Zbrush. I then need to get that body precision shelled or atleast have a uniform wall thickness done in Zbrush before it enters into Fusion. But lately I've been doing boolean operations in Fusion to get a more uniform shell and this also helps to reduce an imported model that hasn't been shelled easier for the conversion to take place in Fusion. I then can work with the B-rep surface to mechanically connect everything and finish the toy. I end up creating a step file for tooling in the desired country for manufacture.  I'm doing this so I can work on the model easier and go straight to tooling.. Fusion has pretty weak mesh tools that never seem to work.. 

[jeff_strater]

Hi @Anonymous, would you be willing to share one of your meshes with us, confidentially?  We have some in-development technology that I'd like to try on one of your models, just to see what kind of results we would get.  If you are willing, you can DM me a link to one of your projects, or email me with a shared location (Box, etc) at jeff.strater@autodesk.com

thanks,

Jeff

[Anonymous]

No problem! Here are two files one is inner and one is the outer. I will perform a boolean after they have been converted. It's easier for fusion to convert each one separately instead of them being shelled before they come in.  

[jeff_strater]

Ah, I didn't realize that you already were working with quad meshes.  That is a plus, but it does invalidate the in-development technology I was referring to.  That was for converting triangle meshes to quad meshes.  The good news here is that you can fairly easily convert these to sculpt bodies, then to solids, and then do the boolean to get the hollow.  Once you have converted the mesh, delete those features so they don't take up space in your design.  I don't know what percentage of your design those meshes represent, but this model is 26 MB.  If you convert it to a direct modeling design, that drops it down to 18 MB.  And, if you won't need to edit the Sculpt body afterwards, you can delete those, and take it all the way down to 7 MB.

Here is a screencast of the conversion workflow:

[Anonymous]

I see so deleting history can reduce the total file size? If I also explore Save copy as and then import that into a new fusion file will it also exclude it's history or bring it with it? Or is it more complicated than that?

[Anonymous]

Could I also go back to the beginning of the design and delete those commands to save space after I've been working on the model for quite some time? It's up to 1.4G right now.. 

[jeff_strater]

You should be able to go back and delete the features even though you've been working on it for a while.  It depends on your design whether this will cause errors or not. 

The reasons why a parametric (history) design takes up more room are a bit obscure, but it can be up to twice as large with history turned on.  And, getting rid of the meshes and the sculpt bodies can absolutely be done later, as long as you know you won't be needing to edit them later.

Save Copy As itself will not delete the parametric history, it just saves a new copy of the file.  But, this could be a strategy to use if you want to keep the parametric version, in case you ever to need to edit it.  You can save a copy, open it, then turn off design history, delete the meshes and sculpt bodies, and still have your source design just in case.

If you want to share one of your designs with me, I'd be happy to take a look at it and see how small I can get it.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Very cool. I'm very curious to see how low you could bring the file. It's waaaay too big right now and too scary. It takes my system 15-20 minutes just to open the file.. I hate to bother you with work but this would really help me and other's into understanding how to keep these things at a minimum. I can send a link soon to the fusion file, but I really trully want to understand how this can go from 200 mb to 1.4 g in less than a day..