Combining Multiple Bodies

[Anonymous]

I have read through multiple threads and watched several videos but haven't been able to find the answer to my question. 

I created the mammoth component from an DXF file. As you can see, this component is made up of several bodies, 70 to be exact. I have imported the mammoth component into another project so that I can practice engraving it on a block. During the project and extrude, process my system gets really bogged down. I assume its due to having so many bodies active. I am looking for a way to convert the 70 bodies into 1 in an effort to ease the strain on my system. 

I have tried converting to both STL and STP file types but have been unable to re-mesh them to the point where I can project them on to a surface. 

Any help / suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[tyler_henderson · Accepted solution]

Hello,

If the bodies are not touching or overlapping each other, then you cannot combine them into one body.  You could put all of the bodies into a new or existing Component, but I don't think that will help your performance issue.  Also, I doubt the performance issue is caused by the number of bodies since 70 is not that many bodies, relatively speaking.  Most likely the performance issue is caused by the number of edges and faces on the extrusions.  It looks like the edges are not smooth which creates a lot of individual faces on the resulting solids.  One thing you might try to improve performance while you are trying to work on the engraving is to change the Display Settings to either "Shaded" (no edges) or "Wireframe" no solid shading.  Also, check your Preferences>Graphics settings to be sure they are optimized for performance.

Hope this helps,

[davebYYPCU]

Two things I would consider, 

the level of detail in the imported sketch, if all that detail is one sketch, with some parts mirrored, that will degrade performance right there.

in simple terms Fusion will be calculating constraints for every end point of every sketch article.

Even if there are 70 sketches it still has a job to do.

Something to think about....

[etfrench]

Use the Fix/Unfix command on all of the sketch geometry.  This will stop Fusion 360's need to recompute constraints and should speed up the UI.

You can use the sketches created from the dxf file directly in engraving operations, no need to create bodies.  Put the sketches in a component, then copy/paste into the new file.  Align the sketch component in the new file with the face to be engraved.  In CAM use either Trace or Engrave depending on how deep you want it machined.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help Tyler, things are running much better.