Simplified Representation

[mickingaamco]

My model is getting pretty big, and it is very slow to render the whole thing. When I want to rotate or zoom, it takes several seconds to do, and it is very choppy, rotating just a little, then stopping, and then rotating more, etc. I am pretty sure that I am using all of the memory.

In ProE this was solved by creating simplified reps. You could define which parts of the model you wanted to work with, but they would remain connected to the whole model in terms of spacial location, etc. 

In 360 it seems to me that you have to have your complete model in memory. I can edit subassemblies and subparts on their own, but then I have to update every assembly above them. 

Is there a strategy for using only a subset of the model that will increase the speed of the rendering or use less memory?

[TrippyLighting]

Hide the components you are not working on, or if they need to remain visible for orientation, set them to un-selectable.

[jeff_strater]

yeah, we want to do this, too.  At the moment, however, it is not particularly high on the priority list.  Here is the idea station item for it:  simplified-representation, see if you can round up a few votes for it!

Jeff

[TrippyLighting]

It has one vote now 😉

[mickingaamco]

Hiding them doesn't really cut it. They are still in memory, and still
slowing things down. I believe my design is just at the edge of my memory,
and there is paging going on with the disk drive. The model is so slow that
I really hate working on it more. Every command takes several seconds to
even pop up. I only have about 300-400 parts in the model.

I worked with ProE at Xerox for 8 years. We were working on printers with
tens of thousands of parts that no computer could load. So you could create
a simplified rep with only some of the assemblies. You could then work on
your parts and they would remain in the overall assembly with all
dependencies, locations, etc. They had many different ways of showing the
adjacent assemblies in much-reduced models so that you could check
clearances, etc.

Fusion 360 is kind of a baby compared to that, but we can hope for the
future.

Mike

[TrippyLighting]

There is more than one area in a model that can slow things down. Graphics performace is one and here, hiding things definitely improves the situation.

This is particularly true when there is imported geometry in the design tat consists of a mesh converted into a BRep. I am helping another user offline with such a design and the difference is quite staggering.

Setting components or assemblies to unselectable also definitely helps viewport performance. Fusion 360 continuously checks with in a cone volume (or so I remember) around the mouse cursor for selectable and highlightable objects. Components and Assemblies set to unselectable are excluded from that continuous check and this also helps viewport performance.

Isolating the components or assemblies being worked on also is helpful in that respect.

As to the crashes, where I came acrioss this in my work here on the Forum 360 is very oftern that particular recommended workflows are not maintained. One of these particularly pertaining to Components is Fusion 360R.U.L.E #1.

Another one is having too many references between components that might be better maintained using user parameters.

As to joints, often setting proper joint limits substantiually improves performace as that limits the space Fusion 360 has to look for a solution.

[mickingaamco]

Ok, how do I make a component un-selectable? How do I isolate components
and assemblies. I don't remember any of these concepts in the tutorials.

Mike

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

Yes, if it comes to complete documentation and built-in help Fusion 360 is lacking.

You can right-click on a component or assembly to hide/show it or make unselectable/selectable.

Yu'd do the same thing for "isolate/unisolate" they are all in the menu that pops up when uyu right-click on either a component or assembly.

Isolating a component/assembly basically hides everything else but the selected component/assembly. When done editing it can be un-isolated.

While in isolation other compoennts can still be unhidden as needed.

I am not sure at the moment if un-isolate simply re-creates the visibility state before isolating or if it simply unhides everything. It did unhide everything when I started with Fusion 360 2 yars ago and I created an Idea to change it.

[mickingaamco]

Thanks,.
I will try both of those to see what helps.