Why does Fusion have to think so hard before I can do anything?

[seamus.e.hannan]

I'm on a 2019 Macbook Pro running 10.15.7, and on an office business internet connection.

Admittedly the file I'm working on is a mesh-turned-body with a lot of polygons. I can't upload my .f3d because it weighs about 140Mb.

I'm creating sketches, tracing profiles, zooming in and out, creating toolpaths, and basically anything from high-level to low-level processes take forever. Every 5 second to 3 minute hang up adds up immensely and it makes it hard to get anything done. If this program is so powerful and my computer is relatively up to date, why does it feel so slow and clunky? Can I work offline so that all these edits don't have to go to space and back? Is that even the problem?

I'm getting super frustrated.

I attached a screenshot of my computer specs and an image of the shapes I'm working with.

[seamus.e.hannan]

It has really become completely unusable, I'm at a loss. It hangs up on EVERY SINGLE STEP (edit feature: wait 2 minutes, click a checkbox: wait 3 minutes, click okay: wait 5 minutes, rinse and repeat for everything) and I can't get anything done. Do I need a brand-new top-of-the-line 2021 computer to do anything complex? This is horrible and it's making my work unbearably frustrating. If I can't find the problem and a solution I won't be able to do this work anymore.

[jeff_strater]

all operations except "file" operations are all performed on your local machine.  Only things like Save, etc involve the cloud/network.  Any delay is almost certainly because of the amount of data your model contains.  The workflow here of turning a mesh into a BRep where every single mesh triangle is a BRep face is very inefficient, and is the cause of your workflow slowness.  It's not clear what the entire original mesh looks like (it looks as if there has been a plane cut at some point), but this thread may be of some help as a more efficient way of converting your mesh to a BRep representation, if your entire mesh is "organic" in nature:  how-to-work-with-irregular-and-organic-stl-files 

[TrippyLighting]

The mesh tools in Fusion 360 serve mostly 2 purposes:

1. Repair meshes

2. Turn meshes into solid bodies or surfaces, which is really the end goal of all those tools so you can work with the geometry using the Solid and Surface tools in Fusion 360.

Meshes are not CAD data. CAD software stores geometry in form of simple analytical geometry (boxes, spheres, cylinders, tori, etc. ), and NURBS surfaces often wrapped into a BRep. Those are mathematically precise descriptions of geometry  without resolution.

The tools in Fusion 360 and most other CAD software are designed to work with that sort of data. 

A mesh, particularly a triangulated mesh consists of thousands sometimes hundreds of thousands of triangles. The limit for direct conversion  into a BRep is 50.000 (or so). When a mesh is converted into such a BRep each individual facet is converted into such a mathematically precise surface.

Imagine you are creating a boolean (Modify->combine-cut) between a sphere and a cylinder. The software only has to calculate the intersections between two surfaces. However, when the 2 objects are BRep turned meshes, the software now has to calculate the intersections between hundreds or more surfaces.

It is not hard to see why this takes longer.

Also, with edge shading enabled, there is much more geometry to be displayed in the viewport than with a BRep/NURBS model.

If you can share the original .stl file and  describe what you are trying to achieve, we might be able t find a better, more performant workflow.

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@seamus.e.hannan wrote:

Admittedly the file I'm working on is a mesh-turned-body with a lot of polygons.

 Is that even the problem?

I'm getting super frustrated.

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Well there you go. 

Like trying to put lipstick on a pig.

Might be doable with a lot of frustration, but in the end it is still a pig.

I recommend starting from scratch creating native Fusion geometry.