large model killing our workstations!

[gee_thoiWGLZF]

Hi all. I'm hoping someone can help me with this problem we keep encountering.

We perform conversions to OEM vehicles. As such we need to download the OEM vehicles from the manufacturer's portals.

Unfortunately, when we download the vehicles, the models are VERY large, sometimes in the region of 50GB.

We always try to reduce the number of parts by removing any unwanted parts, however this does not always work and we are still left with extremely large files which we need to insert into our assemblies.

We have very capable workstations but even these struggle with the shear size of the vehicle models we need to insert.

We’ve tried to “simplify” or “derive” the vehicle models in an effort to try to reduce the file size. However, the process never seems to work properly and our workstations simply stop working or the simplified/derived model doesn’t show all the parts from the original model.

Can anyone advise a robust method of reducing the file sizes?

thanks in advance

[harvey3ELEA]

When I bring in very large models (Ford F-600 truck and chassis parts from Ford Upfitters, Volvo & CAT earthmovers, etc. from TurboSquid), I send them over to Fusion to manipulate/scale sizes, and reduce polygon counts and excessive mesh patterning.

Fusion has some very nice tools and does a pretty good job at cleaning this stuff up to where it's manageable, but any way you slice it, it's typically a large amount of data that has to be crunched, especially if the detail & quantity level is high (tubes, pipes, fasteners, wires, threads, and many other small parts).

I'm not very experienced with Fusion, but a lot of tools are easy to figure out, and there's certainly an Inventor 'feel' to the program.

[HansVoges]

I am so glad you asked this as I have very similar issues. 
I will give the suggestion by @harvey3ELEA a try. 

Cheers guys, 

[karthur1]

When you import, is it just one large iam with a ton of parts.... or is it broken up into subassemblies in the main assembly?  If it is a bunch of parts, you might could try demoting the parts to subassemblies and see it that helps.

In the main assembly, are you using "Model States"?  If there are more model states other than the "Primary", delete those if you are not using them.  Extra model states will bloat the file size.

[machiel.veldkamp]

We also have (very) large models that we work with. 

The assemblies I work with usually take up about 80-100 GB's in memory so I feel your pain. 

I highly reccomend looking into the systems that you are using and seeing if some upgrades or replacement is required.

@gee_thoiWGLZF What specifications does your current workstation have?

[harvey3ELEA]

Here's my new PC specs for reference (plenty competent to run large assys computationally and graphically):

MPG B760 Trident AS 14 (MS-B924)

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-14700F 2.10 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

8GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

32.0 GB of RAM

Windows 11 Pro
Version 24H2
OS build 26100.4351

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Inventor is a distributed design tool. It runs more efficiently when the geometry is distributed among components. Importing a full detailed vehicle as an ipt file would not work well in Inventor. It is better to import as an assembly with reused components.

Another thing to consider is to manage the required level of detail. Unless you need every single detail geometry of a vehicle to do your design in Inventor, you may import a portion of the model which is enough to do your design.

Many thanks!

[karthur1]

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@harvey3ELEA wrote:

Here's my new PC specs for reference (plenty competent to run large assys computationally and graphically):

MPG B760 Trident AS 14 (MS-B924)

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-14700F 2.10 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

8GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

32.0 GB of RAM

Windows 11 Pro
Version 24H2
OS build 26100.4351

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I am not saying that the workstation is lacking, but it is below the minimum specs for the CPU. The min recommended is 3.0 Ghz. For "Large" models, it should be 3.30 Ghz, 4 or more cores.

If you want to see how yours fairs against some other systems, there is a benchmark test you can run.  https://invmark.cadac.com/#/

Kirk

[harvey3ELEA]

Agreed the recommended 3.30 Ghz would definitely be better than my 2.10 Ghz, but my PC handles things well so far.  I can't complain.

It was spec'ed out by our IT management service, so unfortunately, I had no say in its development...

I'll check out that benchmark link when I get to work tomorrow morning.  Thanks karthur1.

[SharkDesign]

If you don't need to edit the car, try importing as a mesh, they are way more lightweight than surface or solid and could improve your performance. 

[machiel.veldkamp]

I think the RAM would be the bottleneck if it's only 32GB's.

My laptop has 128GB and that is nearly not enough when I want to open more than 1 assembly (that is as large as OP's)

Also make sure the storage device used is as fast as possible (NVMe)

[NigelHay]

I agree that the RAM is a bit low, I would want 64Gb minimum. An easy upgrade to see if it helps.

[karthur1]

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@NigelHay wrote:

I agree that the RAM is a bit low, I would want 64Gb minimum. An easy upgrade to see if it helps.

---

The RAM would be the easiest thing to upgrade.  It is important to have sufficient RAM especially on "Large" models.

Since most Inventor processes are single threaded, it will benefit more from a higher CPU clock speed.

Kirk

[marcelmacuf]

https://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2026/ENU/?guid=INV2026-PERFORMANCE

• File > Open/Close - improved performance when opening and closing files, along with reduced file sizes.

In our company we see big files reduction up to 50 %. You can try to open some big parts in Inventor 2026 - do some change , for example rebuild all and then save part. For example 1 GB derived file was reduced to 440 MB.