So Frustrated with SU

Kenny

Rudbeckia, Sketchup is well known to struggle with heavy geometry and I hope Google address that as their number one priority in Version 7. They've had enough people telling them, so I'd like to think it will be addressed!

I've had a look at the model and would make the following observations:

Daniel is spot on, you could have modelled the building with components and saved yourself a lot of time and crucially it would speed up performance. Next time, instead of modelling each window/door individually, do it once, make it a component and then copy and paste.
Choice of components. This has been correctly highlighted by a number of people. The silver birch is very slow to manipulate. There are other components that actually look better and are much faster. I doubt silver birch would be used as a species anyway on top of a tower block. Also I never use 3d people. They look like robots and can slow down your model. Use the 2d people components.
Be disciplined with your modelling/placement. There was some unnecessary hidden geometry present which I deleted. Also some of the 'ske 122' components were placed twice on top of each other.
I think you're doing it anyway but purging components/models/layers keeps the model lean.
Think about the scale your model will be viewed at. If you are designing a tower block with a roof garden you could have 2 versions of the roof garden. Firstly a simplistic model for distant views with just the bare bones and principally 2d components. You won't need the small detailed 3d components like the inside of the fridge, small plants, rocks etc which won't be seen when viewing it from a distance. Secondly a detailed model for close ups. It may even be the case that all the close ups can be done in a separate file with no need to even show the tower block.
Think about using 'proxy' files i.e. instead of putting in detailed trees from the start, put in a single line 'stick' component as a marker. Then when your model is complete you can right click and reload choosing the detailed component required as a replacement.
It's also been mentioned, but hide the components that are not required whilst modelling. The outliner can be used to keep track of what is present and visible/invisible. Don't keep it visible all the time however as it can also slow down your model.

Simply deleting the duplicate components, hidden geometry and the 3D person speeded things up. Replacing the silver birch made it much faster. Also it's a personal thing, but when modelling turn off the sky and ground and use a white background. It may speed things up a little and is much less distracting.

Don't give up on SketchUp, you just have to work smarter within its current limitations. Any advantage in file handling you may get with other programmes, will be lost through longer modelling times. For the type of example you're working on Sketchup is unbeatable.

Kenny

CraigD

Hi Rudbeckia,

I've looked at your model and WOW(!)that's too many hi-poly trees, grasses, and plants! There are much lighter ways to do this, and I think this is just a learning curve thing.

Go to the 3D Warehouse and do a search on "low poly trees" and you will come up with many examples of good looking tree/plant/shrub/grass objects that are literally hundreds of times smaller than those in your model.

I regularly work with SketchUp models that are over 100MB without problems, but it depends on what is making the SketchUp file large; is it because of hi poly count or large textures? This can make a difference, and as you become more proficient with SketchUp you'll find the tricks that help keep a file light, like using components, creating .png based trees, .png based railings (instead of fully geometric railings), like down sampling the .jpg textures, lowering the amount of edges and thus faces on an extruded circle or polygon, etc...

This is a great forum to learn about these tricks of the trade.

And also, don't assume that a new computer hasn't been sitting in a warehouse for 6 months...or that the manufacturer was/is willing to open the box and update all of the drivers before it gets sent out the door. The graphics card manufacturers are upgrading their drivers much more frequently than the computer manufacturers, so always go to the graphics card mfg's site for the latest.

One other tip on keeping it light...make sure you "Purge Unused" from the Model Info window > Statistics pane. This will ensure that your model is cleared of components, styles, and materials that are not being used in your model.

We're here to help, so keep us apprised of your progress and any questions you have as you go!

Cheers,

  - CraigD

Rudbeckia

Thanks for all of the help everyone! There are some great pointers here! I will try to stop flooding the SU forum with questions