Help...file size to big

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 11:17

It could be worth finding out the graphic card model. It could very well be that you need to update your drivers. Sektchup, and any other 3D modelling applications, are very sensitive to the drivers used. It could make or break your experience.

I've tried to find out the model through the "System" window into the "control panel", but the only things written about my pc are: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80 GHz, 2.0 Gb of RAM.
In internet I found a program "Everest Home" which should tell me all the components of my pc....is an .exe file...shall I trust in it or not?

thomthom · 2 Jul 2009, 11:21

Right-click your Desktop
Choose Properties from the menu

Then go to the Settings tab and it should say your graphic card name under the monitor image.

Gaieus · 2 Jul 2009, 11:29

I was not talking about hidden/softened lines on curved surfaces but the ones that keep appearing here (and that Thom also noticed in other pictures, too).

So back to your textures (again); you need o decrease the file size of them. And please, do it.

go to your texture file in your comp[uter and open it in an image editor
edit the image;

decrease pixel resolution (resize/resample)
increase compression (find out how to do it in your editor)
save the image

now open your Material browser in SU > Find the texture you've just edited and click on it
go o the Edit tab (or how it is called in Italian)
and use the "Texture image" > "Browse" button to find your edited texture and reload it in your model

What I marked with yellow, is not available in SU 6 only in SU 7 - you can load your image eitor straiht from SU. Quite handy in fact.

meister · 2 Jul 2009, 11:32

Hi Laura!
I send for you Private message.
You can see it on the top of page:
meister

thomthom · 2 Jul 2009, 11:33

@gaieus said:

increase compression (find out how to do it in your editor)

While that decreases the file size - it does not decrease the amount of memory SU must allocate. When it loads the compressed files it needs to decompress it in order to use it. So a 100x100 image will take the same amount of memory no matter how much it's compressed on disk. Some times it might be better NOT to compress it as the images can be loaded directly in without decompressing.

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 12:01

@thomthom said:

Right-click your Desktop
Choose Properties from the menu

Then go to the Settings tab and it should say your graphic card name under the monitor image.

Ooook I found it: ATI Radeon 9200 pro family..... oh god it's not old..it's jurassic

thomthom · 2 Jul 2009, 12:10

I got an ATI Radeon 9800 on my old computer at home. Still handles SU very well. Though, I'm not sure the difference between the cards.

Sketchupis known to have issues with certain ATI cards. And especially older drivers. You could be suffering from a bad driver.

Gaieus · 2 Jul 2009, 12:20

@thomthom said:

While that decreases the file size - it does not decrease the amount of memory SU must allocate. When it loads the compressed files it needs to decompress it in order to use it. So a 100x100 image will take the same amount of memory no matter how much it's compressed on disk. Some times it might be better NOT to compress it as the images can be loaded directly in without decompressing.

OK, it may be correct and thanks for that insight, Thom. Yet it would definitely decrease file size which is the basic issue here so that Laura can upload the model to the Warehouse.

(Compressing for Google Earth can be crucial however but of course that's a whole different issue).

However decreasing pixel size ("physical" size) of the images - i.e. resizing them - should still help both performance (if the card is crappy) and file size so I'm eagerly awaiting any results from that.

Edit: I have this model (mae for GE) in the warehouse (please, don't look at the quality of it - it's only a kmz anyway so thank God you cannot download as an skp and criticise it):
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=6a240c06f08e3ed1ee286df8eafd81ba
Anyway, when I finished building the model and texturing, it was about 12-13 Mb. Then I edited the texture images (this workflow is much easier in SU 7) and it went down to 2Mb altogether (still big IMO) without any noticeable quality loss both in SU and GE.

thomthom · 2 Jul 2009, 12:30

@gaieus said:

OK, it may be correct and thanks for that insight, Thom. Yet it would definitely decrease file size which is the basic issue here so that Laura can upload the model to the Warehouse.

Ah yes. forgot about that.

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 12:39

However decreasing pixel size ("physical" size) of the images - i.e. resizing them - should still help both performance (if the card is crappy) and file size so I'm eagerly awaiting any results from that.<

I will decrease the pixel size of all the pictures and I hope it works
This bedroom took me so much time that it would be a pity to put it aside

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 12:44

@thomthom said:

I got an ATI Radeon 9800 on my old computer at home. Still handles SU very well. Though, I'm not sure the difference between the cards.

Sketchupis known to have issues with certain ATI cards. And especially older drivers. You could be suffering from a bad driver.

So I suppose I should update my graphic card drivers... yheeeaaaaa!!!

Burkhard · 2 Jul 2009, 16:17

Two months ago I got a model with 118 MB and the client had the same problems. I have had reduced it to 1,36 MB without textures ( If he had let me finished some landscapes, I'm sure it would be under 1MB) Now it is completely finished ( by the client), including the textures and it is not more than 16 MB.

Purging and delete unneeded Geometrie reduce the file size only with 4MB.
After different steps with deleting textures, copying in a new instance and look for bad Geometrie I had success.

The most times I found that there is a lot bad Geometrie that forces Sketchup to long calculations which will multiplied with forthcoming modeling.

So, a new Graphiccard is just a short step in relation to a clean way to model.

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 17:34

Ohhhh DONE!! DONE.... DONE!!!
You were right, pictures were too big, oh guys thanks...thanks...thanks
This is what I did: into the SU material menu i saved the pictures into another folder in Jpeg format, than I resized them into paint because they were too big for my model. If you see the model, on the desk there is a picture of a dog, the original one was a 7mpixel picture of 5Mb, an so were the other ones (4 or 2 Mb...too big). In this way I obtained pictures of the size I needed for my components and the right lightness (an average of 25 kb)without loosing quality.
This is the link to my model, if you want to criticize it...you can speak freely

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

(sketchup.google.com)

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 17:46

@burkhard said:

Two months ago I got a model with 118 MB and the client had the same problems. I have had reduced it to 1,36 MB without textures ( If he had let me finished some landscapes, I'm sure it would be under 1MB) Now it is completely finished ( by the client), including the textures and it is not more than 16 MB.

Purging and delete unneeded Geometrie reduce the file size only with 4MB.
After different steps with deleting textures, copying in a new instance and look for bad Geometrie I had success.

The most times I found that there is a lot bad Geometrie that forces Sketchup to long calculations which will multiplied with forthcoming modeling.

So, a new Graphiccard is just a short step in relation to a clean way to model.

I agree with you, who knows how many mistakes I've done, but I have this kind of problems even if I download any kind of model from the 3d gallery which is more complex...like an house, or a flat, etc.. As I wrote before, SU moves in jerks....even with modells drawn by others. I think this is due to the graphic card
If you have some time to waste, I'll be thankful if you could find out if my model has many bad geometries or not....but if you can't don't care about my request.
Thanks Laura

thomthom · 2 Jul 2009, 18:38

Good to hear that it's worked out.
Though, it do sound you can benefit from some better hardware. Maybe a new card is all you need. It really depend in what your Sketchup usage is.

laura_aut · 2 Jul 2009, 19:04

@thomthom said:

Good to hear that it's worked out.
Though, it do sound you can benefit from some better hardware. Maybe a new card is all you need. It really depend in what your Sketchup usage is.

A new pc would be better
Unfortunately this is only an hobby..I'm not an architect or a designer and I've never read a SU tutorial, so my usage is an amateur one.
Thanks again for your useful advices

Gaieus · 2 Jul 2009, 23:20

When I have a little (more) time, I'll definitely download your model and criticise. (I knowthere are still problems in it)

Burkhard · 3 Jul 2009, 00:25

Be sure, I have found a lot.