Faces, polygons and file size

chrisdell

I'm trying to find a tutorial or some sort of explanation as to how to keep file size to a minimum and performance at maximum. Can anyone help with a URL or something? Thanks.

C

remus

Youll probably find something on here if you search for 'model optimisation.'

General tips:
-keep shadows off until theyre needed.
-Where possibly put stuff on layers, so you can turn it of when it is needed.
-Dont use more polys than is necessary, for example you dont need 48 sides in a circle, very often you can get away with very few.

chrisdell

Thanks so much!

jmmad

-Making components for repeated geometry also reduces file size.
-Also in display option you can turn transparency off or to minimum quality that improves performance alot

remus

-turn profiles off, as well (window->styles.) Slows things down a lot and make your models look weird

Gaieus

Note however that performance doesn't solely depend on file size optimiztion (as most of the advices above didn't target that). Using componenets smartly (for repetitive elements) is a way to keep file size down but the overall poly count the computer still has to display is there, in the model.

So a combination of techniques and strategies is the best way to go.

Display tips (most mentioned above) mostly to help your video card:

turn off shadows while working (only turn them on for exporting images or experimenting with them like shadow studies).
turn off textures while modeling; use shaded (with colours) or even better: monochrome (this will also help you consistently orient your faces)
turn off any fancy sketchy edges, profiles, endpoints and extensions while modeling...
set transparency to better perormance rather than better display
don't use X-ray mode unless it's temporarily necessary
Model organizing tips - mostly to keep displayed poly count low and help your processor:
use layers extensively to hide objects you don't currently need while modeling (3D trees, cars,people, detailed models of surrounding builtings etc.)
use scenes with different layer visibility settings AND different style (diplay) settings to quickly switch between these views (turn off camera location update for each scene in the Scene manager for this)
Check "Hide rest of model" and even "Hide similar components" in Sketchup (Window on PC) > Model info > Components so that while working on a particular one, the rest of the model doesn't need to be displayed. Best if you assign a shortcut to this as you may still need to see the rest sometimes.
Finally: run as few other applications in the background as possible - especially if you are working on a single core machine.

Anssi

Another tip about model organization and performance:

Avoid overorganizing your model. By overorganising I mean too deep nesting of groups or components. It may help to keep file size down, but it has been demonstrated to slow down the program. For instance, in addition to a large polycount, some 3D plants have their contents organized as nested components like leaf>twig>branch>trunk etc. It is better to let the filesize grow somewhat by decreasing the levels of nested objects.

Anssi