[dlaery]

I have a customer that has sent me a Solidworks file. It is a 2 part mold that was created with a STL file by using boolean subtract. This file is huge and I can't work with it.
What can I tell him to do to reduce the file size? I am assuming this would be a setting in the conversion somewhere but I don't know if it is Solid works or another program.
Thanks,

[BurrMan]

Since you said "Mold" I think the only option is to re-create it at a lower polycount (If for some reason it need to remain a poly model). By the way, Solidworks utilizes Mesh data? What is the source?

The only way to reduce filesize on an STL is to reduce polycount, and this also morphs the shape. For a 2 part mold, I would think this to be a bad thing.

You can point your customer here:

http://help.solidworks.com/2011/Engl...p/HIDD_STL.htm

And refer to the "resolution" area. You can have them dice up the model at a lessor resolution. But if Solidworks is dicing it up, then dont use STL. Use a NURBS format and dont ruin the model... If they are just importing STL reference data, and exporting that to you, then you may go back to the source to get a lower polycount.

[dlaery]

Thanks, that will be helpful. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to ask the question:drowning:

[BurrMan]

Hi dleary,
The best question would be if they are are creating the part in Solidworks, to send you the part in a native NURBS format and not convert it to an STL...

So something like an IGES, STEP, or SAT file.... BobCad will also open a sldprt file, but version compat may come into play, so sticking with a nuetral format would be the least effort.

[dlaery]

I think it started as a stl and has been converted through more than 1 program to get it into SW. He indicated that the poly count has been reduced to the point where he doesn't give up too much detail. I can open his file but it take too long to do anything with it. It is about 45 MB. I don't think I have enough computer to work with it. I think he has found someone else that will do it for him.
Both of us are learning how difficult this is.
Thanks for your help.

[BurrMan]

Hi dleary,
Sorry you lost the work. I can give you a couple pointers that can help you with this issue and your computer specs struggling.

Since an STL is made up of many surfaces each with edges, the viewport can get bogged down for normal operation.. You can set some display settings down a bit that will alleviate that. Go to preferences-part-display and crank down the wireframe and surface fidelity sliders. This will provide some relief. Next, if you need more, you can go to the view menu and start to turn off more fancy stuff, like antialiasing. The most drastic is the Polygon fill-polygon lines.. This should help out the viewport quite a bit.

For toolpathing, you can turn your machining tolerance down too. Set at .0001 or .0005 is pretty high. See if you can create a decent toolpath at .001

Anyway.....

[dlaery]

I changed the 2 sliders all the way to the left, turned off the other setting in the view menu. I have worked on the file for an hour and still cannot do anything thing with the file, for instance, when I select part I get an hour glass and can never get past that. After a while it will go back to un-selected and then I can rotate the view with no problem, but when I select I can never get it to respond. I did save as a bbcd file and that changed the file size from 45 mb to 15 mb.
I have 2.8 Ghz , 2 gig ram, 512 mb on graphics card.
Thanks for the pointers.