topic Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects in Libraries & objects

Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Wed, 24 May 2023 09:52:53 GMT

I work with Archicad 13 and have run into a problem where when saving objects form the 3D window creates HUGE objects - the worst I have seen was a cube (6 polygons?) saved as a 45Mo file.

Just today I created a custom door, which was rather quite simple, and ended up with a 177Mo object!

The final size is seemingly random, an object ranging (for example) from 40Mo to 90Mo depending on when you save it. Also, sometimes (but not always) the same object, saved in a new project, can be much reduced.

Saving the same object from the 2D window gives 50Ko files so there seems to be a problem specific to the 3D window. Therefore, when I can I save from 2D, but sometimes need the 3D window (different angle etc...).

I have heard that others have had this problem, is there a work around?

As we work on a BIM server, the objects are automatically embedded so before we realised where the problem was the file ended up at 664Mo (compressed) and started crashing ArchiCad as the computer did not have enough memory to backup the file. Taking out the offending objects reduced the file size by 600Mo.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Barry Kelly — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:02:35 GMT

Just wondering - do you have the elements actually sellected in 3D when you save them as an object or are you just saving the whole 3D window?
Barry.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:58:55 GMT

Have you opened the object and had a look at the GDL code? The code should be fairly short if it's a simple piece of geometry.

Select the object on the floorplan, then go to 'File'>'Libraries & Objects'>'Open Object' (or CTRL+SHIFT+O) to open.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:27:53 GMT

Thanks for the answers - your suggestions were my first port of call...

I have only the parts that I wish to save selected, there are no other elements present in the 3D window.. I have also opened the 3D/2D script(s) of the saved object and they are very short as expected.

While testing where the problem might come from, I came across another problem, maybe there is a link?

I copied the door I wished to save into a new project (so as to be sure that there was only the door in the project and no residual 3D in the RAM?), the jpeg texture I had applied came with it, so I changed the materials on the objects to default materials (all faces separately).

When I saved the object it was still large (6.54Mo) AND it had saved the object with some materials that were not present in the constituent parts - in fact it kept the material from the original paste and not the material that I had asked it to show.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:50:14 GMT

Anyone?

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:21:32 GMT

I don't know about your problem and my advice maybe not worth much. This doesn't' sound like a common problem as there is little response, and waiting days for an answer will probably extended into more days.

I would take a look at reinstalling and it's possible e your problem will be fixed sooner than later. I had a problem with my REDO command not working and I solved it with a simple uninstall-reinstall of AC 14. Took me about 15-20mins to do the whole thing (my setup is also simple so mileage may vary).

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Karl Ottenstein — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:37:57 GMT

I've never seen this issue mentioned by anyone else. Best bet is to contact your technical support...

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:20:38 GMT

FYI You are not alone, I have seen this before, but was never able to reproduce it. After a while I never had the problem again.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

fuzzytnth3 — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:14:54 GMT

Yup we ran into this problem seemed to be a feature in AC13 but mostly on specific machines. We could sometimes get round the problem by saving the object again but using a different PC. We also resorted to redoing the objects in AC12. We haven't come across the same problem with AC14.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Greg Kmethy — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:06:51 GMT

Check what materials are used on your object. When you save an object in binary format, that creates a "self-containing" object. That is, all the necessary textures are also saved into the object, so if you take that object into another project, the textures will not go missing. The texture is stored in bitmap format. So, if you are using textures that are in the hundred-kilobytes range in JPG format, then you might end up with objects several megabytes in size. Which is not good.

Always use small files as texture. After all, it's just a texture. Using large images will not just create large objects, but will hurt rendering times too.

Re: Abnormaly HUGE objects

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:14:59 GMT

Thanks for the work-arounds, next time I run into the problem I'll try saving it from another machine to see what it does. We should also have a copy of AC12 kicking about somewhere as a fallback.

As for the textures, I had suspected them, and what has been said about them being saved in binary makes sense - although I'm fairly certain that my 40Mo cube saved from the 3D window was with a default material, and 100% certain that the SAME cube, saved from 2D, gave a 8Ko file (among other examples).

And if I understand the answers here, the problem doesn't seem to occur in AC14, and certainly didn't in AC11.

Which takes me on to a similar problem, although this time I have a work-around ;

When saving a module directly from the floor-plan (apologies if the terminology isn't quite correct - I've only ever worked in France) the file size is in the tens of Mo. The same elements (a couple of low-res jpegs a few lines and some text) saved from a "copy" ends up with a file in the low Ko's.

We opened both modules and they both have exactly the same contents.

As I said, we have an easy work-around by saving from a "copy" so it doesn't block us the way the 3D window, which is sometimes neccesary for certain more complex objects, does. It does seem that in AC13 depending on where you save it from, the same information can vary greatly in size.

We have only upgraded to AC13 recently, and while we find many aspects much improved, the problem with huge objects will oblige us to fall back on older versions for more more complex buildings we do, unless that is the work-arounds mentioned help us. I can think of at least a couple of recent projects that just wouldn't have been possible with AC13 because of this problem, which is rather unfortunate.

In any case, thanks for your answers and your time.