File size

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know what's the most file size consuming things to look for in a ArchiCad file.

Is it lots of imported PDF/DWG, large number of layers or other attributes, large number of views, massive amount of layout's or loads of modules ( as .mod or .pln)?

I'm asking because I need to reduce file size of a project and would like to know where to attack.

PDF's and DWG's are gone and I'm about to clear the layer list from DWG-layers, anything else I could get rid off or slim down.

The file is a TW2 file @ 1.4 Gb (uncompressed I know) and it's causing a bit of problem for my user (slow loading, occasionally chrashing).

In short, what is the best way to reduce file size?

[Nuge]

Move all the layouts to an other file and link using PMK files (generated in publisher)

also check sections etc for fills they seem to take up a large amount of memory

Image files?

[Anonymous]

Typically the biggest contributor to file size is the 2D stuff. Either placed drawings on the layouts or placed/linked DWGs (etc.). If you have large image files embedded they can take up a bit of space too.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Matthew and Nuge!

I'll start checking for 2D stuff as I suspected is file size consuming.

As for using separate files for model and layouts I'll think about it. Our office is more about keeping model and layout's in the same file and separate (if necessary) according to project status.

[Anonymous]

Are you having performance issues? I find ArchiCAD is generally pretty good about handling large files without a lot of waiting. Of course this is less so with teamwork and depends on the network as well.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Another thing that can increase file size is the amount of model data in Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations/3D Documents.
If you have many of these it can add quite a bit of size to the file.
At one time I had such a problem.
What I did was I hid all layers and then generated all Sections. This way all Sections contained no generated 3d model data. Then I saved the Project file and could check how much the file size decreased. It was substantial.
In such a case I had to turn all my dimensions in these Sections into Static, otherwise it would have been lost when no 3d model is shown in the Section.

Then, when the Section is needed it can be generated manually.
This is of course a workaround but at that file size you may need all the workarounds you can use.

[Nuge]

I halved my file size by moving the layouts to a separate file (and gained some performance), I use PMK files generated in the "model" file then update them in the "layout file" this is quick and "painless" and simple to update and eliminates the need to update in a separate archicad for any layouts as this take some time with large files.
You just publish to PMK files in a folder structure then place them onto a layout (separate file), set to update automatically re-publish any changes and they will automatically update on the layout

You can also have a revision history of drawings stored as separate pmk files.

Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations/3D Documents seem to take a large slice of the file size so any thing you can reduce if seperate the better

[Anonymous]

Nuge wrote:
I halved my file size by moving the layouts to a separate file (and gained some performance), I use PMK files generated in the "model" file then update them in the "layout file" this is quick and "painless" and simple to update and eliminates the need to update in a separate archicad for any layouts as this take some time with large files.
You just publish to PMK files in a folder structure then place them onto a layout (separate file), set to update automatically re-publish any changes and they will automatically update on the layout

You can also have a revision history of drawings stored as separate pmk files.

Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations/3D Documents seem to take a large slice of the file size so any thing you can reduce if seperate the better

...and the old becomes new again. The simplicity of using PMKs has always been a great fallback position in a pinch. I'm so glad they brought them back. Automatic functions are great when they work (and if they save more time than they require to set up) but sometimes the old manual approach is best.

Just shows GS is listening to our requests sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:
Are you having performance issues? I find ArchiCAD is generally pretty good about handling large files without a lot of waiting. Of course this is less so with teamwork and depends on the network as well.

Yes Matthew, my user is less fortunate and is working on a 32-bit computer which might contribute to the performance issues.

| Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (architecture: x86, 2401 MHz)
with Physical memory | 2,9 GB

Generally crashing occurs when working in two instances of ArchiCad at the same time linking wiew's in between.

I've been careful not to open the project on my 64-bit computer.

One other thing I'm wondering is the size of the Project data base file on BIM Server. It doesn't seem to decrease although I "cleaned" the file.

[Anonymous]

Nuge wrote:
. . . , I use PMK files generated in the "model" file then update them in the "layout file". . .

This is getting more and more interesting. But why do you use PMK instead of linked view's?
Is it quicker to publish PMK then updating view's?