multiple Shells = slow rebuild

[Tom Krowka]

Have made railing balusters from 360 degree revolved shell. Baluster has curves but is not very complicated. Saved it as a library object.
There are probably several hundred of them on this project, on multiple levels. Rebuild time has slowed way down.
Any way to simplify the shell or anything else to speed up rebuild?

After sizing, baluster file size is only 7 KB.

Thanks.

[Laszlo Nagy]

What is the polygon count of those objects?
You can download and install the Polygon Count goodie. It will be able to tell you.
If the polygon count is high then maybe the GDL script should be modified.
Resolution of curves is 36 by default, which means a simple cylindrical shape is at least 36 polygons, a simple shere is 1296 (36x36) polygons.

You can place a command at the beginning of the 3D Script, for example setting the resultion to 16 (which means a full circle will be made up of 16 segments):

RESOL 16

This will set the resolution of curves to 16, resulting in much less polygons.

[David Maudlin]

laszlonagy wrote:
If the polygon count is high then maybe the GDL script should be modified.
Resolution of curves is 36 by default, which means a simple cylindrical shape is at least 36 polygons, a simple shere is 1296 (36x36) polygons.

You can place a command at the beginning of the 3D Script, for example setting the resultion to 16 (which means a full circle will be made up of 16 segments):

RESOL 16

This will set the resolution of curves to 16, resulting in much less polygons.

Laszlo:

I looked at this approach (there is even a resol statement in the generated script), but the command revolvedshell ignores the resol statement, so the resolution cannot be altered this way.

He could try using the Profiler goodie, which generates a 3D Script that uses the resol statement.

David

[Laszlo Nagy]

I am supposing that it must be possible in GDL to control this resolution.
So maybe it is controlled by the TOLER command, which is the equivalent of the Deviation from Curves setting of the Magic Wand Settings Dialog.
Or the third possibility is the RADIUS command.
These three are the ones used to control the resolution of curved surfaces and Arcs in GDL.

[Tom Krowka]

I checked on the polycount....one baluster has 4,230 polygons made with the shell command. No wonder it takes a long time to rebuild.
The level of detail is set to "off" although I'm not sure what it means or what effect it has on the rebuild.

Also tried using the profiler which is a AC 16 command. There is no profiler in the goodies download for AC 16, so am not sure what you are referring to.

I gather from your responses that there is no way to create the baluster without all the polygons.... no way to simplify it?

See the attached jpeg for the profile I am attempting.

Any other suggestions? What about making a morph out of it.....would that help?

Thanks.

[Tom Krowka]

To clarify a bit.....tried using the Profiler....but was not able to figure out a way to create it using that tool. Am assuming it has to be done in plan, right?

Tom

[Laszlo Nagy]

Can you upload one of the resulting GSM files in a ZIP so we may look at it?

[Tom Krowka]

See attached GSM. I appreciate your help.

Tom

[Tom Krowka]

here it is. Hey....I can't upload a .gsm file. How can I get it to you.

[Laszlo Nagy]

ZIP it and upload the ZIP.