Template File Size

[Jeff Griffin]

I'm a new user to ArchiCAD and am concerned that my company's standard template's file size may be excessive (17.2 MB). I've noticed that file operations (such as open and save) are very slow over our LAN. I'm curious to learn what the file size of your template is. Also, could you please leave a brief note regarding how you access your standard details?

Are they already in your template?
Are they merged or hotlinked as modules (.mod files)?
Are they library objects (.gsm files) that you insert from your library?
Or are they accessed using some other method instead?

Are there any specific benefits or drawbacks to any of these methods?

I'd appreciate your input.

Thanks!
Jeff

[Laura Yanoviak]

Ours is 3.2 MB -- we have some pre-placed legends and general notes, but store the majority of standard drawings externally as MODs; otherwise, it's a pretty comprehensive template.

[TomWaltz]

I think the biggest mine ever got was 4 MB.

That was mostly from a 3 MB hotlink placed in it with common objects and their settings ("Visual Favorites" as I've heard them called).

There were no standard details in the project because they are never really used "as made" and you don't want to embed them into every file you ever create.

[Link]

The latest template I created is just over 5Mb, but it has 396 pre-linked views, all drawings stored in the project file, multiple add-ons loaded, a full set of attributes, a few schedules and lists, and a lot of standard notes.

I'm not a big fan of 'visual legends' or including too much content that won't necessarily be used. I too prefer modules for that.

Cheers,
Link.

[arg617]

I'm wondering how this has changed over the years. I'm working on our template and it is currently about 25mb.

I noticed that the BIM6x Starter Template 21 is at 37mb, Shoegnome 21 is 16.7mb and the Skewed 21 template is 17.4mb

Any idea what's causing template sizes to be generally going up? I feel like it might be all the added textures since Cinerender but I'm wondering what else it could be. Are these reasonable file sizes or unnecessarily bloated?

I noticed that by the time we're done with a single family house our file size tends to be around 50mb. This isn't necessarily a problem as performance hasn't been an issue, but I'm curious if this is normal.....

[Link]

It’s a combination of everything. Attributes, embedded library parts (including textures), viewpoints, views, layouts (a major contributor, which is why our kits are bigger as everything is pre-linked), publisher sets, it all counts.

For me personally, file size is a non-issue with the amount/price of hard drive space these days. Particularly for solo projects. When you’re talking about libraries, teamwork projects and BIMx files, as well as actual projects that may have too many polygons, etc, then size becomes more of an issue as it directly affects your experience.

As ARCHICAD continues to develop and the internal database becomes more complex, the file sizes should be expected to grow also. That’s just my 2 cents. At 50Mb I think that’s pretty small actually and there’s not much to worry about.

When people send us files for ArchiCHECKUPs, they get up and over 1Gb each!

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

A 17Mb template will not make your teamwork slow. 17Mb is like 1 second to copy over a 100Mbit network.

You have to look into your work file and check all the loaded junk sitting there.

If sync is slow with an empty file... then you have a network problem.