116,285,051 polys! And large file tips

Started by Speedster, December 02, 2013, 12:33:06 PM

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Speedster

Hi all;

Well, I finally broke my record with a 116+ million poly model resulting in an 11.3 GB .bip!  Whew!  But my new BOXX over-clocked 32 core x 32 GB machine is well up to the task.  SolidWorks model of >1000 parts loaded in about 2.5 hours but only by using the New Importer (Beta).  Plugin crashed SW.

These are the first renders from the new series of prints, and were rendered at 5400 wide in about 20 minutes each.  FPS averaged 174 FPS each with these materials.  The B/W image was "just for grins" and is very close to what I usually have as a reference prototype photo.

Some "Large Model" tips:

1)   REALLY, REALLY check your UV mapping!  Before import (use a microscope) AND after import.  Try to map towards the end of the design process, starting with features, followed as necessary with faces.  For some reason (at least with SolidWorks) surfaces tend drop out with larger .bip files.  Same models imported individually did just fine.  And SolidWorks color mapping is notorious for instability, so look closely, as you usually don't discover them until well into the painting stage.  Applies especially to surfaces (faces) that have been mapped using the Split Line tools.  When an update can take hours, it really sucks. 

It would be great if you could ask KeyShot to just update a particular part, perhaps through selection in the Scene Tree.

2)   Grouping is very difficult and time consuming with large assemblies.  Try to arrange things in logical order and sequence in your native CAD before import.

3)  You can minimize import hassle if you can duplicate and move parts or assemblies later in KeyShot, a really great trick!  I did this with the trestle.

It really does take horsepower to run large .bip files.  But don't be afraid to with any computer, as KeyShot seems to have no limits.  I did run into a memory problem, always solved by a reboot.  I have 32 gigs of RAM, and when this file was running it was at about 24 usage.  But a lot of rapid fire changes did knock me over.

Bill G

TpwUK

I know it's not hi res with the window grab showing the fps, but dude, for that amount of poly's that is still a very impressive speed

Speedster

On import it was 209.3 FPS!  Shot below shows 112 mil polys, but I added some stuff and re-imported for the final 116 polys.
Bill G

DriesV

Bill, you can't even imagine how much I want to peek into that model in SolidWorks. :)
Impressive stuff!

QuoteAnd SolidWorks color mapping is notorious for instability
And amen to that...

Dries

Speedster

In the last screenshot, the purple timber bents on each end are as they imported into KeyShot- on the SW model they were mapped exactly the same as the center area.  This shows how KS can drop out UV mapping and surfaces.  So I deleted the two end sections in KS and duplicated/moved the center section, then moved both as one unit to center up again.  Duplicate + Move is a powerful trick!  The crazy trestle bent mapping was so I could align the wood grain.
Bill G

cadjockey

Quote
It would be great if you could ask KeyShot to just update a particular part, perhaps through selection in the Scene Tree.
+1, actually +1 million ;)

Rich

feher

Bill
This is a very impressive scene !

Quote from: cadjockey on December 03, 2013, 12:04:21 PM
Quote
It would be great if you could ask KeyShot to just update a particular part, perhaps through selection in the Scene Tree.
+1, actually +1 million ;)

Rich

You can update just parts today.
Here's how
Lets say Bill wanted to update a wheel on the train. What he needs to do is go into his 3d modeling software. Select the parts he wants to update and save them as the same name as the file he originally imported with.
For example let's say your file name you used to import your original was " Train assy"  The updated parts would have to have that same file name. So save the file in a different folder so you dont over write the orginal... :) Also do not move the parts from there original location in your tree. Just select the parts you want to update and export selection from your 3d software with the same name as your original one "Train assy".
Open your bip Go to import and select update geomerty. It will update just those parts in your scene and place them in the same group(location) it came from. Everything stays the same. The tree structure, groups, sub groups...etc Also doing update Geomertry will apply any translations, rotations you might have done to the model prior.

I hope that made sense. Let me know I can go deeper into this.
Tim

Speedster

Tim, this is very interesting, and I'll try it out.  The critical thing is to place the newly named (updated) part in a discrete folder. 

But it would have to be done step-by-step, one part at a time, as you can't have different parts with the same name.  But we seldom have to update more than one or two parts.  However, in the train assembly here, there are perhaps several dozen parts that crapped out in the internal conversion from SW to KS.  And almost all were surface (face) mapping.  Only one piece of geometry was missing- the headlight reflector, which is actually a feature in the headlight model.

And none were missing when I imported just an individual assembly, like the Baggage Car, into its own .bip.

I know that selection capability would be a HUGE enhancement!

Bill G

Josh3D


cadjockey

Tim

Very interesting.
Would you then save the wheel part out to a single part file, or remove everything from the assy except all the wheels and update from that stripped assy file?

Rich