In the last post (“Benefits of Fully shattered conversions”) we discovered that Composer FullyShattered mode was basically the best way to handle large data assemblies. Let’s discover here some tips & tricks to handle such large data .
To handle large data, 3 main axis have to be taken in account: The conversion part, the Application Preference settings and the rendering options.
Conversion:
There are 2 ways of converting into Composer format:
1. Conversion through 3DVIA Composer authoring tool
It’s better to convert original CAD files, such as .CATProduct or .CATPart files, rather than .igs, .stp, .cgr or .3dxml files.
Composer best optimizes geometry translations for original CAD files. Already converted files such as .igs, or pre-tessellated data such as .cgr may be compressed, but you cannot expect so much.
2. Conversion using Enterprise Sync
Conversions failing on Composer may turn out to be successful in Enterprise Sync, especially on a 32-bit platform. This is because the memory space available for the 32-bit platform is very constrained, Composer’s UI memory footprint actually reduces the available memory size for conversions.
In both cases, some settings may also be adapted
- Repair/Refinement: For large models, lowering the quality can effectively improve the performance
- Project: Enabling “Visible actors only” can load parts and assemblies that are set to be visible
Application Preference
1. Profile and Viewport
Choose appropriate profile according to your hardware. For Intel onboard graphics cards, use “Safe.
2. Disable high quality rendering parameters
Disable “Per-pixel lighting”, “Shadows”, “Ambient occlusion”, “Depth of field”, and “Hardware anti-aliasing”
3. Selection
Disable Highlighting, Tooltip, and Show hidden edges
These settings may turn off mouse over interactivities but are effective to increase performance for large data.
Settings for rendering performances
1. Turn on “Back culling”
Click on the background > Properties > Back culling
2. Turn off Ground, Shadow, Mirror, and Grid
Ribbons > Render > Ground
3. Turn off Capping for cross-sectioning plane
Select a cross-sectioning plane > Properties > Capping > Show
