Huge Drawing Files

[jt4ward]

I have to go into drawings that I designed about a month ago and update them. The problem is it is taking forever to open them, rebuild them, or change them. I looked at the file size and one of them is up to 200Mb for 20Mb when I started the change. I originally designed them in v6 2.0 and am updating them in sp 3.0 if that makes a difference. I have found nothing in 2 days of trying to get these drawings usable. Can anyone offer any insight? The drawings are not very complex and I have several veriations of the same design. One drawing out of 3 that are essentially the same seems to work OK. Thanks.

Jason Forward
Solidworks 2006 sp3.0
P4 3.0 Ghz 2.0Gb Ram
Quadro FX500
XP Sp 2.0

 

[SBaugh]

Get a better video card. That is a low-end certified video card.

If you are opening over a network... don't copy all the files locally and open the drawing. It will much faster.

http://www.3dvision.com/Support/docs/Slowdowns.doc

http://www.scottjbaugh.com/Tips_Tricks/Slowdowns.htm

Regards,


Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[jt4ward]

I just placed an order for a new cad station. Pretty much as High end as I could go. The specs are
AMD Fx-60
XP-64
4.0 GB Ram
Quadro FX-3400
2 WD SATAII 250 Gb Hard Drives
24" Wide screen monitor
I am hoping this will help a lot. If it doesn't I am sure I will hear about it. Most of the things we do seem to work good except drawings. We used to be able to utilize the draft quality and that helped until they decided that wasn't necessary in the new release. I am still curious why our drawings are growing 10 times in size. I am sure the video card will help to handle it, but I want good performance.

Jason Forward
Solidworks 2006 sp3.0
P4 3.0 Ghz 2.0Gb Ram
Quadro FX500
XP Sp 2.0

 

[J-C]

Is it save as the "detached" drawing file type. That will balloon the file.

Can you post a pic of the assy and drawing, how many views, etc. to get an idea of how big it is.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP3.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[jt4ward]

The drawing has 3 sheets. The first sheet has the main design with about 8 views on it. These include main views sections and alternate position views. The second sheet has one Iso view with an attached BOM. The third sheet has about 15-20 views of individual pin components that are dimensioned. The whole assy has at most 150 different parts in sub assy so that there are very few top level mates. If I had more time I would post a picture but I can't right now as I am not fluent in doing so.

I guess I really don't understand what a "detached" drawing file type is. I make a drawing with a template and then save it. The file size is now up to 214 Mb in size. We opened a back up copy of the same design from 3 days ago and its 30MB. We opened it and saved it and its 65MB. Kind of frustrating. Especially when I have a bunch of empoyees that are giving me crap and want to stay with Acad.

Maybe I will try to run a repair or modify again and see if that helps.

Jason Forward
Solidworks 2006 sp3.0
P4 3.0 Ghz 2.0Gb Ram
Quadro FX500
XP Sp 2.0

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Do a search here using File Size as the keywords.
This has been covered many times.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[jt4ward]

I did check out all those forums. My concern is not really with file size. I can buy more hard drives. The thing I can't buy is more time. When it takes 20 minutes to rebuild a drawing thats pretty bad. I am buying as good a computer as most anyone has so I hope that helps. I guess i have to buy 2 computers and switch from one to the other during drawing rebuilds.

Just to help me out I am curious how you guys go about making drawings of assy's.

1. Do you make seperate drawings for each sheet?
2. Do you have simplied configs of each part so that in the assy it would have less detail than in the part drawing? for example remove all attachment holes.
3. I already do not show any fasteners although that has gotten me into interference trouble at times.
4. Do a lot of configurations in assemblies hurt performance?
5. How about if I put the whole assy into a new assy and fix it?
6. Should I have less than 300 mates in each individual sub assy? Does anyone ever suppress the mates and fix the components that are probably not going to move?

If someone knows the answers to some of these design technique questions off the top of their head that would be great. I love designing in Solidworks, but I am hating anything to do with the drawing portion. I don't mind individual part drawings I guess. I can whip those out fast.

Thanks for all the input

Jason Forward
Solidworks 2006 sp3.0
P4 3.0 Ghz 2.0Gb Ram
Quadro FX500
XP Sp 2.0

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I rarely have large assemblies but;

1) One drawing consisting of multiple sheets.
2) Sometimes, on complex parts.
3) Always show simplified fasteners.
4) Never tested.
5) Not advisable. Especially if any parts are dynamic or associative.
6) Less than 300 mates in each ... Yes. Fix ... No.

As the previous threads explain, the bloated file size is caused by Windows. To reduce the file size you can use an compression utility like EcoSqueeze or UnFrag. Neither are recommended by SW, but it does help. Also saving as a new file will reduce the file size. Either way the file size will increase again the next time you save.

Do you have the "Verification on rebuild" option deselected?


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[jt4ward]

I have "Verification on rebuild" deselected.

Is that correct?

Jason Forward
Solidworks 2006 sp3.0
P4 3.0 Ghz 2.0Gb Ram
Quadro FX500
XP Sp 2.0

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Having it deselected should help reduce rebuild times.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[J-C]

How big is your template file? 200mb seems to big.

A drawing can saved as "detached" which means the drawing loads but not the assembly. The file size is often significantly larger but you hve the benefit of it opening fast. Do a "save as" and check the file type....if it says detached, then your drawing is in that mode.



Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP3.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[jt4ward]

No, They are not detached. Also my template files are under 500 Kb. I guess I am at a loss as to why they will be working great and then all off a sudden the drawing just halts. I am diagnosing every step I use to create a drawing to see if there is something I can change or a work around. I have not found any culprits as of yet that is causing the issue. I will let everybody know if I find anything.

Jason Forward
Solidworks 2006 sp3.0
P4 3.0 Ghz 2.0Gb Ram
Quadro FX500
XP Sp 2.0

 

[smcadman]

Why not run SW Rx and send it to your VAR to help you out? This might be the shortest route to find your particular problem.

Flores
SW06 SP3.0