3D render VERY slow for one particular board

Making PCB Layouts, Manual routing, Auto-routing, Copper pouring, Updating from Schematic, Manufacturing Output
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rick.curl
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Joined: 14 Jun 2010, 09:46

3D render VERY slow for one particular board

#1 Post by rick.curl » 20 Aug 2019, 02:30

3D rendering works great for almost all of the boards I've done- except for one. This board is not huge- it measures 225mm x 171mm and has 228 components on it. For most of the layouts I do the 3D render takes only a few seconds, but this one takes more than 5 minutes. Once it is rendered it is VERY sluggish to rotate the view, going in jumps instead of a smooth rotation.

What causes this? How can I troubleshoot it?

Thanks.

-Rick

rick.curl
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Posts: 167
Joined: 14 Jun 2010, 09:46

Re: 3D render VERY slow for one particular board

#2 Post by rick.curl » 20 Aug 2019, 02:37

By the way, when I first click on "3D", I see the usual status messages that pop up in the area where the 3D image will appear, but after a few seconds the messages go away and the area where the images appear will be totally blank for 1 or 2 minutes at a time. Is that a clue?

Tomg
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Joined: 20 Jun 2015, 07:39

Re: 3D render VERY slow for one particular board

#3 Post by Tomg » 20 Aug 2019, 03:36

It's possible that one (or more) of the components has a very large STEP file associated with it. Sometimes a component's STEP file can be unnecessarily complex for use as a clearance model. Try deleting the suspect component(s) from the board (don't resave it, of course) and initiate 3D view again to see if things speed up.
Tom

rick.curl
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Posts: 167
Joined: 14 Jun 2010, 09:46

Re: 3D render VERY slow for one particular board

#4 Post by rick.curl » 20 Aug 2019, 04:24

Thanks, Tom-
Rather than delete the components one at a time (there are more than 200 of them), I sorted to STEP files in my user directory by size, and was surprised to find three files that are unnecessarily large: A C&K KSL series tact switch, Coilcraft SER2918 inductor, and a Panasonic EEC series capacitor. I can easily replace the capacitor's file with one from another supplier, but the tact switch and inductor won't be so simple. For now I'll just unlink the step files for those components.

Dumb question- I haven't messed with STEP files very much. I presume there's no way to reduce the amount of detail without making a new STEP file from scratch?

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

-Rick

Tomg
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Re: 3D render VERY slow for one particular board

#5 Post by Tomg » 20 Aug 2019, 05:11

"...I presume there's no way to reduce the amount of detail without making a new STEP file from scratch?..."
Not to my knowledge. If you're feeling a little masochistic today, you could try importing the STEP file into FreeCAD to see if FreeCAD will export it as a smaller STEP file.
Tom

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