Simplify

When generating volumes, qualities and reserves, having accurate detailed Solids is an important part of the process. However most of the time you're using your Solids as a visual aid where the high level of detail is usually unnecessary.

In addition, common triangulations such as topographies are often imported with a similarly high level of detail. Solid Simplification reduces the complexity of any Solid or Triangulation by use of one of three methods (Point Collapse, Edge Collapse and Convex Hull) which has the following benefits:

  • Reduced video memory requirement (~50mb of Video Memory per 1,000,000 triangles)
  • Reduced project/model size (~20mb of Disk Space per 1,000,000 triangles)
  • Reduced load times

The simplified 3D models should possess a similar amount of assistance when scheduling, but help your models run more smoothly than before.

To simplify triangulations in your Design Data, right-click any triangulation and select Simplify.

Triangulations

Select which Triangulations to simplify:

Options

Simplification Algorithm

Choose an algorithm:

  • Point Collapse

  • Edge Collapse

  • Convex Hull

    • The Convex Hull method does not have any real options and completely rebuilds the Solid which provides generally a heavy reduction in the number of faces but generates Solids with very little detail (and destroys any concave shapes). Use Point Collapse or Edge Collapse as a primary method and Convex Hull when you REALLY need to reduce the size of your Solids on a slow/old computer or a really large model.

Overwrite

Choose whether to overwrite the existing Triangulation or create a new simplified Triangulation.

Similar to Solid Simplification, the Recommended Process is to not overwrite at first, but to create "_Simplified" clones until you are happy with the result. To reduce the size of your model once completed, the recommended process is to export your original Triangulation, delete it in your model and then run "Compact Database" in your back-end Database Maintenance settings.

Example Comparison: Solid Simplifications

Example Comparison: Triangulation Simplifications

Solid Simplification