TheSwamp
CAD Forums => CAD General => Topic started by: craigr on May 22, 2015, 09:23:10 AM
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I was sent an AutoCAD file with many blocks and many layers. It was initially 4mb, once I started exploding blocks and merging layers, it doubled in size and is choking my workstation.
Do any of you know what would cause this?
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File size can increase when exploding blocks. It's just the nature of the beast, but there have been some bugs that cause file bloat like you are experiencing. There are many possible causes.
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must you explode those blocks?
really?
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I realize that it is non-standard practice but for what we do, it is more convenient if we do.
It is very rare that this is a problem for us, but this one particular dwg has a lot of industrial equipment racks, conveyors, etc... that I wish to combine into ONE Layer. Unfortunately, the 50 or so layers names are such that I have no idea what is on them.
When we are finished with a drawing, we are supposed to end up with 10 or less 'standard' layers - OUR Layer names. When finished, we have scripts that manipulate these layers.
I will have to attack this problem without exploding the layers. The file is up to almost 10 MB which is unacceptable.
Thanks for the info folks.
craigr
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this would suggest that IF the block components are on block defined (embedded) layers
use block editor to alter to your needs
then the useless layers can be purged or merged once nothing is living on them
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Yeppers, I figured that using the Block Editor would be my next step.
This drawing has 1000 Blocks!! It also has many lines less than 1/5" which I typically delete to reduce file size. We try to keep the drawings as small as possible.
Our work is VERY non Typical, so much of the Industries' 'Standard Practices' don't really apply to our drawings.
But, many thanks for the continued support. I wish I could help you out sometime, but you know so very much more than I do.
craigr
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...
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I am surprised nobody has mentioned the reason ...
Consider this:
A block is a non-graphical collection of objects defined in the block table;
An insert (commonly called a block) is the graphical representation of the block, thus for every insert in the drawing, you are essentially adding one element .. an insert;
Now, lets assume your block has 20 graphical elements, when you explode one insert, you ADD 20 graphical elements to the drawing, along with the 20 non-graphical elements (remember, block table entries don't display until they are "inserted");
So now lets assume you have 1000 inserts with 20 elements each and no other graphical objects in the drawing. For simplicity sake, we'll say your drawing has 1020 "entities" defined (nevermind it actually has many more .. teststyles, dimstyles, plot settings, etc...) but I think you may get the picture.
Now lets explode those "blocks" .. you now have 20020 (1000 x 20 + 20) graphical entities in the drawing ... considerably more than the original 1020. That adds a significant amount of overhead in the drawing.
If you now purge that drawing, you will reduce the number of elements by 20 (those in the defined block) so you will now have 20000 elements. Still a huge number. This is the reason why a block (aka insert) is so powerful in drawings in that it can significantly reduce the number of things the software had to track.
Think of it as substitution ... you are essentially telling the software "Wherever you find this one 'insert' element, substitute the 20 elements located in the block definition."
Just imagine if your block had a few hundred elements and you had a few thousand of them in your drawing ... it could grow pretty unwieldy very fast.
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I suggest using the WBlock in lieu of the Block Editor.
Sometimes I have manage to rinse and sanitize further like getting rid of annotation styles and the whatnot.
My half cent opinion
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I use REFEDIT to edit the blocks moving all blocked components to 'acceptable layers', while in REFEDIT, set elevation of all components to 0, then use OVERKILL to eliminate short/overlapping components. REFCLOSE to exit. Purge cr4p (incl. zero-length cr4p), explode blocks, use OVERKILL on exploded blocks to further eliminate cr4p. Start with nested blocks first getting those to 'acceptable layers' first, then move to parent block, exploding the nested blocks as you go higher in the chain.
Sometimes we get files from a vendor that must be brought into compliance with client standards and compressed for a specific client usage. I hate making an intelligent file less so on purpose, but then doing so helps the file match the intelligence level of the client, so there we are.
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REFEDIT is the way to go to clean up blocks so they match a specific standard.
WBLOCK is used to create a file of the selected entities (it is essentially "WRITE BLOCK") and while it will remove all items not specifically necessary for those particular objects, it does nothing for the overall bloat of the drawing if 1000's of inserts are exploded into tens of thousands of different objects.
If you have one insert for one block, exploding the block can make the drawing smaller if it is purged, but if there is more than one insert, exploding most definitely increases the size of the drawing and the difficulty in managing it.
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If it is just for combining layers, why not use the function LayerMerge?
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Many thanks for the explanation of how it works, this really helps.
I will no longer explode all blocks, like I have in the past.
Yes, I do you the LayMerg command, a lot. I usually explode blocks because it is easy to change the properties of all of them at once. All I really want is to make all of their colors 'bylayer'. many blocks are 'byblock' or any given color. - They reason I wan them 'bylayer' is because I have macros that change the 'Floorplan' layer from 253 to white, and another macro to change it back to 253.
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Is the SETBYLAYER command available in LT?
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Yes it is. - I don't remember hearing of this before.
I will explore it the first chance I get.
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Hey!!! - I finally got a chance to try that 'SetBylayer' command and it is SWEET!!!
I simply selected ALL and it did exactly what I need.
Thanks ever so much!
craigr