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Author Topic: FP and max scene file size  (Read 5333 times)

TL1895

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FP and max scene file size
« on: October 03, 2011, 07:56:16 PM »
Hello,

I have been using the new browser for the mentor models with FP.  It's great, but I wanted to know if it
could give a choice of using a VRayproxy version rather than the original max file?

I ask because I have a small forest in my scene containing up to 20 mentor trees.  I noticed that immediately my
scene file went from 50-60 MB to over a GB.

Really great plugin and new browser, but wanted to know about file sizes and how FP deals with those mentor files.

Thanks,
JR

iToo

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2011, 08:27:02 PM »

By default, the Library Browser inserts the trees in the scene as XRefs, so they should not take space. 

Please, check in the library settings that it is working in XRef mode (see the screenshot). You also would test it in a empty scene (i just checked it now, and the Max file size remains low).

About the VRayProxies, they could be used as well, but really there is not great benefits over XRefs. Unfortunately we can't offer it as an option for HQ Plants, since 3D Mentor doesn't have their libraries in this format.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

TL1895

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2011, 01:16:57 PM »
Awesome, I will try this out, ASAP.
Thanks a lot for the help, this is such a great tool!
I don't really prefer one or the other, just wanted to keep the file small. Glad both will do that if my settings are good.

Thanks,
James

edit: well, I just checked and mine was set to merge!
Looking good now, thanks
« Last Edit: October 04, 2011, 01:19:24 PM by TL1895 »

iToo

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2011, 10:41:15 AM »

I must correct myself: the default mode for the library is "Merge", not "XRef".  So, the library behaviour was normal in this case.

Perhaps we should set it to XRef by default, or make this option more visible in the browser. We will think on it.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

jonavark

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2011, 12:59:12 AM »
itoo..

If you do set it to xref make sure we can convert the entire system over to merge if possible. Sometimes xrefs are a problem on render farms.. overall, I stopped using xrefs with Max because of problems. It just made it harder to get things done.

In the Autodesk Max forums there are quite a few complaints about XRef problems.


jonavark

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2011, 01:22:10 AM »
I have created a fairly large scene and I noticed that I had FP set to import rather than use XRefs.

I assume if I use XRefs I will have a much smaller file? (it's 500M right now)

Is the XRef solution bulletproof and what is the easiest way to convert my entire scene over to use XRefs?

TL1895

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2011, 02:45:35 AM »
I can assure you that my file size decreased to about 10MB from 950MB when I made the switch. HTH

jonavark

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2011, 03:08:53 AM »
Sweet! I guess rebuilding the forest objects is the only way to go to convert back to xrefs?

iToo

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2011, 04:55:59 PM »

If that helps, the models are stored as standard objects in the layer "forest_templates". Probably there must be some tool or script to convert objects to XRefs in batch, that would be used here.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

jonavark

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2011, 06:16:38 PM »
I was able to reset everything to XRefs by reloading the same plants from the library. My file size went from 500M to 92M. But I do have one question..

Those templates that existed when I initially created the FP objects.. Do I need to do anything special with them? I _think_ they may have been converted to Xrefs. ( I never use Xrefs because of prior problems so excuse me if I am a little clueless. )

Thanks!

iToo

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Re: FP and max scene file size
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2011, 07:38:32 PM »

Forest cleans up periodically the unused objects from the template layer. Anyways, you can check if there is any big mesh and remove it (only for the _forest_library objects, don't delete the _forest_template items).

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software