Settings

[djohannesen]

I have spoken to some people about the following attached setting options - noone could give a clear answer.

 

 

We are looking at settings to make scene operation faster & file sizes smaller.

 

If I use facet parts, cones when converted to solid are effectively 'panelled' & a number of these 'panels' are not visible - ie: poor image.

 

 

I also noticed that if a scene is exported as a parasolid file, whilst the resulting file size is larger than its' .ics file, when zipped, it reduces to about 1/2 its' size. (.ics files virtrually don't compress).

 

Regards,

David J

[Mike Allen]

Facet parts are really only useful as visual representations. You can't snap to them and you can't dimension them. They are good for "window dressing" in the scene (potted plants, etc.), since they take up little memory. They help you cut down on overhead in the scene, so most of your processing power can go to your actual parts. To make a facet part, check the box in Options, create the part, drag it into a temporary catalog, and drag it back into the scene (IronCAD converts it to a facet part.) When you're done, remember to un-check the box.

 

The next section has a pretty good description in the IronCAD online Help file:

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·When saving parts, also save. The following options determine the type of information stored when a part is saved. If neither option is selected, only information necessary for recreating a part is stored. Although the resulting file is small, the process of creating the part takes longer than with the selection of one of the two options below.

 

·Approximate surface description (facets). Select this option to store a simplified version of a part. This one-piece facet part is displayed faster than a full IntelliShape version. To work with individual IntelliShapes within the part, it must first be regenerated by selecting a shape within it.

 

·Exact surface description (boundary rep.). Select this option to store the full IntelliShape version of the part. It takes longer to display the part, but it is not necessary to regenerate it to work with its Individual IntelliShapes.

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Finally, the last box (When loading a part:) if checked, IronCAD will compute all of the surfaces of the part when you load it, otherwise it will use the interaction of part geometry to render the part.

 

Except for the facet part, the other options allow you to decide when IronCAD will spend extra time and processing power to completely evaluate a part. Either do it up front ("Exact surface description" on save and load) or do it on demand.

 

Hope this helps.

 

-Mike