Uploading CAD Models
This article is targeted for customers with CAD, CAM, CAE, IGES, STEP, ACIS and PHIGS 3D files and will help you remove a lot of useless data left over from the convention to OBJ.
When we embed 3D content to a website, we are only interested in the visual representation of the model, which means that all the parts we can not see will do nothing more than slow down the 3D viewer. Because CAD (or similar formats) are usually build to have structural accuracy on the outside and on the inside, a straight conversion from to OBJ will leave out a lot of unnecessary data to the 3D file.
Here are a few simple ways to optimize your 3D file without reducing visual quality:
Merge vertices
Remove meshes that are not visible
Remove faces that are not visible
Pack UVs to 1:1 space
This means merging vertices that are stacked on top of each other.
3ds Max - Edit Poly > Select all vertices > Edit Vertices > Weld > 0,001cm
Blender - Edit mode, select Mesh > Clean Up > Merge by distance
Before uploading CAD to the Platform, you should combine group layers into single meshes or export model in separate files. Always aim to have the least amount of meshes and materials for optimal performance.
Note that uploading files with more than 25 meshes, will result to the meshes being combined into a single mesh or the upload will fail.
Rhino https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/merge-layers/2917
Sketchup https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-do-i-ungroup-all-and-merge-all-layers/14388
Blender: https://all3dp.com/2/blender-how-to-merge-objects/
You should remove every mesh that you do not plan on displaying. This can be done either in a 3D
modelling software or in the Sayduck Platform.
Using one-sided faces is common in AR and other OpenGl because it reduces data consumption. This allows you to use the removed data to increase your products outer quality or strictly improve the performance of the 3D viewer.
After converting your CAD model to one of our upload formats such as .obj. Make sure that the UV maps on the model are packed to 1:1 space.
Products that use tiling values under 0.1 usually have this issue.
To learn more about UV maps, check out our UV Mapping article.
When we embed 3D content to a website, we are only interested in the visual representation of the model, which means that all the parts we can not see will do nothing more than slow down the 3D viewer. Because CAD (or similar formats) are usually build to have structural accuracy on the outside and on the inside, a straight conversion from to OBJ will leave out a lot of unnecessary data to the 3D file.
Here are a few simple ways to optimize your 3D file without reducing visual quality:
Merge vertices
Remove meshes that are not visible
Remove faces that are not visible
Pack UVs to 1:1 space
Merging vertices
This means merging vertices that are stacked on top of each other.
3ds Max - Edit Poly > Select all vertices > Edit Vertices > Weld > 0,001cm
Blender - Edit mode, select Mesh > Clean Up > Merge by distance
Combine layer into meshes
Before uploading CAD to the Platform, you should combine group layers into single meshes or export model in separate files. Always aim to have the least amount of meshes and materials for optimal performance.
Note that uploading files with more than 25 meshes, will result to the meshes being combined into a single mesh or the upload will fail.
Rhino https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/merge-layers/2917
Sketchup https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-do-i-ungroup-all-and-merge-all-layers/14388
Blender: https://all3dp.com/2/blender-how-to-merge-objects/
Remove meshes that are not visible
You should remove every mesh that you do not plan on displaying. This can be done either in a 3D
modelling software or in the Sayduck Platform.
Remove faces that are not visible
Using one-sided faces is common in AR and other OpenGl because it reduces data consumption. This allows you to use the removed data to increase your products outer quality or strictly improve the performance of the 3D viewer.
Pack UV maps to 1:1 space
After converting your CAD model to one of our upload formats such as .obj. Make sure that the UV maps on the model are packed to 1:1 space.
Products that use tiling values under 0.1 usually have this issue.
To learn more about UV maps, check out our UV Mapping article.
Updated on: 26/11/2024
Thank you!