Stuck after importing 35MB STL model

[rondlh]

I imported a 35MB STL model (attached), 361K vertices, 724K faces. It imported correctly, and I can change the viewpoint smoothly. Then I added a cube to the scene and thing went wrong. Moving the scene was very slow and then it completely stopped responding. I restarted the CaDoodle and after a slow startup the STL file showed up again, which I tried to delete, which failed. So I delete the project file completely (top left menu, which is still responsive). After restarting CaDoodle I cannot manipulate the scene anymore, no movement at all. If I click an object it appears at the centre, also the buttons on top all are responsive, but the scene is just frozen. CaDoodle memory usage is at 91MB, task manager reports 0% CPU usage . System CPU loading is very low at around 3%.
How can I recover from this situation?

When I start CaDoodle it takes a long time, it says 2% Downloading... for about 2 minutes. Why is it downloading something every time I start the software?

System specs:
Windows 10 Enterprise 22H2
Ryzen 7700X, 32GB DDR5 Memory, 16GB RTX 5060Ti.
CaDoodle 0.25.3

For reference I attached the STL file.
Tower.zip

[madhephaestus]

is this a duplicate of this bug? #38 Did the workaround in that issue description bring it back?

[rondlh]

Thanks, that did the trick, just a quick resize was enough.

Still the problem with the STL file remains. I noticed that when I add a cube, that every time I move it a bit, the file is saved and an item is added to the time line. This is painfully slow, and actually the whole scene does not need to be saved, saving the cube position would already be enough. Repeated moves could also be "bundled" like TinkerCAD does.
I did not find any way to change this behavior. Is it possible to prevent the saving of the scene for every little move?

[madhephaestus]

That model is VERY complex. I was able to load it and perform a union operation, but the resulting STL out the back was 1.5gb, enormous! Your file is not just 35mb, its is 35 mb of Binary STL, meaning that it expands to a whopping 1.4gb of ram to load it and each time you manipulate it, you get another copy of that huge model in memory.

I did notice that CSG ops on models that large caused errors, and the resulting STL being so large that my copy of PrusaSlicer could not load it.

I opened your file in Blender, and used the Decimate modifier to reduce the face count. I was able to get the model reduced in face count enough to perform the operations and export a working STL.

downresTower.zip

[madhephaestus]

Is it possible to prevent the saving of the scene for every little move?

Yes, close the timeline and it should not attempt to render an image of the state (which is what is taking so long on such a huge file)

[madhephaestus]

One more tip for very large and complex models, add all of the operations that you will want to add first, then add the STL as the last shape, and group it with the work you have already done. That way the STL sitting there will not slow down the rest of the operations.

[rondlh]

Thanks, your quick support is very appreciated!

Note that the STL I uploaded is already a version that reduced the size and vertices and faces by a factor of 4. I used Orca slicers "Simplify model" feature to achieve this. It gives great control on the level of reduction you want.

The downrestower STL posted above is not function anymore.

I used Prusa slicer 2.9.4 to cut some small parts of the model, this works fine even on the original larger file (121MB). Also Cura can work with the 121MB file without problems, I can easily make some modification to the model, like changing the depth of a the holes on the side.

Trying to upgrade to 0.25.4 now, I came across the same issue I had when I first installed CaDoodle, I asked it to upgrade, but nothing happens, no progress in the yellow bar below. At first I didn't even know that the yellow area at the bottom was kind of a progress bar. Adding a percentage progress indicator would be useful I guess. Anyway, then I closed the Window and tried again, the download made some progress and once completed the window disappeared, and the whole upgrade process started again when I restarted the software.
I found that the cause of this issue is that there are still 2 active tasks in the background that prevent the upgrade from completing. Once I manually killed these tasks I could upgrade to 0.25.3. Waiting for the program to upgrade to 0.25.4 takes a very long time, so I manually downloaded the jar and copied it in place. This seems to work fine.

[rondlh]

I'm using version CaDoodle 0.25.9 in Windows 10 and just noticed that the text scaling I use affects this issue.

100% scaling - No startup problem
125% scaling - No startup problem
150% scaling - Issue appears, Window resize is required
175% scaling - No startup problem
200% scaling - No startup problem
225% scaling - No startup problem
250% scaling - No startup problem