Mesh Reduction
We receive a CAD file that looks like this.
We start the CAD reduction process with the program PiXYZ. This is because PiXYZ has some powerful tools for decimation of CAD files. We use a script that automates the process and ends up with the model below.
This model has around 83.000 tris at this moment.
Sometimes PiXYZ doesn’t automatically reduce all of the ‘hidden mesh’ inside og the machine. Therefore, we take out unnecessary mesh manually using another tool called ‘Blender’, in order to reduce tris further.
Even though this part of the machine has been through PiXYZ,
it still has around 26.000 tris.
After having been through Blender, this part of the machine is down to 12.000
Sometimes it makes more sense to rebuild a part with more simple objects in Blender. Below is an example of a part being rebuild and how much of a difference it makes. In the first picture, the part has around 34.000 tris, and in the second it is at 3300 tris.
The Final Model
When all different parts of the model has either been manually decimated or rebuild, all of them are joined together and put back in PiXYZ.
Back in PiXYZ we run the script one last time to shave off the last few tris. Depending on how complicated the model is, this will still have a big impact.
The final model shown here has been reduced down to 23.000 tris, from the original 83.000 after in the first step.
Examples of Mesh Reduction
