Importing Rhino Files into Vectorworks

[Malovejr]

Hello,

I work in the film industry and I am currently receiving Rhino (.3dm) files from our art dept. The files are somewhat small as Rhino files, but become massive once I import them into Vectorworks. Has anyone found an easy solution to working with Rhino files?

I'm constantly wasting tons of time every time there is a new set. It can take as long as 30 minutes to import the files and then moving around is super clunky. I'm constantly going through each set to class everything, and then deleting as much as I can get away with (nuts, bolts, etc...). The current set I am working with is a 1.5G Vectorworks file. Moving around is very difficult and I'm going crazy trying to figure out the best way to work with art dept.

I have heard of art dept drafting in Rhino for other shows, however this has been my first time experiencing it for myself.

Any help / suggestions working with large Rhino files would be appreciated?

Thank you,
Mike


My Computer Specs:

-Apple MacBook Pro
-M1 Max
-10 cores (8 performance and 2 efficiency)
-64GB Ram

[Malovejr]

Additionally, the .3DM file I received was around 250,000 objects. Currently its around 150,000, but that has only been after hours of me going through and deleting as much as I can.

[Kevin Allen]

Is it possible to reference this type of file?

[Mark Aceto]

2 minutes ago, Kevin Allen said:

Is it possible to reference this type of file?

 

Great question.

[Mark Aceto]

56 minutes ago, Malovejr said:

Additionally, the .3DM file I received was around 250,000 objects. Currently its around 150,000, but that has only been after hours of me going through and deleting as much as I can.

 

Also VW flattens all objects to one layer on the none class when importing and exporting 3DM which is the bane of my existence.

[Mark Aceto]

1 hour ago, Malovejr said:

Hello,

I work in the film industry and I am currently receiving Rhino (.3dm) files from our art dept. The files are somewhat small as Rhino files, but become massive once I import them into Vectorworks. Has anyone found an easy solution to working with Rhino files?

I'm constantly wasting tons of time every time there is a new set. It can take as long as 30 minutes to import the files and then moving around is super clunky. I'm constantly going through each set to class everything, and then deleting as much as I can get away with (nuts, bolts, etc...). The current set I am working with is a 1.5G Vectorworks file. Moving around is very difficult and I'm going crazy trying to figure out the best way to work with art dept.

I have heard of art dept drafting in Rhino for other shows, however this has been my first time experiencing it for myself.

Any help / suggestions working with large Rhino files would be appreciated?

Thank you,
Mike


My Computer Specs:

-Apple MacBook Pro
-M1 Max
-10 cores (8 performance and 2 efficiency)
-64GB Ram

 

If you have a Rhino license, there's an option to File > Save Small.

 

Then again, if you have a Rhino license, you could export a bunch of other file formats that would also preserve layers.

[Kevin Allen]

maybe there are several VEs here? a) better import and translation. b) referencing.

[Mark Aceto]

1 minute ago, Kevin Allen said:

maybe there are several VEs here? a) better import and translation. b) referencing.

 

Not sure about referencing but there a bunch of VE's for VW to not flatten layers when importing exporting. They never get any love.

[Malovejr]

Yeah,

The files I have been receiving have everything in the none class which drives me crazy as well.

I don't have Rhino and I'm not familiar with it. I tried downloading a trial version about a month ago to see if I could clean up the files in Rhino before importing them into Vectorworks, but unfortunately I just don't have time to sit with it. It feels like the show I'm on is more of a sprint then a marathon.

I signed a bunch of NDA's which prevent me from posting the .3DM files here.

Yeah, they have offered to File-Save Small, but it doesn't seem to help much. They also said they are reducing the Nurb count on the files they are sending me.

They have tried giving me OBJ's. The problem with OBJ's is that parts of the set come in giant chunks. I can't turn particular things on/off or highlight where we have LED's running throughout the set.

[Mark Aceto]

The “dumb” way of managing this is to export multiple files for each dept. Just make sure to include alignment guides for XYZ (for when you reassemble everything in VW).

[Mark Aceto]

45 minutes ago, Malovejr said:

Yeah,

The files I have been receiving have everything in the none class which drives me crazy as well.

I don't have Rhino and I'm not familiar with it. I tried downloading a trial version about a month ago to see if I could clean up the files in Rhino before importing them into Vectorworks, but unfortunately I just don't have time to sit with it. It feels like the show I'm on is more of a sprint then a marathon.

I signed a bunch of NDA's which prevent me from posting the .3DM files here.

Yeah, they have offered to File-Save Small, but it doesn't seem to help much. They also said they are reducing the Nurb count on the files they are sending me.

They have tried giving me OBJ's. The problem with OBJ's is that parts of the set come in giant chunks. I can't turn particular things on/off or highlight where we have LED's running throughout the set.

@Josh Loyis a good person to send files too. I just sent him a few STEP files with the same issues.