PDF and File Size

[Landartma]

I am having issues with the file size.  I am sure its how I am working with symbols, images, textures, image props and detail levels, camera views etc.  As I work with the files and make changes the file gets slower and really big.  Any advice on how to make them smaller and more manageable is appreciated.  See the attached file.  It seems to do ok in Vector Works but is Publishing at 207MB.  The File is 336MB.  If this is just how large they are what are the options for sharing them with clients besides google drive.

Finishedconcept1reduced.vwx

[unearthed]

A long term fundamental flaw of VW (and as far as I know still existing in the latest versions – I’m on 2018) is that where an image file extends beyond the view port, that all of the image data is exported/pubished to the pdf. So I split images into tiles and put each tile in its own class  - it's a really slow kludge, but sometimes necessary.

 

If I have a very graphical page I normally export that page as a 300 dpi jpg and bring it back into vectorworks, again a kludge which defeats the purpose of owning a CAD in the first place. What it means is even with highly graphical content I can normally produce documents with up to 10 pages in 7-10Mb.

[Tom W.]

4 hours ago, Landartma said:

I am having issues with the file size.  I am sure its how I am working with symbols, images, textures, image props and detail levels, camera views etc.  As I work with the files and make changes the file gets slower and really big.  Any advice on how to make them smaller and more manageable is appreciated.  See the attached file.  It seems to do ok in Vector Works but is Publishing at 207MB.  The File is 336MB.  If this is just how large they are what are the options for sharing them with clients besides google drive.

Finishedconcept1reduced.vwx 335.85 MB · 0 downloads

 

I'm not sure I understand the question. 336MB isn't large for a VWX file. Mine are routinely 2.5GB+ + perform fine, even on my oldish computer.

 

What exactly is publishing at 207MB? One of your Sheet Layers? Which one? Using what settings?

 

Large PDFs can generally be compressed after the fact using free websites such as iLovePDF. I think this was mentioned in the other thread. The only issue I have with too-large PDFs is when I have loads of 2D vector geometry. The VWX file will be small (under 100MB) but the published PDF will be large + impervious to compression. But when I say large I mean 15-20MB so nothing like 207MB. Even an A1 sheet of 600DPI renders will come out at max 90MB (+ can then be reduced to 1MB in iLovePDF).

 

When you talk about your files being slow + unmanageable are you talking about just navigating through the file + having delays when zooming etc? If so again in my experience I find this is unrelated to file size + more to do with vector geometry. For example complex hatches with lots of lines slow things down for me. In your file one thing that stands out for me is the woodland landscape area which is 11,000 sq ft + set to display the Plant symbols in 2D. That results in a lot of lines for VW to process. I would try turning off the 2D Plant symbols or at least simplifying the geometry in the symbol + see if that makes a difference to performance + PDF size.

 

 

[Landartma]

@unearthed that's interesting.  When you talk about the image file extending beyond the viewport are you speaking of the the camera angles I have in the viewports?   @Tom W. notes files are not real big so I will focus on simplifying geometry.  I am currently publishing 13 sheets at Raster Render 300DPI.  (The attached had all the graphics values set to lower settings).  The 2d geometry definitely gets complex and I fixed a bunch of areas that rendered around other objects unnecessarily and it reduced the file size.  I eliminated the 2d plants in the back landscape area.  I isolated the layers.  The hyperlinks are almost half the file size, next is the Shrubs, Perennials, boulders and walls.  The little fire pit is pretty good size as well.  This is all as a percentage of file size.  Just working with the file I get slow speeds when just doing general design work.  I make a move and see the Geometry working fairly slowly.  The main issue is presentation to the client.  iLovePDF rocks shrunk the file to 32MB.  That solves the big file to the client problem!😁

[unearthed]

The yellow ellipse is the viewport and the image information in it is only 1Mb or so, but the aerial is much larger. In my experience VW somehow includes all the image data for the whole raster file (although not in a readable way, it is just somehow embedded in the file, leading to bloated .pdfs).

 

I have not opened your file as I'm running 2018, and I don't do photoreal so your cameras and their data won't mean much to me. 

 

If I have a particularly problematic file I use pdf995, but VWs publish/export is a lot better than it used to be.

 

I cannot