3D Files can consume a lot of space. Depending on the use case, the size of a 3D FIle can vary between a couple of bytes for a simple cube, to hundreds of megabyte for complex and organic shapes.
This page list options that can help on-premise customers to keep space consumption under control.
Since version 4.1.0, the 3YOURMIND Software uses significantly less space to store new 3D files.
Option 1: Use an Object Storage like S3
Object Storages have the benefit that they do not run out of space and the costs increase according to the actual usage (so you don’t pay for unused capacity). Read here how to configure the 3YOURMIND Software to work with S3.
Option 2: Provision a lot of capacity
To avoid the need of increasing the storage often, consider to provision more than enough capacity.
For productive environments, it’s probably better to think in TerraBytes instead of GigaBytes.Option 3: Delete/Archive unneeded files
For each uploaded file, 3YOURMIND stores multiple other files. Below is a list of each files purpose and the impact of removing it from the file system.
You can delete the files by runningfind . -name "[filename]" -type f -delete -print
Filename | Purpose | Presence | Typical size | Impact when Deleted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
originalFile.* | The uploaded file, for “Download Original“ | always | 1 * original | “Download Original“ will not work |
repaired.stl | Repaired file, for download | always | 1 * original | “Download Optimized“ will not work |
repaired_original.ctm | Repaired file in lossless format, used for further computations, e.g. orientation optimization | always | 0.1 * original | Orientation Optimization would stop working |
repaired.ctm | Repaired file in lossy format, used in the 3D viewer | always | 0.1 * original | Viewer would not open |
thumbnail.png | Thumbnail, used as preview in the application | always | 100 KB | Thumbnails in Software and PDFs would be missing |
support_histogram.json | Support histogram, for pricing | always | 10 KB | Pricing in the Basket would stop working |
support.json | Support structure for visualization in the 3D viewer | always | 0.5 * original | Support structure could not be shown in the viewer |
wta.json | Wall thickness analysis for visualization in the 3D viewer | always | 0.2 * original | Wall Thickness Analysis would be unavailable in the viewer. |
repaired_simple.ctm | Simplified repaired file, used in the 3D viewer | big files | 0.01 * original | Viewer would be unavailable for big files. |
optimized_orientation.fb | Cached results of orientation optimization | orientation optimization in pricing formula | 200 B | |
model.zip | Repaired WRL file and texture (if present), for download | multicolor files | ||
texture.png | Texture of the file, used in the 3D viewer | textured files | ||
wtaOriginal.json | Wall thickness analysis of the original file | always before 4.1.0, removed after | 0.2 * original | |
parameter.3yd | 3D model parameter of the original file | always before 4.1.0, removed after | ||
viewer.ctm | Original file in lossy format, used in the 3D viewer of the old user panel | always before 4.1.0, removed after | 0.1 * original | |
viewerOriginal.ctm | Original file in lossless format | always before 4.1.0, removed after | 0.1 * original | |
original.stl | Original file converted to STL | always before 4.1.0, removed after | 1 * original | |
repaired_texture.png | Texture of the repaired file | textured files, removed in 4.1.0 |
Option 4: Delete/Archive old files
Another option is to scan the filesystem for old file to remove or archive old files.
Note that the files are created during the initial upload. There could be cases in which a user uploads a new file into a basket, then waits for 1 year, and after 1 year places the order. Also files might be part of a long-living Digital Inventory. Unfortunately you can not detect in the file system itself for what a file is used for.
The impact on the software when deleting files is as follows:
The thumbnails won’t show up (404)
The Download links would not work (404)
The viewer would show an error
The Baskets in which the files are uploaded to show an error
All Request, Quotes and Order Data is accessible