How to save space
- Felix Bauer
- Dennis Hezel
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 their cost increase according to the actual usage (so you do not 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 provisioning more than enough capacity.
For production environments, it is 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 file's purpose and the impact of removing it from the storage.
If you are using a local storage solution then you can delete the files by running:find . -name "[filename]" -type f -delete -print
Filename | Purpose | Presence | Typical size | Impact when deleted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
originalFile.* | The uploaded file, for “Download Original“ | always |
| “Download Original“ will not work |
repaired.stl | Repaired file, for “Download Optimized“ | always | 1 * originalFile | “Download Optimized“ will not work |
repaired_original.ctm | Repaired file in lossless format, used for further computations, e.g. orientation optimization | always | 0.1 * originalFile | Orientation Optimization will stop working |
repaired.ctm | Repaired file in lossy format, used in the 3D Viewer | always | 0.1 * originalFile | 3D Viewer will not open |
thumbnail.png | Thumbnail, used as a preview in the Software | always | 100 KB | Thumbnails in Software and PDFs will be missing |
support_histogram.json | Support histogram, for pricing | always | 0.5 * originalFile | Pricing in the Basket will stop working |
support.json | Support structure for visualization in the 3D viewer | always | 3 * originalFile before 4.1.0, | Support structure can not be shown in the 3D Viewer |
wta.json | Wall thickness analysis for visualization in the 3D viewer | always | 0.25 * originalFile | Wall thickness analysis can not be shown in the 3D Viewer |
repaired_simple.ctm | Simplified repaired file, used in the 3D viewer | big files | 0.01 * originalFile | 3D Viewer will be unavailable for big files |
optimized_orientation.fb | Cached results of orientation optimization | orientation optimization in pricing formula | 200 B | Prices need to be recalcuated |
model.zip | Repaired WRL file and texture (if present), for “Download Optimized“ | multicolor files | 1 * originalFile | “Download Optimized“ will not work |
texture.png | Texture of the file, used in the 3D viewer | textured files |
| 3D Viewer will not show the texture |
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 | 64 B |
|
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 storage for old files and remove or archive them.
Note that the files are created during the initial upload. You may want to avoid deleting files that are part of a Digital Inventory. It is however impossible to detect what a file is used for from the stored files itself, so be careful.
The impact on the software when deleting files is as follows:
The thumbnails will not show up (404)
The download links will not work (404)
The 3D Viewer will show an error
The baskets, in which the files have been uploaded into, will show an error
Requests, quotes and order data will be inaccessible