maximum stl filesize in Mb

[aabannink 0]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how large a stl file can be to load in Cura?

I used to work with Netfabb and try to switch to Cura (latest release 12.08). In netfabb my file of 96 Mb (car 1:18 main body) is sliced fast en read in without problem.

Cura doesn't load it in...

seems to me that retraction and nice first layer option is not for this...

Hope I am just doing something wrong, e.g. not loading the program as administrator...

thx for your reactions

Alexander

[Daid 306]

96MB is huge, it might just take longer then you are expecting, as python is not super fast and can take a while to load large files. If you can, try saving the STL file as binary, this loads a lot faster then an ascii STL file.

[aabannink 0]

Hi Daid,

Thx for your reaction, it is Binary (:-) ) it is very complex in shape, it's a main car race-body 1:18 scale +- 180 mm long around 60 mm high.

I am waiting but Cura is indicating it stopped working ( programma werkt niet ) on the windows menu bar.

Thing is that it might be large for most users and thingyverse models but

For me and the things I am trying to print, it more of a rule than exception.

So maybe it's nice to see if future Cura's can be able to work with these file-sizes... if you want I can probably sent you a file to test with... Although it needs to be for your eyes only, as I don't want this to be freely spread... It's created for a client of mine...but if it helps you in developing a faster and even better Cura, it's no problem.

thx try to read it in again.

alexander

[Daid 306]

If it goes to the "stopped working" state, it is most likely calculating the normals and sending the resulting 3D file to your 3D video card. Make sure you are using 12.08, as older versions where WAY slower at this point, and use too much memory.

The model you has 1.920.000 faces. This is quite heavy on Cura. But it should load eventually if you wait long enough, but I think it will still be slow after that. Also, slicing will take a long time, so be warned on that.

[aabannink 0]

Hey Daid,

I think it slices it now, although in 3D view it shows the previous file, textwise it tells me that the right model is sliced.

I will check probably the model is to large to create a 3D view on my 4 year old laptop... although it's a SLI card setup XPS dell.

Keep you posted

greets!

[snowygrouch 1]

Yes this has also been a problem for me with CURA, and is why I had to switch to NetFabb in the end. I have

very large complex shapes and when loaded into CURA it shows you the shape for about 1 second then

the display goes to garbage and shows a load of distorted triangle shapes, trying to slice results in a crash.

The same models load straight into NetFabb with no problem at all.

So CURA is, as far as I can see - not currently a great choice for dealing with large complex STLs. Perhaps there will

be some progress on that soon with Ultimaker announcing that its going to shift to CURA officially....