Exporting best practices?

Hey team!, quick question. I’ve noticed when doing production models that are higher detail levels the export can take a considerable time. For instance I worked on a concept vehicle and exported as .step to render in fusion360. It had roughly 250bodies, 1 remaining sketch. However it took roughly 20-30mins to export. So I generally plug in my iPad > export > go get lunch and come back after. It always works but takes a long time. ( I have the latest iPad Pro).

Is there a way to speed up exporting?, or a format that is better suited for quicker export/iteration?. I generally use .Step as I read online it’s the most up to date format compatible with most cad software. I generally only need the export so I can texture/render. I don’t model or edit in fusion, I prefer shapr3d by far for my needs. So I really need just the model, even if not editable fully after the fact.

Does merging bodies reduce export times?, does reducing complexity on the bodies help?. I’m curious what contributes to longer or shorter export times. Curious what I should look out for :slight_smile:

Thanks for any insights!.

Unfortunately there aren’t any tricks. STEP export times depend on many many factors, because exporting to STEP requires data translation, meaning that all the Parasolid geometry has to be translated to a different representation.

However, Fusion360 supports importing Parasolid (x_t) files directly, and that should be blazing fast. So I would suggest to simply export the Parasolid file, and import that to Fusion.

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The same should be true of Shapr3D import speeds when exporting from F360 as .x_t. I’ll have to remember that the next time I move a design from F360 to Shapr3D.

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Yes. Whenever it is possible, use x_t for data exchange between Shapr3D and other CAD systems.

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Ah great!, thanks I’ll try that format :slight_smile: