Optimizing 3D Shape Performance

Graphics cards can render one mesh with many faces faster than they can render many meshes with a few faces each.

You can use AC3D to optimize 3D shapes so that they draw quickly in FlexSim. The steps below can be used to combine objects based on their material.

1. Open AC3D
2. Import the shape file
3. For each used material in the list in the bottom-left corner, do steps 4-9
4. Enter Surface mode using the Select groupbox in the upper-left corner
5. Right-click the material and choose "Select surfaces with this material"
6. Enter Object mode using the Select groupbox in the upper-left corner
7. Run Object > Merge from the main menu (or press Ctrl+Shift+M)
8. Run Object > Optimize Vertices from the main menu (or press Ctrl+Shift+V)
9. Run Object > Optimize Surfaces from the main menu
10. Save the file as .ac or export as .3ds for use in FlexSim

An ideal shape has 1 mesh with 1 material and 1 texture, or 2 meshes (one that is FlexSim-color-changeable and one that is not).

Attached is an AC3D plugin developed back in 2009 that can be used to automate these steps.

I just tested it with AC3D 7.3.4 with some very simple shapes, and it seems to still be working. (I think some very large shapes used to cause it to crash, so it may or may not work with all files.)

Copy the FlexsimOptimizer.p file into C:\Program Files (x86)\AC3D 7.3.4\plugins

Steps to use it:
1. Open a file you want to optimize.
2. Select all the objects in the scene.
3. Execute menu option Object > Flexsim Optimizer.
4. Save or export the shape.

This also has a feature that removes the extra materials using the menu option Object > Flexsim Optimizer & Remove Unused Materials. This option can be helpful to reduce the file size if the export file format contains all of the materials in the list instead of just the used ones. But if you use this option, the material list in the bottom-corner becomes unstable. Ideally, the exporter would only export the used materials from this list, but that might depend on the format you use. If you use this option, export immediately, then close and reopen AC3D.

I just used AC3D and the attached plugin processed a big container ship 3DS model with a lot of details. It takes AC3D 4 hours to run the optimization, but it finally succeeds.

Only loading the old file into FlexSim 7.7.4, frame rate is 11 fps.
Only loading the optimized file into FlexSim 7.7.4, frame rate is 56 fps. A lot improvement.

BTW, AC3D version is 6.8.14.

Very helpful tip and plug in! Thank you Phil.