HACKER Q&A
📣 cjcassar

What are the issues with working with large CAD design files?


I'm working on trying to make it easier to open massive files from any computer anywhere. Wondering if this is a big issue for hardware engineers? I know some industries feel it but not sure if it's an issue worth dedicating time towards.

  👤 sbuk Accepted Answer ✓
What kind of CAD? Architectural/Constuction? Mechanical/Electrical schematics?

From an architectural viewpoint, linked files are problematic. It's rare that a model is entirely self contained. Linking (XREFs) are commonplace and loading external files can be problematic. CAD models also gather 'junk' - symbols (blocks in AutoCAD parlance), which need purging from time to time.

👤 lostdog
Some of the videos from the Marble Machine X project show Fusion 360 cracking under the pressure. A big problem is that you need each part at full resolution when you're editing that part, but when you look at the whole machine, you don't need to render every thread for the hundreds of custom bolts. CAD programs don't seem to have this multi-resolution understanding implemented well.