Trouble with file size for high detail model

Hi yall, I just signed up here and was really excited about printing some of my designs, but alas it seems I can't upload anything bigger than 65mb, and it's not even letting me upload zip files containing a .stl file bigger than 65mb, and most of the models I have done are quite a bit bigger than that.

Is there a possible work around for this? or am I doing something wrong with the zip?

I also have problems with making the mesh hollow. I took a test mesh, which is basically a box, and extruded it inward for 2-3 units or so, and I uploaded this version along with the solid version, they both cost exactly the same: way too much!

Is there a way to properly hollow out a mesh in maya?
I read some posts on here and found out about the meshLab method, which I'll try as well, but it'd be nice if I can do everything in maya.

Help much appreciated!

These are the models I'm attempting to print btw.

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/4585/3dmetalslug2.jpg
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7006/3dxcalon5.jpg

Hi silentrage,

I am not sure about your file size problem, however for your hollow mesh problem are you creating an opening from your hollow inner section to the 'outside world'? If there is no escape hole your model will still be considered solid which would explain why both models are costing the same.

Hope that helps a bit.

The maximum file size is 64Mb. It says so on the Upload page.

You reached the file size limit ? ô.Ô
Wow...

Hey, what's the actual polygon count for this model ?

Hi silentrage,

For the same model, an STL binary file is always a smaller filesize than an STL ascii file - which did you save in?

You can double zip files too... iirc the largest file I've managed to get uploaded was over 100MB, but double zipped got the filesize size below the maximum... though things might have changed since then.

Paul

Thanks kass, so that's how hollowing out works, that helps me quite a bit! This will no doubt impact the mesh in some ways, but better than paying 100 bucks for a 6 inch figure i think.

one model is 300k tris, the other is 700k tris, like I said I can zip it so they're much much smaller than 65mb but the system seems to be systematically rejecting all my zip files, which is why I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong with them.

stop4stuff
I'm using a simple mel script to export .stl, I figure it must be ascii because the files are stupidly large, but the script doesn't come with an option to save in binary, is there an utility out there that converts ascii to binary?

Far below the limit, so a polygon reduction is neither necessary nor useful.

netfabb can export as binary STL, and it's also useful for checking & repairing the files.

Ok, i know what i did wrong now, I didn't realize stls came in two flavors, I used meshlab to convert the stls to binary and they're about 1/4 the size, which is good enough for now.

Cheers!

Follow up question, is there a way to rename your model once it's been uploaded?

Yep, go to the model page, click edit page (upper right above materials) so that 'on' is displayed, then click on the title (above your model images), change it & hit return.

I decided to look at active threads while I'm waiting for a 980k polygon upload to work its way through the validation system. It would be nice to have a higher polygon/file since the standard output from Solidworks on a detailed model for FUD easily exceeds the 1 million polygon count, and that's nothing compared to standard Z-brush files.

I noticed you can get about a 15x compression if you use a output a binary stl then zip it with winrar.

If that doesn't get you there decimation master in zbrush could help.

Failing THAT, just wait a year and I'm shapeway will most likely have bigger servers and a higher file size limit, or some other online print shop will open that does.

You could follow the workaroud as described on https://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/564-How-To-3D-Print-H igh-Polygon-Models-with-Shapeways.html to get past the 1,000,000 triangle limit.

That info is outdated I think, because i was able to upload a 1.9 million triangle model.

ooo... so I tried it....
1,473,600 triangle model... and...
it was a simple ball, 40mm diameter
?

Oh I'm sorry I TRIED to upload it at 2x subdiv, which is nearly 2 mil, and it failed, so I actually did upload it at 1x subdiv which is 500k tris.
Sorry

no worries, occasionally, unexpected things happen, this time it wasn't to be - hey ho