"Delete Me"

If a complex model is encapsulated with a simple solid such as a cylinder or cube and then saved, the resulting file is usually much smaller. If the model is also saved as a wireframe, this also helps create a smaller file. The purpose is to prepare the file for e-mailing or archiving to save media space.
The extra feature is the last one in the tree and must be either deleted or supressed in order to see the model. Gary
Erika Layne wrote:

I call it "putting the model in a box" for shipment. Check the file size, then delete the box, shade, save and check the file size again.

Why does it make the file smaller?

Solidworks has a very complex file format. Part of this format is Parasolid geometry data, a display list, and the "recipe" or the instructions for building the part.
The display list and Parasolid data are the two largest parts of the file. When you extrude a cube over a complex part, these two items are simplified, resulting in a smaller file. The rest of the part still exists in the form of instructions. When you delete the cube, SW executes these instructions and rebuilds the original geometry
All Solidworks really needs are the instructions, and these are very small (byte wise) in relation to the others.
Mark

This is all very interesting! Can someone please explain exactly how to create the box around the assembly. Is this like going to the center plane creating a big square and then extruding in both directions? Has anyone developed a macro for such a task?
Thanks,
Ed

With some parts the graphics info (render mesh) consumes more memory than either or, possibly, both combined (a torus might be a good example?). If SW saves this with the file (faster retrieval) ...

Ecosqueeze does the same thing regarding file size, but without having the 'delete me' feature. When you extrude the box you are replacing a complciated display list with six planar faces - ecosqueeze just rips out the entire thing. You can strip out whatever you want - the parasolid, the display list (it can also delete the preview image, but that is usually really small so I leave it be).
Still free after all these years at Ecocom.com
Ed
(caveat - SWx reserves the right to redo its code at any time, so there is a chance that using ecosqueeze could really mess something up. SWx urges us not to use any compression/defrag utilties, However, I've used it likely thousands of times and never lost a byte of data)

Ed,
This method doesn't work on assemblies, only parts. An assembly is nothing more than a display list with pointers that reference individual part files.
As someone else pointed out, Ecosqueeze will do the same thing on a single part, a whole directory, or even a whole hard drive. Use at own risk
Mark
instructions

Well, it's actually a spatial phenomenon, known too and practiced by SW users, as a dimensionally existential metaphor related to the diversion of bloatware file transfer.
.. 8^)

So would "Delete Body" work the same way? I assume it would.

Hey Parel,
Nope! Just tried it and the Delete Body was almost twice as big. Before someone asks, the one file wasn't exactly twice the size, I opened and closed the models a few times to make sure that the Windows doubling thing wasn't affecting my results.
Muggs

That is just one of the many ways to make SW files smaller for transfer. There are others, in no particular order or guarantee of effectiveness:
- move the part/assembly off the screen and save - change to HLR wirefreame mode - decrease image quality settings - turn off setting to save tesselation data - decrease the size of the SW window - just do a save as with a different file name - enclosing in a rectangular solid is better than a cylindrical solid because there are fewer triangles to display for the flat surface than the curved surface - ecosqueeze or unfrag - configurations cause massive file size issues, deleting configs and sending a design table separately to recreate the configs can help huge configured files. - working rolled back can also cause immense file sizes because SW is saving body (parasolid) data for each rollback state. not sure how to purge this data, maybe the save as trick does it or ecosqueeze
I would only use these methods on parts that are being transfered via FTP or otherwise across the internet - I wouldn't do anything to remove previews from files being accessed regularly or archived files. Most of these techniques remove the preview data from the file, which can be annoying. Archive drives are cheap - I just got a 300 Gb internal drive for $90.
One of the new functions in SW07 which hasn't gotten much attention so far is the fact that it automatically creates a preview which is independent of the orientation or position the file was last saved in. That means some of the techniques above won't work for SW07 files. It seems like it changes to an isometric view, does a zoom to fit, and captures a preview image.

The thing with Delete Body is that it is a history based delete (the Delete Body feature is actually in the FeatureManager), so the body has to exist before the feature, and it can't be deleted from the actual file.