Count your Polygons!

If you have a project that you find particularly slow to navigate or work in 3D this may be due to the model having a large number of polygons.

Polygons are the 2D shapes that are pieced together to form a 3D model… and there can be a LOT of them in a model.  A simple straight wall has 6 polygons… inside, outside, top, bottom, end one and end two.  Now think how many polygons are in a curved window for a few mullions, transoms and stone cill!  And now multiply this across a whole building… quite quickly, the numbers add up!

Fortunately, Graphisoft provide a handy polygon counting tool that can display the number of polygons in a model… it even breaks them down in to element types such as doors, windows, slabs, walls etc.  The Polycount Tool, and other Goodies, are available after selecting your localised ArchiCAD 18 version here:  http://www.graphisoft.com/downloads/goodies/index.html

There is also an archive available for older versions and instructions are included with the download link.