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Question by eelstork · Jul 29, 2014 at 08:26 AM · performanceimportblender

Tips to speed up blender import?

Importing from blender can slow down a lot with certain files. I'm working with a 2012 Mac Air and I have just measured the time it takes to import one of our animated models:

  • 12K tris

  • 70 bones

  • 18 objects attached to the armature

  • 4 animations (maybe 100~250 keyframes)

The model takes over 5 minutes to (re)import. The model is not very optimised because it is not finished.

I'm trying to pinpoint the factors that can cause the importer to slow down so much, hoping that somebody out there might provide useful tips.

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Answer by JohnnySunshine · Jul 29, 2014 at 09:03 AM

I'm not exactly sure about this, but I think Unity will convert your .BLEND file into an .FBX internally, and only then will it import the mesh. (It works like this with .MAX files and it is implied for Blender here too)

You could try exporting your mesh as an .FBX file instead and see if it works faster.

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avatar image eelstork · Jul 29, 2014 at 01:00 PM 0
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I remember putting a lot of work into fixing workflows that involve manual export / conversions as this (to me) feels like dragging a boulder. Even so it may be be possible to export to FBX separately (and automatically!). So if the Blender => FBX conversion is really the lagging part in here (sluggish py script?) there may be some good in this approach... ...assu$$anonymous$$g that somebody can find (or write!?) a faster Blender to FBX export method(!) Interesting idea then, but fixing it this way sounds very time consu$$anonymous$$g : )

avatar image JohnnySunshine · Jul 29, 2014 at 02:26 PM 0
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I think it's slow because it will silently run Blender in the background every time you import a .BLENDER file, so if you export it as an .FBX file, you'll save the time of starting Blender (my guess is that it will start a separate process even if you're running it in the foreground). So it's not the actual export that's slow, but the starting of a new Blender instance.

avatar image eelstork · Jul 31, 2014 at 07:21 AM 0
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@JohnnySunshine - I am seeing several $$anonymous$$utes overhead importing a single file. In contrast starting blender in GUI mode takes 3-4 seconds, a lot faster in console mode.

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Answer by eelstork · Jul 29, 2014 at 01:13 PM

I have done a bit of testing using both animated models (original case) and static geometry.

My findings:

  • There is a significant overhead per object. Merge objects if possible.

  • Collapse modifier stacks.

  • Avoid multiple objects using same armature.

  • Avoid large models.

  • Shared meshes in Blender may not result in speedier import.

Keeping in mind that import overheads only apply when data is changed/re-saved.

Still looking for good tips, will up-vote anything helpful.

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