How do you get a low poly exterior from a high poly model? I imported an obj model of a truck made by someone else in a different 3D program but it is outrageously huge; it exceeds 2 GB and none of the vertices are connected together so I can't use the 'L' key in edit mode to select connected vertices. I also tried using decimate and limited dissolve but both of them made the object unrecognizable and weird. Is there any way to just get the exterior of the truck (without using decimate/limited dissolve) without remaking it entirely? The other person made the file using Catia so I'm not sure how the export settings for that program would work. I tried manually removing and combining the vertices in edit mode, but it almost always crashes my program since it lags a lot.
i had models like that too before i was able to create my own projects... here's how i made most of them usable...
to connect the vertices, simply select the coplete object in edit mode. then hit OBJECT/VERTICES/REMOVE DOUBLE.
to reduce the size (# of vertices), switch to OBJECT MODE, go to MODIFIERS and select DECIMATE. there choose for UNSUBDIVIDE if the model is created mainly in quads. change the ITERATIONS value until the model still looks acceptable and hit APPLY.
if the model is created in tri's, choose for COLLAPSE and change the RATIO value (in OBJECT MODE) until the model still looks acceptable and hit APPLY.
hope this helps