Problem with Layout

JonathanCox · 29 Nov 2011, 22:20

Hi

When I have a drawing which I am sending to LayOut and i am losing some of the colours. They show up just fine in SketchUp but not LayOut. I guess it has something to do with the groups because the two sets of white lines that show are in groups. The others are also in groups, but not working.

Thanks

Jonathan

Gaieus · 30 Nov 2011, 04:53

Are those groups right on top of the surface (face) of the road? I am smelling some Z-fighting here. Could you attach a sample file as well?

JonathanCox · 30 Nov 2011, 09:11

@gaieus said:

Are those groups right on top of the surface (face) of the road? I am smelling some Z-fighting here. Could you attach a sample file as well?

I have uploaded a sample file, as requested.

Original Road Diagram.skp

Thanks

Dave R · 30 Nov 2011, 10:48

Csaba, you're good. That's exactly what it is. If you move the groups up in the Z direction a little bit, this won't happen. And if you switch to Parallel Projection, the height difference won't show.

JonathanCox · 30 Nov 2011, 12:27

@dave r said:

Csaba, you're good. That's exactly what it is. If you move the groups up in the Z direction a little bit, this won't happen. And if you switch to Parallel Projection, the height difference won't show.

Brilliant, thank you very much!

Dave R · 30 Nov 2011, 12:44

FWIW, this is the same issue you posted about with the faces you've drawn over the imported terrain image.

jolran · 30 Nov 2011, 13:16

If it's Z-fighting you are experiencing and you DO NOT want to change the height of the group. You could always get the component or group to glue to the face underneath.

There are several plugins for that. I can recommend 2dboolean . Only caveat is that the group have to lie on a face for this to work. Not another group, then you'll loose the colors.
You could always manage grouping to adjust for that..

I've created the plugin for this kind of usage. SU -> Layout..

In the same forum thread as the plugin, there is an unofficial update(not by me) which have additional features(havent tried it yet). Just mention that, since I fear it's much better than mine.

JonathanCox · 30 Nov 2011, 14:59

Thanks jolran, I will definitely give that a go!

Gaieus · 30 Nov 2011, 15:08

@jolran said:

If it's Z-fighting you are experiencing and you DO NOT want to change the height of the group. You could always get the component or group to glue to the face underneath.

Glue to and cut a hole (it needs to be filled in fully however - so black parts with black, too - otherwise you will really have holes).

Also this will always only work on single faces - so if your road surface is curved, all you can do is to turn hidden geometry on and hope that the gluing component will fully fall on a single facet. Also, you need to apply these components to the loose geometry itself - they won't work on other groups/components.

jolran · 30 Nov 2011, 16:04

Yeah, what you say is correct Gaeius.

My advice goes for "flat" 2d objects only. Which I got the impression by the picture we where talking about.

By "height" I meant position in Z-axis.

You can group a face and a group, no prob.
If the road is a flat face for ex, there is nothing stopping you from grouping it with the symbols. From there you can glue groups/comps to the face.
Either by dragging premade 2d symbols from comp.browser(with glueing behavior) or using a plugin to reglue..