Sketchup orgin?

Gaieus

It's a good tip to check model extents (turn on hidden geometry under the View menu and all layers first).

Another thing may be that though now you have the geometry at the origin, when importing several cad files, SU imports them as groups (or components? - I cannot remember now). However the bounding box of these groups may sill be huge - because their component origin is far from the geometry (this is how it's inserted so far from the origin) - and that will also cause clipping. Try to select one and see if the bounding box exceeds the geometry too much.

If you explode such a group (and group the still selected geometry), it can fix it. OR: have a look at this plugin: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30508

pmolson

Gaieus,Mac 1,Daver
Thanks for chiming in,
*I work in perspective
*I remembered the trick about zooming extents from an old post and had done that but not with hidden geometry on. I will do that.

I open each imported cad file by double clicking on it, then select what I want from it, make that selection a group, cut it, and then close the original imported cad group and delete it. I then paste the portion that I had cut back in to model space. I think that eliminates the possibility of an errand piece of geometry floating around out in the boonies.

Daver

@dave r said:

Don't quit yet. We're almost there.
*(I was already out the door when you wrote this )

If you hit Zoom Extents and things get smaller instead of bigger, start hunting for the orphaned geometry. I do this by dragging a right to left selection window around what looks like empty space. then I hit delete and Zoom Extents to see if I've made any changes.
*Had already done this, but thanks just the same

As a final alternative, since it is Friday afternoon, you could just go home and start your weekend.

I work at home on Thursdays and Fridays so the weekend was already here for me.

Mac1

I will try the hidden wire frame idea.

@mac1 said:

To move model to the origin make an absolute move. Select model and move tool at target point on model and then enter in the vcb [0,0,0].
**** This is exactly what I want to do!

Now the assertion. The world axis, that is the one you cannot move, is related to the WGS 84(85?) datum(x,y) you have set ,which Boulder Colorado is the default, unless you have changed that in your template. I have searched but could find no info on this. Anyone know for sure.?

The world axis does not effect clipping though...correct? Mine is set by template to my region, Minneapolis. When importing Google earth grab, that resets the world axis to the grab for that particular model if I am not mistaken.

I guess I should clarify just how much clipping I am experiencing to put things in perspective.
Normally in my years of modeling homes I have been able to zoom and orbit my self as if I was sticking my head up into a soffit from the back side of a fascia and fiddle with something as small as a screw or nail, seeing intersection of lines clearly. On these last couple models I am experiencing the clipping issue I would say out 2 feet from where I want to get.
So it is not as if it is clipping from a far distance, but it is interfering with my normal attention to detail.

I will now go back to the drawing board and see what develops from all your alls input.

Thanks

pmolson

Ok, I have gone through all the suggestions and my model is located where it should be and there is no hidden or floating geometry. I thing this model may just be big enough that it is clipping just a bit more than normal.

It is by no means stopping me from functioning, just more of an annoyance.

Have a look at the overview shots of "zoom extents"

In your opinion is this model & site large enough to cause a little extra clipping?

Anyway, thank you all for your help & some very good info.to file away for future reference.

Paul

Dave R

Paul,

What happens if you hide the plan drawing and the elevation images? Can you then zoom in on details on the house without clipping?

Rich O Brien

This is a long shot...

Can you Zoom to extents for both the perspective and parallel views.

If find that if you zoom in close in perspective and then change to paralell the clipping will occur.

Zoom out both to reset them can fix it.

Krisidious

that site plan is big enough to cause clipping if you're working in 1/8 units and snapping. save the land as another sketchup file and put your house in that file as a component and work on the house component separately.

to be more clear...
make the whole house and elevations a component in this model.

then right click on the component and hit save as.

save the house component in your project file folder... name it "house" or something.

now save the model that your working in as site.

now close the model and open the "house" model.

work on the house component alone and clipping should be minimal.

when you're ready to see the new house on the land, open the site plan model and right click on the component and chose reload and browse to the "house" component.

pmolson

@dave r said:

Paul,

What happens if you hide the plan drawing and the elevation images? Can you then zoom in on details on the house without clipping?

Dave, I work with the images turned off and use them mostly for reference and it matters not if they are turned on or off as for clipping.
(By the way, I have been trying to make it to a Minnesota users group meeting since it began and I am still planning on doing so. Hope to shake your hand & say hi in the not too distant future.)

Krisidius,
I did try earlier isolating the building itself in a separate file and the clipping remains the same.
I do like your description of how to handle buildings separate from site though and will use that method on another project in which I have 10 buildings spread out on a very large site.

Rich, no such luck.

p

Krisidious

Really? damnit...

Ok I have one more solution...

some component in the model has an extremely small scale. like a lamp or a chair is extremely over detailed. do you have any furniture yet?

Chris Fullmer

I think (I have not completely verified this) but you might have a component whose axis is waaaay off the origin of the model, and that could also make the model act poorly. Maybe someone already suggested that, but I didn't see it as I skimmed through this thread.

Krisidious

Yes... I like what Chris has there. make sure to turn on component axises...

pmolson

I just got done typing a very long winded, highly detailed and stunningly interesting response to your further input with results of testing each of your suggestions complete with photos...I took a quick preview..and crash! I lost the site and my post.

So shorter version.
I did find a distant axis related to three reference planes I had in the model (see image below)
thar she blows.PNG

Clipping improved maybe just a bit when I removed those planes. Not night & day though.

Component testing:
I do not have any furniture or other highly detailed components in the model, but decided to start testing by removing groups and components that I know I have not used before and that had been scaled.

Test area image:

my test area.PNG

Clipping with site image in:

close up.PNG

Clipping with site image removed:

yes!.PNG

That site image seems to be the culprit. It was originally an image when I first imported it and I exploded it, grouped it, and scaled it way down to match the model size.

Site image:
with site.PNG

I will now get my site work done and get this problem maker out of my model. I don't know if it is just the size of the site image or the fact that I scaled it way down or...

You guys have been great to keep digging at this thing.

Thank you!

Paul

Dave R

Paul, we seem to be getting closer to solving this. I'd have loved to have read your "highly detailed and stunningly interesting response."

I would suggest that when you import your site image you either leave it as an image or, if there's a compelling reason to have it as a component/group in your model, that you correct its size prior to componentizing/grouping. This will help you avoid potential size issues. If you do group first, open the group and scale the geometry and the texture.

Out of curiosity, is there a reason for converting the image to a texture in a group?

Now, on to your trim example. Suppose you either turn off layers for or otherwise hide stuff that you don't need to see while you work on that detail? Can you then zoom in close to the detail and avoid the clipping?

I'd love to get to the meeting again and shake your hand, too, Paul. It would be nice to meet considering we aren't really that far apart.

pmolson

Dave, The reason I explode images and regroup them is that I have found in the past that images of the size of a 1:1 site plan seem to cause sluggishness in models...at least I think that's why I do it. To be honest, I have been doing it that way long enough that I have forgotten exactly why I started doing it in the first place. Creature of habit I guess.

I think what I will do in the future is to import and resize the site image in a separate drawing and leave it as an image and then import it into its final resting place. That is what I do with cad files and it seems to keep things tidy.

The turning off of the site image layer and other large groups like the google terrain etc. made no difference in the clipping. Only erasing completely the site image group made a difference.

Thanks for your time, see you sometime in the not too distant future.

Paul

Dave R

Paul, I wonder if leaving the image as an image instead of making it a group with a material on it would eliminate the problem.

Maybe we'll have to hook up sometime other than the meeting. We could meet in Lake City and go for a sail or something.

Cheers,

Dave

mac1

3d apps have clipping planes to reduce the rendering load on the CPU and/or GPU. There are 6 of these( top/bottom/ left/ right and front/back). In some cases there is occlusion culling also( back of buildings etc)The following are some of the question that come to mind( In the form of statements):
The field of view is important and should be set at about 25 degs. (per Su) but changing that could help your issue;
Minimization of rendering load should help per Daves suggestion above. However, my self question is: Is the clipping plane adaptive and changes if I turn layers on/ off or does one have to restart the program?;
Who sets the clipping planes, SU or the Graphics card, and does it change if hardware acceleration is on or off?
Given parts of the model are not displayed behind the section plane can that be used to help this problem;
For large model extents the use of scenes can be used to help this problem also;
Any use of materials the have reflective like properties can also cause problems. All model work should be done in the monochrome rendering mode if you are running into this problem. Display materials only when necessary.
In face styles turn enable transparency off. This affected my frames per second significantly when I ran some speed test ,but my PC is long in the tooth;
Avoid the use of back edges style.
If I have repeated some of the posted intents above please accept my apologies!

mac1

@pmolson said:

Gaieus,Mac 1,Daver

The world axis does not effect clipping though...correct? Mine is set by template to my region, Minneapolis. When importing Google earth grab, that resets the world axis to the grab for that particular model if I am not mistaken.
Thanks

Correct. The WGS dataum does not curve fit some location good and they use a different datum. If you use their x,y data for your model in GE then location can be off meters.
For example WGS 0 meridian does not run through Greenwich.

mac1

If you want to see where the clipping planes are set, open model then consul and enter Sketchup.send_action 10624 ref http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=44076

Jean Lemire

Hi folks.

Unless my knowledge of English is not complete, after all French is my native language, there are 2 "i" in or****i****gin.

Thanks and best regards.

Just ideas.

Krisidious

Depends on what part of the Untied States you live in... We often like to remove letters from words. We also like to combine words. Y'all

mac1

"Why worry about the speck in your brothers eye when you have a log in yours"? As I have often been told.