Hi Sam, hi folks.

@ak-sam said:

Great tip Jean!

I'd like to be able to delete anything that isn't visible in a scene.

If by delete you really want to remove the hidden geometry from the model, try this:

1 - Select all. All the non hidden objects get selected.

2 - Unhide all and also show all hidden layers. All hidden objects appear but are not selected.

3 - Press and hold the SHIFT key to Add/Subtract from the selection.

4 - While still pressing the SHIFT key, do a window select to englobe all the model, including already selected objects. These get unselected while all the rest gets selected.

5 - Delete the selection.

BTW, to show all layers you do not have to click on the visibility check box for each one. There is a trick that seems undocumented. You click on the first layer, then press the SHIFT key and, while pressing it, click on the last layer. All of them will be selected. Then, click on the visibility check box of any hidden layer and it will be shown as well as all others.

Just ideas.

Layer0 is special in terms that raw (ungrouped) geometry being on it will always keep its visibility. In your case (without going into this "speciality"), the solution would be to group that geometry displaying those images and place the group on a separate layer (which now you can hide).

Thanks very much.

I guess it depends on your attitude. I don't see that as a work around.

As for why the top view is as it is, it starts with the standard front view which is the view you get with the default solid red axis running to the right and the solid green running away from the camera. The other standard views including the top view are correctly developed from that view. These are standards that have existed since before SketchUp. Look at any textbook on drafting.

The default axes are located such that the red(X, solid red = positive) and green(Y, solid green = positive) are on the ground plane and solid blue is positive Z. Moving the axes does not change the real X,Y,Z orientation or the orientation of the standard views. It doesn't change the location of the ground plane, either.

In over 10 years I haven't ever found a need to move the model axes but I've seen plenty of cases in which moving them has caused other people grief.

@tiptongrange said:

Nevermind about the last stupid question. After searching through the menus looking for something called 'canc' I realized you meant the delete key.

Right. 😄

And, this runs on iPhone too... scary! I was able to load up a complicated framing model on my 4s last night and spin it around.

XRay mode seems to be a good 'solution' to a problem resulting from trying to get coincident 2d surfaces to behave in a very precise way when by definition they may not be able to: one on top when there is actually no top even if sometimes it seems like there is, or at least that's how it seems to me. But with the X Ray you can see and snap to your drawn lines on the back side of the image. Does drawing in XRay allow you to do what you want to do?