This is driving me absolutely nuts. As I’ve said before, I am using SU Pro 2026 for work and using it every day for about 5 months now. Whenever I create a ‘box’ for example, that I am trying to make into a piece of equipment, and I try to make “things” inside the box, I was having an issue where anything touching the inside faces, also shows up on the outside face which I didn’t want. Google said I should make each thing separately, make as a group or component, and then put the two together. Sounds obvious now. However, now I have a box where I’ve put the details inside. And I have a separate back panel that has a couple of fan grates, usb and power ports etc. I make the panel a group, and then I make the box with everything inside a group. But when I try to move the back panel onto the box, I still can’t get it to work - there’s still z-fighting going on the outside or the inside, and I’ve tried it several different ways and each time, something crazy will happen, like colors will change, faces will disappear…usually it’s just the z-fighting but I don’t understand if I have 2 separate groups that I’m just putting together, why do I keep having these issues? Shouldn’t 2 separate groups prevent z-fighting? Any advice appreciated. Again, I’d prefer not to show the model because my boss doesn’t like us putting our work on the internet 
No. If the groups are at the same plane or very near each other, bleedthrough will happen.
so how do you prevent that? For example suppose I want to make an oven (which i dont). But it’s basically a box. And on the inside I want to put a couple of shelves and a lightbulb and on the top I want to put some burners and on the back I want a fan grate and power cord etc. How do I put in any of those things without bleeding into the others?
The most common way of dealing with these things is to create scenes for the different views you need of the model, and use tags or the hide command to turn off the insides that you don’t want to bleed through your thin membtranes.
I think you may have a different definition of “box” and “panel” than what is used in Sketchup in the 3D model.
For example, if you draw a rectangle, it consists of an infinitely thin face and the bounding edges. You have to give it a thickness to make it a panel.
Similarly, a box, the faces that make up a box, are not just simple planes, but they also have to have a thickness. That way you can’t “see” through the “back” side.
Ok so I guess my definitions are different regarding `boxes. So is there an answer to my question about how to get around it? It looks like there’s a box under your picture that looks like a link to learn.trimble.com, but it says loading and isn’t changing - not sure if that’s from you or just a trimble ad.
So you are saying a “panel” will get rid of my issue (it will also screw up my dimensions but I guess I can fix that with ‘s’)?
Things in the real world have thickness.
Build things like you would in the real world… and depending on the scale of what you are building and what distance you are viewing from (where the camera is in 3d space) you may eliminate the Z fighting. But it is inherent limitation of modeling in 3d - in my modeling I have to be thoughtful about trusses and framing members showing through my exterior views - so I make use of tags to hide the visibility of things I don’t need to see when I’m looking at exterior elevations or 3d views.
You should learn to do the same.
Thanks but what my company shows to customers is the complete view of all the models. If it can’t do something this basic - I consider this a major flaw…you don’t? I’ve tried every possible combination using groups (one of the two grouped, none grouped, both grouped) and none of them get rid of the z-fighting.
And although I appreciate @dezmo explanation of terminology, I’ve also made a back ‘panel’ and that still doesn’t keep things separate. If there really is no solution or workaround for this I would have to recommend to my boss to use something else (unless they all have the same issue, but I doubt solid modeling doesn’t).?
I just can believe it’s so limited that I can’t put 2 faces/panels together without one bleeding into the other…And I’m the only one who considers this a major problem? I’m not sure I believe that!
Please post a model so we can see what and how you are modeling.
If you had the actual object in front of you do your clients have X-ray glasses to see inside? How do they know what is inside the box?
Learn to use Tags and Scenes, and you can cut sections to show the inside, or turn off sides of the box so they can get a look.
I show most of the entire house too… here is a snippet from a recent set of framing drawings. Zoomed way out you see the studs showing through the 5/8" thick OSB sheathing.
Zoomed in you don’t see it.
It is a combination of the style you are using (edges, profiles, etc.) as well as the viewing distance.
Here is a view of a house I’m currently detailing. This is the framing schematics for the main floor.
Far away you can see the floor framing bleeding through.
Up close the 3/4" Advantech blocks the joists from bleeding through.
When I show the house from the exterior I do not show the framing…
This is not limited to SketchUp so rethink before you tell your boss to use something else..
The solution has been given to you a few times allready, use tags and turn them on or off, depending on your view and camera distance.
What exactly do you mean by this? If you show the front of “the oven”, they can’t see the fan grate on the back. So you could turn it off for that view.. and so on..
Please share your model , and explain your problem with screenshots.
We would model say a couple hundred objects in the floor of a building. So what we show the customer is the whole view as if we were doing a walkthrough. So you might walk past both the front and then the back of the same object (oops let me turn of this tag…and that tag…wait let me turn on this tag, and turn that one off…wait…)
I finally figured out (well I didn’t really figure anything out) but got it to work. Two of the fan grates in the back face had been pulled or pushed in or out and even though they seem to have been put back in place they were somehow causing the z-fighting. I took them off and then pulled out the pieces of the grate that were distorting and pulled them out like .1” and then the fighting stopped. Now everything is finally together. But I still don’t understand why and when it happens. But the problem was more the way these fan grates were first assembled that cause the problem.
You really should learn about scenes, especially for walk throughs. It is going to blow your mind.
So operator error.
Now you learned something about modeling in SketchUp.
Please go do the basics at the SketchUp campus and pay attention to Tags and Scenes. It will make your walk throughs very easy to manage with a client sitting in front of your (or over a video call).
Thanks Mike, but it’s not a graphics issue and if its a user problem, well, that’s what I originally asked - how do I not have this happen because it happens almost every time I try to make a model. So far no one has told me anything to solve the ‘why’, just a lot of criticisms about whether or not it’s my ‘fault’ or ‘error’. This forum apparently isn’t great for help, but pretty good for critiques.
It has nothing to do with tags or scenes. And again, if I’m doing it wrong that’s fine - that’s what I’ve been asking over and over. Telling me it’s user error is lovely, but it tells me nothing about how to avoid it. In my opinion if I make an ‘oven’ and my boss want’s to see, I should be able to show her the entire oven, front and back, without showing pieces at a time and stopping to turn things on or off. You guys may be used to doing it that way, and have learned to live with it, and maybe I would to if I could get a decent explanation. But it also doesn’t make it non-flawed in an important way for my use.
Your oven pic is nice - what I’m talking about is that if put a shelf in the oven by using the rectangle tool from one corner of the oven to the opposite, it makes the shelf, but it also makes the shelf ‘line’ on the outside of both side faces and the back face. I’ve been watching these videos for months now and haven’t seen any that talk about what you do on one side of a face affecting the other side. Like I said, it seems most of you are doing architectural type drawings - maybe that’s part of the difference.
I just showed you a model of an oven that you can spin around and see the entirety of. It has a lot of stuff ‘in the box’.
Next time please post a model with your question, or if it is too large and complicated post a portion of it.
Part of the problem with the forum is that you are describing something one way and we might be interpreting it in another way. Modeling architecture or electrical sub panels still means to model in the best way possible.
If you model precisely and accurately you should be able I avoid issues like you describe. But if your surfaces have very thin thickness (sheet metal) you may run into issues. Especially if things are off the smallest amount.
And please: you are not understanding my insistence to learn about Tags and Scenes. Good modeling requires control of visibility - if nothing else so that you can model accurately. Having a bunch of ■■■■ in the way while you are trying to model fine details is a hinderance.
It is a bonus that you can control visibility with tags and scenes for presentations.
I have modeled softgoods (backpack sized objects) with internal compartments and pockets and all the rest and not run into the problems you describe.
You are not understanding - that oven has shelves and other stuff inside of it. Please look closely at the XRay view.
In the real world ovens do not have shelves that magically cut through the inside and outside of the oven like you describe drawing a rectangle for a shelf. Oven walls have thickness. Try to model like you would build it in real life - closet shelves aren’t built from the outside face of the doors - they are built within the closet - because doors have thickness (as do walls and floors and the enclosures for ovens and electronics).
Yeah well please go look at a real box with a shelf in it. In 3d modeling software a surface has infinite thinness. Like the thinnest tracing paper you can imagine. You have to give it thickness.
This is what you are doing:
This is what you need to be doing - the outer ‘box’ has thickness, and it is a component. The inner shelf also has thickness, but it fits inside, and is also a component. And if I were making this for production it might even be smaller for assembly tolerances.
