I’m using sketchup 2017. Contours that are not defined by a line show up invisible in the sketchy edges type style. Also objects that are a bit further away lose a lot of detail. Any way to bypass this problem and control the level of detail?
There are a couple of things you can do. One is to weld the contours. Eneroth Auto Weld from the Extension Warehouse is perfect for that because it’ll weld them in one step. Another one is to choose (or make) styles that include the shortest strokes available. When I create sketchy styles I make strokes for all of the different lengths available. Not all styles available are made that way, though.
Pre-weld:
Post Auto Weld:
FWIW, the reason for the few gaps in the contours in the second one is the style I selected has gaps in some of the strokes.
Also, you have probably already edited the style to suit you needs but just in case: There is some level of detail adjustment available while editing the style. This wont solve all the issues you raised but may bring back some of the disappearing lines you experienced. Open the style you are using by clicking edit in the styles pane, the first edit page controls edges, you will find the slider for detail there, you can also play with profiles and depth cue, your edits are reflected in real time. Once done don’t forget to update the style by clicking the style button in the upper left corner that should have a round set of arrows on it now. This will save the edited style in your “in model” collection.
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@endlessfix’s suggestion is good, too. Adjust the slider for max detail.
This slider moves in steps based on the number of strokes. It won’t add short strokes if they don’t already exist, though.
In the style I used, there are strokes from 16 to 1024 long.
As a comparison, the Fine Liner style that comes with SketchUp only has a few stroke lengths.
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Thanks your suggestions. I see that the auto weld extension is not free so I’ll probably not bother with that one. I’m confused what you mean with the second option though. How can I see the length of the stroke and how do I create custom sketchy edges?
Looking at the style they way I showed requires Style Builder which is a Pro only feature. Probably the easiest way for you to figure out the number of strokes in the style would be to count the number of steps in the Level of Detail slider. Another way would be to find the .style file, rename it to .zip and then open it and count the number of stroke png images in the Ref folder.
I guess you are just a hobbyist with SketchUp so you probably aren’t so worried about saving time. You can select runs of edges individually and use either Weld from the Extension Warehouse or TIG-Weld from Sketchucation.
Auto-Weld has the added benefit of automatically welding edges that would be exploded during operations like Follow Me.