Clipping Plane Extension Survey

Greetings SketchUp Community,

I am posting this with permission from the SketchUp staff (thank you Aaron and Chris).
I am researching the need for an extension that provides a work around for Clipping Plane issues.
If you would not mind, this survey will take 1 minute to complete.
Thanks for the responses.

Daniel Tal

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done

and yes please, but no subscription stuff, else Iā€™d have to give it a miss

Thank you!
And agree NO subscription. One time purchase. Not sure how that works with future SU releases but I would like to just provide those who purchase it the free upgrade for future SU releases.

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I donā€™t mind upgrading extensions (if and when I choose), when there is a need for it (as in major point release) and the price is right, but bug fixes and minor improvements should be approached in a goodwill manner.

Plus I trust your integrity, Iā€™ve bought two of your books in the past.

The survey didnā€™t provide a way to give my answer accurately, so Iā€™ll write it here. I occasionally encounter clipping plane issues in parallel projection. But since I normally work in perspective projection, shifting to parallel only for limited kinds of documentation views, and also because I know how to fix it when it happens, clipping is not a big issue for me. On the other hand, based on the number of queries here on the forum it clearly is a problem for others, so more power to you!

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Oh lord. Clipping Plane is the bane of my SketchUp existence. And itā€™s random and worse when working with imported models from other software. There are models no matter what I try, canā€™t fix the issue. About 20% to 30% of my modeling projects. Shows every so often in Lumion too but that is not often.

this is not an extension, its a bug in SU.
Trimble hat to have have fix it.

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@Daniel_Tal does this mean youā€™ve found a viable alternative to Cormacā€™s reverse (or was that for the shadow bug)?

As a windows user, I already have a fix that I can use in case the regular solutions do not work. (such as, keep geometry close to origin, stuff like that). Admittedly itā€™s kind of hacky, but itā€™s quite easy too.
Hereā€™s what I do:

Open the ruby console.
Type Sketchup.send_action 10624 and hit Enter.
On windows this will open the camera parameters window. On Mac it doesnā€™t.
In the camera parameters window, thereā€™s a ā€˜forceā€™ checkbox for the near and far clipping planes.
Check the checkbox and input any value you need for the near plane. When youā€™re done with the tiny edit, uncheck the box again so that performance is not hindered for the rest of the SketchUp session.

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Iā€™d like an ā€œI Donā€™t knowā€ answer for price. Totally depends on what the extension does.

In parallel projection it would be easy to just move back the camera outside the bounds of the active drawing context while otherwise retaining the same view. In perspective view with a physically large model I donā€™t know how an extension could solve it, except for possibly workflow-intrusive solutions such as splitting up the model and reference smaller parts.

I have not found a solution to it just a work around.

I do this method as well. But when the problem shows up I end up having to do this all the time. Itā€™s slow going. The extension is as much for my work flow and day to day operations.

I am using a third part set of code / app to assist with making this work. It will require the input of a short cut or key stroke to do it but will be quick and work when zoomed in and out regardless of the model size. And note, I am not a coder (wish I was) but hired a developer to work on the project. I design the UX / UI and operations.

Right now, I split up the model, copy and paste in place into another model or whatever else that might work. I have run into one model that I could not get the clipping plane fixed at all and had to rebuilt portions of it.

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I absolutely agree. This is a problem with the SketchUp software that the SketchUp team should deal with.

I agree that it should not be something that you would need to pay a 3rd party for. Instead, have Trimble pay Daniel and hand them the code thank you :wink:

the clipping plane isnā€™t a bug, itā€™s an part of openGL that renders the viewā€¦

it has pre-defined design parameters for ā€˜nearā€™ and ā€˜farā€™ set pointsā€¦

SU sets the ā€˜nearā€™ which allows us to zoom through walls when modelling, an incredibly useful ā€˜featureā€™ā€¦

clipping plane issues are primarily induced when both extreme level of detail and large distances are present in the modelā€¦

importers from cad often introduce the issue, particularly if the files where not pre-optimised for SU concept of component originā€¦

orphaned ā€˜textā€™ was a ā€˜bugā€™ that could cause the discrepancy, but it has now been addressedā€¦

aside from imports, ā€˜picnic bugsā€™ are a common cause for clipping plane issuesā€¦

unless an extension targets both the ā€˜importersā€™ short comings and the users modelling practices then it would need to clearly state which it is addressingā€¦

doing both in a single extension is arguably impossibleā€¦

john

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LOL. I do not disagree :blush:

John
Point well made. We will test it against both types of issues. I have several Revit models that are good examples. For AutoCAD drawings I never preserve the drawing origin. For models with nested components / groups with the axis off, it better work!

But I think the solution we have might fix both.
Though have to use third party code to do it. Part of the issue around cost.

Thanks
Daniel

should be normal to be part of the normal sketchup application :slight_smile:

because fore real this is no plugin or feature to be added but an error, guysā€¦ i mean honestlyā€¦ but nevertheless, if someone can fix it im willing to payā€¦ below 10 bucks for a lifetime thing is ok !

greetings

The clipping planes issue is definitely a bug. Just because there is a technical explanation why it happens doesnā€™t stop it from being a bug. Other modeling software Iā€™ve tried allows you to keep zooming closer and closer to an object seemingly infinitely. I donā€™t know if it is because they have a different data type with better precision holding coordinates or if they set the near plane in a smarter way.

Even moderately sized models like a building on a plot can make it impossible to zoom into details in furniture and the like, so itā€™s not limited to extreme models.

Regarding going through walls you can use Orbit to move the camera sideways through a face or use section planes or temporarily hide entities. Also, in the case of a physically small model where you donā€™t experience clipping issues it is quite tedious to keep zooming into a face until you finally get through it. It doesnā€™t appear to be an intended behavior for getting inside the model. That said, if the clipping is fixed Zoom could have a modifier key to use the second closest face to the camera as ā€œpivotā€ rather than the closest one, to allow you to easily go through walls regardless of the physical size of the model.

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