As you use different materials in SU, they get added to the “Colors in Model” palette. You can use “Purge Unused” to get rid of ones that are no longer in use in the model. This is a useful devise for decluttering the palette. However, I am not convinced that all redundant materials are in fact removed. Is this because some could be “hidden” in the drawing somewhere?
If you have entities on Layers that are turned off or hidden, the entities will still be present so their materials will still be in use. Also deleted components are still included in the In Model library. If you neglect to purge unused components before you purge materials, those materials will not be removed.
It’s easier to go to Window>Model Info>Statistics and use the Purge Unused button there. Or, I like to use TIG’s Purge All plugin which not only purges all the unused stuff, it gives a report to tell how many are purged.
Edges, Groups, Components and Hidden Geometry can all have ‘hidden’ colors…
example:
make a group and paint it…
open it for editing, select all geometry and paint it a different color…
Use Purge Unused and you’ll still have 2 colors, even though you can see only one ON the geometry…
Select the group, then in Model Info you can see the groups color, click on it and replace with default color…
Use Purge Unused and it is removed
john
The materials you believe are “hidden” may be in use in certain ways you’re not yet aware of.
• You may have inadvertently applied materials to Edges via Paint Bucket + Shift
Be mindful of which Paint Bucket modifier key you use and what it does
Paint Bucket Tool: Fill Options — SketchUp Help
• You may have inadvertently applied materials to a Group and Component whose constituents were already painted while editing the Group or Component.
Paint Bucket Tool: Groups and Components — SketchUp Help
Keep the Entity Info dialog open as you model.
It will help you learn which entity bears which material.
This is all really useful advice and I am sure collectively answers my query. I wonder if anyone can answer my other post about materials having different opacities in SU and LO? I wanted to show a flat plane of water overlying a site that has contour lines shown. In SU, those above the water plane are dark, those under water greyed out but visible. Exactly what I wanted so I set up a scene to show that. But when I have that scene open in LO, all the contour lines below water disappear, as if the water has become opaque during the transfer from SU to LO. I feel sure I must have a setting wrong somewhere.
Is your LayOut view set to use Vector rendering? Vector rendering doesn’t support raster effects like material textures, shadows, transparency or fancy SketchyEdges line styles.
Anssi
Anssi, you’re a genius! I actually had it as a hybrid but changing to raster made the missing lines reappear. Many thanks!