Dimension lines over faces

[jhulen]

I have SketchUp Pro 2018. It is a pretty basic model made up of components. The components have holes in them and and I would like the dimensions to show the center line of the holes. In one component (actually only a group), it works intuitively. In the other group, the dimension lines show on the face, just the way on want it until I close the group. Then the dimension lines only appear outside of the edges of the group, and not on the face of the group. I can see no difference in settings, and I cannot seem to change the behavior or the dimensions. I would appreciate any help you can provide.

[DaveR]

Can you share the SKP file so we can see what you have and help without guessing?

[jhulen]

Yes. Here you go.Pump Bracket shelf Component.skp (73.9 KB)

Let me know if you want to see the one that works as well.

[DaveR]

Which ones don’t look right to you?

[jhulen]

These look right, and that is what I want to see. I’m not sure if it maters but I have a Mac. On my Mac, when I close the component, all lines on the surface disappear except the Diameter dimensions. The same thing happens when I export to LayOut.

[DaveR]

Cut the dimensions from the group and paste them outside. Or better, just do the dimensioning in LayOut.

[jhulen]

I will give that a try. This is what I see.

[DaveR]

That might be related to your graphics card.

Here is a quick dimension example in LO.

[jhulen]

I will try it in LO. When I try in Pro, I cannot select the centers of the hoes, and when I try to add guidelines outside the component, they don’t show on the faces.

[DaveR]

@jhulen

When I try in Pro, I cannot select the centers of the hoes,

You can’t put diameter in if the group is closed but you can place the dimension and then cut it from inside and paste in place outside the group. Better to just use LO.

@jhulen

when I try to add guidelines outside the component, they don’t show on the faces.

When I opened your file you had guides turned off. Maybe that’s why your guides don’t show.

[McGordon]

As I zoom in and out, some of the guidelines sometimes disappear and reappear, like z-fighting as the dimension line has the same z-coord as your top face. If I hide that face and zoom in and out the dimension lines are always visible.

[DaveR]

Typical graphics card thing.

[jhulen]

Interesting. I got it to work like the other component. I tried zooming in and out, and I did not change it, even though I have seen that behaviour before. But then I changed the view back to perspective, and played around with Pan and orbit, and the dimension lines on the surface came back. I was able to switch it back to top view, and they stayed.

When I tried to import it into LO, the dimension lines seemed to disappear, but it may be something else. I was able to save my now-working version as a copy in Pro, and that imported into LO just fine.

Thanks for your help.

[DaveR]

Graphics card.