Hello, can someone help please ?
I am exporting a model to PDF format via the file menu > Export > 2d graphic
however when I view the PDF some of the faces are not shown making the walls look transparent. It should be solid.
That wall material is a thin gauge steel with a solid wall behind.
I have attached a jpeg.
Many thanks
Are you exporting the PDF from SketchUp or from LayOut?
Can you share the SketchUp file so we can see exactly how you have it set up?
Thanks Dave,
I am exporting directly from sketch up.
I have attached the file.
Warehouse.skp (12.5 MB)
Looks to me as if this is an arfifact from having the camera set to Parallel Projection. It goes away with a perspective view.
Warehouse.pdf (3.3 MB)
Is there value in having the sheet metal modeled as geometry? The model would be easier to make and would look better using textures instead of all that geometry for the metal. The edges on the internal side of the metal will bleed through and as distance from the camera increases all the edges start to merge into nothing but black.
The export leaves the thinnest faces from the corrugated metal unrendered, almost if there was a treshold to their size. It all renders normally if I zoom in nearer to the model. As @DaveR notes, it doesn’t happen in Perspective.
Further investigation. If you turn off all the edges and profiles in the style and then send to LayOut and export the PDF, you won’t get the bleed-through of the edges. This is a screen grab of the PDF from LayOut.
I also note loads of incorrect tag usage in the SketchUp file.
Thank you very much for your feedback. Really helpful.
It still does not work with your suggestion Dave about switch off the edges, Face. I tried on another computer as well, not as apparent but still shows the profile sheeting missing faces.
I wounder if I give the profile sheeting depth ? The sheeting is actually meant to be a composite panel but I wanted to save time so only moved the sheeting away from the wall to represent a panel.
It does not make sense because it is showing the return wall on the other side but there is a solid wall I formed to give me the initial size of the building. So it is also going seeing through that.
Dave I see what you mean about the all the edges start to merge into black. You say about using textures. So technically the faces would be flat ? How does one go about creating a texture to match the sheet metal profile ?
Purge yes I understand, but what is this incorrect tag usage? What does that mean ?
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
It worked for me which implies the difference is the our graphics cards.
It already has depth but Perhaps if you can mit a lot more and hide the panel on the unseen side of the building.
It’s bleed through which is common due to limitations in the graphics drivers/cards. Most often we see this kind of think with trusses bleeding through roofs.
Yes. You can likely find an image from the manufacturer’s site or from any number of texture image sources. Here’s the first page I found in a Google search: Metal Siding Texture. Download the image and import it as a texture into the model. Keep in mind the texture doesn’t have to match identically. As long as it is close. I just used one of the textures from that link to replace just the siding on the end wall.
I notice that you’ve modeled lots of small details such as gutters and end trim. (notice you can see that bleed-through where the gutter supports cross over the edge of the roof panel in this screen shot. as well as at the corner of the trim and gutter.
Who is this model for? Is it to show the client? Do you really need to spend the time putting in the details like those? The client probably doesn’t care about how the gutter is attached to the building.
If you have to show that kind of detail to someone, you could probably get away with a separate model showing about as much as in my previous screenshot. You wouldn’t have to create that detail for the entire building.
In SketchUp Untagged should be left active at all times. The pencil icon in the Tags panel should be left at Untagged. ALL edges and faces should be created and remain untagged in the model. You give tags only to groups and components which the edges and faces stay untagged.
If you give tags to the geometry you have to be constantly chasing the active tag as you are working or you create issues with parts of some objects disappearing unexpectedly when you turn off the tags for other objects. If you just leave Untagged active at all times and leave all geometry untagged, you don’t even need to have the Tags panel open while editing your model.
[quote=“alanm1, post:9, topic:300284, full:true”]
Thanks Dave for that detailed reply, it makes perfect sense.
In relation to level of detail, yes I agree with what your saying. It was just for a client visualisation, but I wanted to test what I could do with sketch up. I am hoping that with that level of detail I can then extract from the model and produce standard details of how the junctions are formed for our site installers.
That’s great to know on the tagged items, I did not know that. And yes what you mentioned about turning off tags and stuff disappearing happened to me!
How did you bring up them dialog boxes up for purge and tag geometry ?
In relation to the original question about loss of faces, I tried on my better spec pc and it still happened, although not as bad. Is there a min spec graphics card which is preferred?
I have now solved the issue by removing the small bends between the peaks of the sheeting. Making it more of simply shape. This is probably something I will have to consider with other projects going forward.
I really appreciate your help on this 
Many thanks
You can put in a ton of detail. If you want to see lots of detail look at the images at the link in my profile. I regularly make highly detailed models. Having said that, though, I wouldn’t put those details into models similar to your shed.
You should be able to do that with typical details of small areas as I suggested. In fact I would suggest those details aren’t much different if at all from shed to shed. You could create those detail views and keep them as “canned” details you add into your LayOut file. They views could be used in a scrapbook in LayOut so you just drag them into the documentation when you need it.
I used a couple of plugins. Default Tag Geometry quickly goes through the entire model and removes the tags from the edges and faces and then gives the report. For purging I used Purge All because it gives the report I showed. You can get both of them from Sketchucation.
In general avoid integrate Intel GPUs (as your profile suggests you are using). Historically nVidia GTX-series graphics cards have been best but even with the highest spec graphics card you’ll find similar limitations regarding bleed through of edges when the relative distance between the edges and the faces betweent them and the camera is almost zero.
I mentioned rafters bleeding through the surface of the roof in models. This is a common issue for some users. The solution in that case is to tag the rafters/trusses separately from the roof “panels” and then turn off the tag for the trusses when needed. Unfortunately in your model you can’t really turn off the reverse side of the siding to show only the outside faces. And when you get the camera positioned at an angle to the siding, some of the edges in the valleys on the outside will bleed though the faces in front. Using a flat texture avoids all of that.
You’re welcome.
