# How to fix uneven surface that comes from manually added line?

**URL:** <https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790>\
**Category:** Pro\
**Tags:** sketchup, hole, curves, smooth, soften\
**Created:** [October 6, 2017, 10:33am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790 "2017-10-06T10:33:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 10:33am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/1 "2017-10-06T10:33:55Z")

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This is my third time ask questions here, well, I did tried, I tried a few projects, doing work like trim a curved surfaces. It feels good when start, but with the repair area more and more, draw more lines connect to another drawn lines

Finally, the curved part looks terrible. not smooth at all

So I want to hear some advices,  
When you modifying or fixing a surface, such as grinding a part of it or insert other thing in the middle  
What I always do is put in another shape as cut tool or I just want insert another shape, then click intersect faces

Boom! it becomes messy, fix these broken faces or unexpected curve take me a lot time to do it, and besides the result isn’t good

1. Is this a common practice? Is there another different way to do it?

I was wondering build a exactly same curved surface, so doing fixing work by use that, but it seems a bit difficult, especially some curved surfaces are tortuous.

Here is a example I am looking for way to fix it:

 ![aa](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/b/5/b5e302f7b39d8abd914de805a703ce32fdc43f3a.png)  
 ![bb](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/2/9/29576737d5763d8f2f0fc29984669fa51e49ac82.png)  
 ![cc](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/5/b/5b69ca7639d66999492d689a8784edff9ca25f34.png)

The top of the box that crossed the line is what I added, there used to have a groove there, so I want fill that up. Very obvious there is only one line inside the box below, and doesn’t even have line in box of left side

This is what looks like after I try to fix it with soften and smooth function from entity Info, This is not flat, isn’t it?

 ![d](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/7/5/759546916d5d2092c7b7f716130aae259349586a.png)

I tried this shape, which is little better, but still uneven, can never looks smooth as below box, and i cannot remove any line anymore

 ![ee](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/4/3/439ecb347309b6bc5d44898f96d517487f1d79dc.png)

if I spend a lot to fix every faces that before and after, what i do is remove every curved lines, curved faces, reconnect them. this is not work for complex circle, and may cause continuous problems

 ![gg](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/2/b/2b7cd79da96315edb3b2a6853989eedbeb0660f2.png)

1. Is there a tool or trick help to doing this kind work?

2. When i import an STL model into SketchUp, produced a lot of holes on the surface of the model, most of them aren’t bad holes (for describe hole which cannot make a surface unless add extra angle), they are good holes (for describe hole which already have correct edge and angle, just need a snap with “Line” tool, don’t need add any extra lines), is there a quick way to do it? its over thousands

example pic:  
 ![oo](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/f/4/f48831eff321db8e1687edf31c779ee0b1594db6.png)

Love you guys, and grateful for any answering, its very precious for me who work alone, i am not always taking help, i have little bit open source projects, and I like help others too if my knowledge is enough

I am working on SketchUp Pro 2017, Macos

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**Author:** ![john\_drivenupthewall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@john\_drivenupthewall](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/john_drivenupthewall)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/2 "2017-10-06T16:30:25Z")

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> [@cocoatouchg](#):
>
> When i import an STL model into SketchUp, produced a lot of hol

set the import units to meters to avoid small holes on import…

fix the remaining holes, if any, before modifying the design…

john

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**Author:** ![john\_mcclenahan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/john_mcclenahan/32/135377_2.png) [@john\_mcclenahan](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/john_mcclenahan)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/3 "2017-10-06T23:51:43Z")

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And to keep the geometry of different parts from tangling together, read the Help articles on using Components, Groups and Layers.

[Creating a Basic Component | SketchUp Help](https://help.sketchup.com/en/article/3000124) on creating Basic Components

[Grouping Geometry | SketchUp Help](https://help.sketchup.com/en/article/3000120) on Grouping geometry

[Controlling Visibility with Tags | SketchUp Help](https://help.sketchup.com/en/article/3000122) on using Layers

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**Author:** ![MikeWayzovski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/mikewayzovski/32/98346_2.png) [@MikeWayzovski](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/MikeWayzovski)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 8:22am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/4 "2017-10-07T08:22:00Z")

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> [@cocoatouchg](#):
>
> When i import an STL model into SketchUp

why would you do that? Can it not be drawn directly in SketchUp?

> [@cocoatouchg](#):
>
> What I always do is put in another shape as cut tool or I just want insert another shape, then click intersect faces

I would first try to move vertices with hidden geometry set o visible in View menu, with nothing selected, move tool active and holding the auto fold key (CMD for Mac, Alt for Windows) before intersecting and adding more lines:

 ![Vertices](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/e/9/e9fc45ae424ae79ba14f6c1bdb76056e0edd04fa.gif)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:19am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/5 "2017-10-09T09:19:29Z")

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Thanks for left comment, this trick did help!  
but I shrink it, even unit is meter from imports, the hole still will appear, sketchUp is not very friendly with small things

My solution now is use meter as universal unit in Sketchup, magnified 1000 times, so I can still use the same digits, eg. 10.07mm → 10.07m  
And before put it to slicer software (For 3D printing), I will shrink it to normal size by using Blender, perfect, no hole left

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**Author:** ![spawn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/spawn/32/37792_2.png) [@spawn](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/spawn)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:23am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/6 "2017-10-09T09:23:20Z")

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Hi @cocoatouchg

Glad to hear to fixed it.  
You maybe find **[Dave Method](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/the-dave-method/49720)** useful.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/7 "2017-10-09T09:25:05Z")

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Never try this before, will it damage the shape? seems hard to control  
but looks amazing, I will start trying use this trick, Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:34am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/8 "2017-10-09T09:34:04Z")

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Thanks for mentioned, its useful!  
but I have a question, how to make those edits in the giant one reflected in the original?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spawn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/spawn/32/37792_2.png) [@spawn](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/spawn)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:36am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/9 "2017-10-09T09:36:40Z")

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When you create a component all changes you make in one of them will take effect to the rest.

That’s why you can make it a component, create a copy, scale the copy, make changes on the copy resized and then the original one (the smaller) will be affected, this way you can delete the copy resized that you used temporaly and the component will be still there with the new changes.

Components live forever meanwhile you don’t delete them from your component library or you don’t use the purge unused option (if the component is not placed on your viewport)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:40am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/10 "2017-10-09T09:40:40Z")

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I see, I always use Group instead Component  
Thanks for answering

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**Author:** ![spawn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/spawn/32/37792_2.png) [@spawn](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/spawn)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 9:49am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/11 "2017-10-09T09:49:00Z")

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@cocoatouchg

You maybe find useful reading the little explanation about components and groups @john_mcclenahan shares here:

> [@Draw new items without affecting existing geometry](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/draw-new-items-without-affecting-existing-geometry/52584/4):
>
> And generally, use components instead of groups. As DaveR has said himself, groups are only a special form of component, with one small advantage, and two bigger drawbacks. The small advantage (for some) is that they don’t appear in the Component Browser. The drawbacks are that editing a copy of a group doesn’t change any other copies, whereas editing one copy (‘instance’) of a component changes all the copies. And if you delete a group from the model, it’s gone. If you delete a compo…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 11:12am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/12 "2017-10-09T11:12:05Z")

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> [@MikeWayzovski](#):
>
> move vertices

OMG, “move vertices” is most useful trick I learned so far, I just did what I think its impossible for me to do it before  
Its make a edge smooth of a complex shape, because this shape connect to a complex object, and so many issues prevent me to solid it, even finally I make it solid, “Solid tool” make more problems

The reason is always rooted in the wrong angle, and then I have to add a lot of side to make a face, but I do not want to do that… I deleted this side intends to re-establish the entire edge, and then modify this edge affect other edges… I have been considering how to use other shape to cut it, however after two solid object intersect, its always changed some faces or edges to the way I don’t want, and even generate horrible angle problem

Thanks a decillion! U are my life saver!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 11:15am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/13 "2017-10-09T11:15:43Z")

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I will read it later, Thanks!

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**Author:** ![TheOnlyAaron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/theonlyaaron/32/9436_2.png) [@TheOnlyAaron](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/TheOnlyAaron)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/14 "2017-10-09T22:51:10Z")

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When importing a STL file, I usually start by running [CleanUp3](https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/cleanup%C2%B3) on it. This will merge those triangulated as much as possible, giving you some nice cleans surfaces to work with.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cocoatouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@cocoatouchg](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/cocoatouchg)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/15 "2017-10-10T07:00:00Z")

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Yes, agreed, i am already using CleanUp3 like you do, it is a nice plugin  
thanks!

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/f/2/f2a121500b085ed60806607a82720b092d800bb3.png) [@system](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-fix-uneven-surface-that-comes-from-manually-added-line/52790/16 "2018-01-09T23:00:03Z")

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Closed on January 9, 2018, 11:00pm UTC

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