How to hide ONLY the lines in a component?

SketchUp
1

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image1919×1056 461 KB

As you can see, in this photo there are very detailed plant components with a lot of lines.

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image1919×1056 726 KB
However, when I zoom out, only the lines show, and I cannot see the green of the leaves as much.
Is there any way to hide all of the lines at once in that component without having to hide each line one by one?
Thank you for reading my question :slightly_smiling_face:

2

Open the component for editing, select the edges and choose Hide from the Edit menu.

3

As well as that, View/edge styles/profiles off.

4

How do I select only the edges in the component? When I try selecting, it selects the faces as well.

5

You can click on and select only the edges or you could use an extension like Thom Thom’s Selection Toys from the Extension Warehouse to select only the edges. Or you could hold Shift and the left mouse button while wiping over the edges with the Eraser tool.

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6

I had no idea this was possible, thank you!

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7

Select Wire Frame Mode. This shows only the edges.

Select All.

Hide.

Select the mode that you had selected before selecting Wire Frame mode.

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8

Whoa this method was very quick and efficient, thanks!!

9

useful, thank you for your help

10

Fredo’s ‘Hide All Edges’ extension has worked particularly well for me in the past: Hide All Edges | SketchUcation. The nice thing is that you can unhide them as well in case you need to.

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11

That’s a very good point that should be pointed out.
Many people hide edges all over the place which can make working with a model problematic. Best to soften/smooth as needed and turn off the display of edges. Only actually hide edges when you understand what you are doing and why.

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12

If you want to unhide all hidden edges:

  • Select Wireframe mode (you may see nothing if all edges were hidden);
  • Go to Menu View → Hidden geometry (hidden edges shall appear as dashed lines);
  • Select all;
  • Unhide
  • Go back to the previous mode.
13

Yes Jean that works within the current context, but my warning was about what can happen when it is used extensively.
Here is a very basic example showing what I mean.
Hide

I was reminded of how problematic this can be with a recent tram model beautifully made with lots of groups all with the edges hidden. Very complex to unhide them all.

14

You can use styles and then scenes. Notice that I hid edges as well as profiles in one scene.

See attached SU file.

Edges visibility control with groups.skp (109.0 KB)

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15

Yes there are ways but…

16

Hiding all of the edges seems to be a common problem with components from the 3D Warehouse. Another one of those things that frequently has to be fixed to make the components useful.

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