How to layer these items

Hi All- I’m using SU pro with a mac and sending this screen shot to illustrate my problem. I have put most elements of a porch addition in layers so i can turn them on and off. The long element in the screenshot is a piece of trim I’m having trouble finding in the outliner when I highlight it, and it’s connected to the window and that errant line. When I select it and right click I don’t see an explode command, nor to I find it in outliner. How do I go about separating these elements so I can group them separately and get them in layers? Thanks!

carr porch full.~~.skp (922.0 KB)

There’s a couple issues with your model. First, you are using layers incorrectly. You have faces and edges on layers other than Layer 0. For example, all of the selected geometry in this screen shot is scattered over a variety of layers. It should all be on Layer 0.

Your screen shot didn’t upload so I don’t know which piece of trim you are talking about. Outliner only displays components and groups so if the geometry is ungrouped, it won’t show.

You also have a lot of reversed faces (the purple ones) which should be corrected.

I studied SU during the winter and am trying to do adjustments to this before building it and after a couple months I’m realizing how much there is to learn. It looks like you were able to manipulate the outliner from my screenshot? Is there a way to upload the whole file? If I turn on all the layers would you have the entire file? Thanks for your time.

You uploaded the SketchUp file. Actually a back up of a backup as indicated by the two tildes in the file name. I can turn on the layers in your file just fine. You don’t need to upload it again.

I didn’t really get into the Outliner (and it’s not a screenshot that you posted) I see ungrouped geometry in your model and parts that probably ought to be grouped separately that aren’t such as the fascia boards.

I’m kind of curious about how you modeled these things because you’ve got group axes running all different directions.

I still have no idea what piece of trim you were referring to in your first post.

Tildes. Yes. Never knew that. I’ve been working on this file for days and have added so much I consider it the final draft. Having difficulty with file management. At this point it’s building season and I have limited desk time, so I’m trying to clean this model up enough to work with it. The piece of trim is the yellow highlighted superfascia of the inner beam trim that shows up running perpendicular to the house. When I highlight it, all those other elements (window, roof and wall lines, and those crazy nonsensical lines ) light up together. I’d like to be able to separate that trim piece, group it with the other beam trim, and turn it off and then get a layout view of the porch deck framing. I reversed the face of the house gable wall and it turned tan. When I try that with other faces that appear blue, I get no similar reaction- they remain blue (or purple).

Cleaning this model up will take time. It’s unfortunate but it looks like you let this one get away from you. Not uncommon for new users who dive in the deep end right away.

Who needs to use the information you are trying to present in the model? How will it be used?

The one my cursor is point at?

If that’s it, you’ve create it and the one that runs up the end of the porch roof as one lump of geometry. You can select the geometry for one piece of the trim and group it and then group the other to separate them.

To correct the face orientation you need to open the groups for editing.

I see it. It’s a group called inner beam superfascia. Open the group and with an end-on view carefully select the parts of the board, using left to right window selection (or bit by bit or however is easiest for you). Group it and “cut”. exit the larger group and paste-in-place. You might correct the front / back faces on the fascia. Then figure out what to do with the rest of the pieces in that original group, which mostly looks like parts of the house.

I got an “explode” option with it, just fine BTW.

In response to Daves question the end user is me, than goodness. I’m confident about the dimensions at least… Thanks for all the feedback- I had to be away, I’ll dive back in and see what I can do.

Thanks to all for being so diplomatic. I realize I have a bit of a mess on my hands. I feel like I’m a slow learner with this program but I’m committed… I created this model after completing Sketchup U Sketchup Fundamentals. I wanted to work with something I plan to be building so it would be more meaningful to me.I’d like to invest the time cleaning up the model for educational purposes. I did a lit of messing around with it since last posting and so I’d like to start my questions with the model I’m attaching now and use it from now forward. I think it might be simplest to go in baby steps and I’d like to start with layering. I thought I had drawn everything in layer 0, created groups and or components, then assigned them to layers through Entity Info so I could toggle them off for visibility. How are you looking at the model and seeing that geometry is scattered among layers, as in Dave’s screen shot above? Can someone give me a hint about how to start cleaning up the layers in this model? Thankscarr porch full clean up.~ copy.skp|attachment (910.5 KB)

You may have done that but if you exploded any groups or components that had layer associations other than Layer 0, the entities that were in the “explodee” will take on the “explodee’s” layer.

Look at Entity Info. When you select something, its layer association will be indicated there. If the selection has entities on more than one layer, the layer window will be blank.

To fix the model you can open groups and components using a triple click with Select to open AND select all of the connected geometry. Then change the layer assignment to Layer 0 in Entity Info. Alternatively, TIG has an extension called Default Layer Geometry that can put geometry back on Layer 0. It’s available from Sketchucation.

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I’m really stumped here. I’d prefer to do this manually so I understand what’s going on. So I triple click everything in the model and change the layer to 0 in entity info. Then I lose the ability to toggle the groups on and off? Then the next move would be to group geometry I want to toggle off and on together and assign it to a layer in Entity info? Would that be the logical sequence in cleaning up this model? Thanks

As before, ALL geometry (edges and faces) should be created on and left on Layer 0. Make groups or components of geometry that forms discreet parts. A spindle or rail for the porch railing, for example. Or a deck plank or stair stringer. Create layers as appropriate for the entities you want to show or hide. Maybe in your case there’s a layer for the stairs and the stringers, treads, and risers would be assigned to that Stair layer. Another layer for the joists, a third for the decking, a fourth for the railing, and so on. Then only the components and groups get assigned to those layers. And although you are assigning other layers to the groups and components, the geometry inside of those groups and components remains on Layer 0.

I don’t know if it will help, but: groups and components are for controlling structure; layers are for controlling visibility.