Why am I still seeing lines when I click soften edges and all boxes are ticked? I want the vertical cylinder to be completely smooth without seeing any lines at all and I can’t figure out a solution to this.
Is there a plugin I can use that will smoothen the cylinder without seeing these lines, I’ve used soften edges before to remove lines before that left the surface of a cylinder completely smooth but this time its not working and I have no idea why.
CYLINDER.skp (60.0 KB)
It works for me.
Exactly what are you doing to try to soften the edges?
I clicked on windows and selected soften edges.
What do you call this, it looks like invisible lines, is there a tool I can select that will remove these invisible lines?
You’re seeing the faces that make up the cylinders. You can reduce their appearance by hiding edges at the junction of the two cylinders. You could also reduce the appearance of them by using more sides for each circle when you original draw them. It also helps if the vertical edges and the horizontal edges intersect. They don’t, though.
How will you be using the model? That can help inform how you should be modeling this.
A larger number of sides for each circle. I also made both cylinders with the same diameter although I see your vertical one is slightly larger.
And with the vertical cylinder the same as yours.
Hi Dave, the diameter of the vertical cylinder must be slightly larger than the horizontal cylinder, how do I make both cylinders as smooth as the ones in the 2nd image to the right?
Do I increase the sides count number and hide edges at the junction of the two cylinders to achieve this?
If I can’t smoothen the cylinders, could you send the file sketchup file in the 2nd drawing please.
I used a larger number of sides when I drew the circles so the angle between faces isn’t so great.
Again, how are you using the model once you have it completed?
By using model, do you mean what will the model be used to produce?
If that’s the case, then I am trying to make a valve body.
How much did you increase the sides to?
Dave wants to know what you will do with the model - 3d print? Produce 2d drawings for manufacture? Use it for rendering? Etc.
And also explain how much “slightly larger” you mean.
For rendering purpose you can get away with almost any number of segments.
For 3D printing you need to be aware that vertical edges and horizontal edges may (after 'Face Intersection" is applied) produce vertices too close on the 3D curve, causing them to merge.
Then you need to figure out different number of segments for the horizontal and the vertical tubes to begin with.
I meant greater diameter which is 16.20mm compared to the horizontal cylinder which is 16.00mm
It is for rendering only, no 3D printing involved.
I just want to be able to merge and intersect these cylinders together smoothly without any of the faces that Dave mentioned from showing which makes the drawing look unneat to me.
I’ve tried everything to make the cylinders look exactly like Dave’s with no avail. If any one could provide steps, that would be great.
What are you rendering in?
C
Change number of sides… really depends on how small the part is - my circle is 12" radius with 120 sides. This is far too much detail than I ever use.
Enter Radius
Push Pull
Make Component
Rotate 90º
C
Enter Radius
Push Pull
Make Component
Solid Tools Split - if no solid tools then you need to edit each component ‘Intersect Faces’ and clean up by hand.
I don’t remember 2017, that was a long time ago, but when I draw a circle in 2025 the edges are not showing, they are automatically smooth.
I guess @bmike and @Wo3Dan have you sorted out. I used 96 sides but as was poitned, for rendering you don’t need that many. It’s overkill for that.
Is your rendering of just this valve or is it a small part of the overall model? That will also impact how many edges you need. How will the rendering be used, too?
Hi Dave, I’ve tried @bmike and @Wo3Dan suggestions but they didn’t work for me and after a lot of frustration, I was able to create smooth vertical & horizontal cylinders but I had to increase sides of the circle to 100, increase the diameters from 16.00mm and 16.20mm to 202.50mm and 200mm, intersect faces with selection then decrease the scale of the cylinders to 0.2, save the file and exit then go back in to decrease the scale to 0.4 go get the required diameters.
That a ton of unneeded work but if you got there in the end I guess any other workflow suggestions are moot at this point.
I know but when I do these steps, I don’t get these issues which would happen if I select intersect with selection if the cylinders were 16.20mm and 16.00mm diameter.
Would you know why intersecting then decreasing the scale gets a better result?
You are creating a bunch of edges which are shorter than SketchUp’s tolerances. The short edges get deleted upon creation which leaves holes in the surfaces. SketchUp will allow those short edges and tiny faces to exist when the model is scaled down.
You didn’t answer my question about how the valve is going to be used in the rendering.
