Does anybody know how to fix this? or even how it occurs?
Unless the hidden geometry is grouped, new geometry that you add in the same location will merge with it. This is normal and expected behavior. The fix is to put the geometry into a group or component before moving on to create more geometry.
What version of SketchUp are you using? Are you still using Windows XP? Please complete and update your forum profile.
Good Morning DaveR
Thank you for the response, I am using Sketchup 2020, w/ Windows 10 Pro
I tried both of your recommendations ( group & component), but no luck .
Please correct your forum profile.
You must be doing something incorrectly. Share the .skp file so we can see your exact setup.
Visible geometry error.skp (782.7 KB)
All of the geometry in this model is in one component which is inside a group.The group is redundant but any new geometry you create outside of the component will not merge with the geometry inside the component. If you are finding that geometry is still merging, you must have opened the component for editing.
Did you create all of this geometry within SketchUp? Or did you start with a CAD file of some sort?
Now that you have grouped everything in your model I cannot make the error happen.
its all sketchup, I attached the model exploded
Thank you again for your help
Visible geometry error exploded.skp (1.4 MB)
So there’s no error in SketchUp. All of the loose geometry is merged. This is the nature of SketchUp. You need to be making groups or components as you go along creating the geometry. If you want the contour lines to be separate from the building outlines, you need to make groups of the geometry as you work. SketchUp has no way of knowing what edges belong to what.
I see that you are giving tags/layers to the edges. tags/layers do not prevent geometry from merging. All edges and faces should be assigned Untagged/Layer 0 and should remain as such. Only groups and components should be given tags/layers. The tags/layers are used to control the visibility of groups and components but again, provide no separation.
As far as fixing this goes, you could go through and select, say, all of the edges for the terrain contours and create a group to contain them. Then give the group a tag so you can turn off its visibility. Repeat for the next sor of geometry, such as the treen outlines. Then do the property boundary edges.
FWIW, it sounds like you would benefit from going through the tutorials at learn.sketchup.com
Thank you for your time & input.
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You’re welcome.
FWIW, I’ve selected the some of the geometry for the house and whatever that outbuilding is and made groups to contain that geometry as an example.
It would be very tedious to go through the entire thing to do this. It might be easier to delete the simpler stuff like buildings, trees, and roads. Then group the contours before going back in and adding those site features and grouping them.