The Display Settings dialog box controls how your SketchUp model is rendered. This dialog box contains items pertaining to edge and face style and color. Activate the Display Settings dialog box from the Window menu.
SketchUp contains a variety of face rendering styles allowing you to manipulate the amount of material and textures displayed on the screen.
Click on the Wireframe face rendering style button to display the model as a collection of lines. Faces are not displayed in Wireframe mode.
Note - You cannot use face modification tools, such
as the Push/Pull Tool,
on a wireframe
rendered model.
Click on the Hidden Line button to display faces in the model without any shading or textures.
Tip - Use this face rendering style when creating black
and white printouts which you might want to modify further with traditional
media, or which you might use as an underlay for hand drawings.
Click on the Monochrome button to display the model as an assembly of edges and faces, just as with the Hidden Line face rendering style. However, Monochrome mode provides default shading and is useful for shadow studies whereby you turn the face front and face back to white and then display shadows.
Click on the Shaded button to display faces in the model as shaded to reflect a light source. Any color that had been applied to a face will be displayed. Remember that both sides of faces can have different colors. The default colors (as specified in the Color panel of the Model Info dialog box) are displayed when no color has been applied to a face.
Click on the Shaded with Textures button to display the faces in model with the texture images that have been applied to a face.
Tip - Textures can slow down SketchUp's performance.
Use other face rendering styles, such as the Shaded face renderings style,
when performance slows dramatically. Switch back to the Shaded with Textures
face rendering mode to create your final output.
Click on the X-Ray button to display all faces in SketchUp with a global transparency. This option allows you to see through the model's faces and edit edges behind faces and can be combined with any of the above face rendering styles.
You can easily visualize, select, and snap to points and edges that would otherwise be hidden behind faces when modeling with X-ray mode. Remember, however, that it is not possible to select and infer faces that would otherwise be hidden.
Faces can not cast Shadows when using X-ray mode. Shadow display will default to ground plane shadows only when X-ray mode is enabled. X-ray mode is different than material transparency.
SketchUp contains a variety of edge rendering styles allowing you to manipulate the edge appearance on the screen.
Tip - Models with perfectly straight digitally drawn
lines are often perceived to be in a finished state. Edge Rendering Styles
are useful in conveying that a model is still in conceptual state and,
therefore, is open for feedback.
Click the Edges checkbox to activate the display of edges in your model. The following images shows a series of cubes without and then with edges.
Click the Profiles checkbox to emphasize the outlines or profiles of major shapes in your model. This style is particularly useful in ensuring the 3D nature of geometry is emphasized and borrows from a proven traditional media drawing technique. Enter a thickness, in pixels, for the profile lines in the pixels field. The following image shows a series of cubes with edges and profile edges.
Click the Depth Cue checkbox to emphasize the lines of geometry in the foreground over the lines of geometry in the background. The following image shows a series of cubes with edges and depth que edges on. Notice that the foreground edges on each cube get progressively thinner from front to back and top to bottom. Enter a thickness, in pixels, for the depth cue lines in the pixels field. This thickness determines the thickness of the forward-most lines (such as for the bottom middle cube in the following image) of your model.
Click the Extension checkbox to extend each line slightly past its endpoint, giving your model hand-drawn sketched appearance. This edge rendering style does not affect inference behavior. Enter a length, in pixels, for the extension lines in the pixels field. The following image shows a series of cubes with edges and extension edges.
Click the Endpoints checkbox to place additional line thickness at the endpoints of lines. Enter a length, in pixels, for the length of the emphasized endpoints in the pixels field. The following image shows a series of cubes with edges and endpoints edges.
Click the Jitter checkbox to render each line multiple times at a slight offset, giving your model hand-drawn sketched appearance. This edge rendering style does not affect inference behavior. The following image shows a series of cubes with edges and jitter edges.
Tip
- Experiment with combinations of edge renderings to see how they
appeal to you.
SketchUp also allows you to manipulate the edge color on the screen.
Note - Edge Colors are only available when using Shaded
and Shaded with Textures Face Rendering Styles. Inference
alignments to edges are not available when edges are hidden.
Select the All Same drop-down list item to display all edges using the Edges color as defined in the Colors panel of the Model Info dialog box. This option does not actually change any edge color assignments you may have made, but preserves them if you choose to view them again.
Select the By Material drop-down list item to display edges using an assigned material color. The following image contains edges painted with a grey material.
Select the By Axis drop-down list item to display edges in colors corresponding to the color of the Drawing Axes to which they are parallel. This option is helpful in determining when edges are not aligned to an axis. The following image has lines colored red, green, and blue corresponding to the axes to which they are aligned.
The Display Settings dialog box contains additional rendering options affecting the rendering of your model.
Click on the Use Sun for shading checkbox to shade the faces of your model based on the position of the sun. SketchUp uses standard shading that follows the camera when Use Sun for Shading is not enabled.
Click on the Enable transparency checkbox to enable or disable global material transparency.
The Quality options allow you to select the quality of transparency display between faster, medium, and nicer. Each option differs in its speed and quality of transparency sorting. The Faster display sacrifices sorting accuracy to provide a faster rendering update rate. Conversely, the Nicer display performs additional calculations to correctly sort transparent surfaces.
Because SketchUp's transparency system is designed for real-time feedback and display, it may sometimes display transparent faces in an unrealistic way: Faces may appear as if they were in front of other surfaces when they are really behind, and vice-versa.
Click on the arrow in the upper-right portion of the Display Settings dialog box to show or hide additional Entity Info details.