eliminate lines in 3d

[Dave Brach]

how do I eliminate all the lines between elements in 3d? there are lines everywhere: between two walls, between roofs and walls, between slabs and walls etc. What purpose do they serve? I find myself using the orbit tool because the lines go away when orbiting. How do I get the model to look like that all the time?

[NCornia]

Dave,

Check to see if the walls and slabs are overlapping each other or "colliding." That can cause contours to appear. So if you select each element individually does it appear that the body overlaps with another solid body? This is solved by reshaping and repositioning elements so that the edge of an element meets perfectly with the edge of another element. If they are the same Surface (17) or Material (16 and below) then they will clean up. I am not 100% sure if that is what is happening but that is the first thing I would check.

The quick and dirty way to get the lines to go away: View>3D View Options>3D Window Settings... and set Contours: Off.

Best regards,

[James B]

Another thing you should try is in the 3D Window Settings as mentioned, you should check that 3D contours are set to "Best" and not "Draft".

[alemanda]

My experience is that sometime "draft" option produces a better result.
Some "strange" lines don't appear in "draft" mode.
For example when you draw some very thin cladding (5mm or less), in "best" mode you see what is behid the cladding, in "draft" mode you don't see that ... What does it depend on? On the graphic card? On some registry key settings?

[Dave Brach]

Thank you!-- setting the contours to "off" was exactly what I was missing.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Although the contours off option solves your display problem, I would check the model for accuracy because I think if those Walls and Slabs are correctly modelled, intersecting correctly, Slab corners above Wall corners, then you would not see any of those problematic line in 3D even with contours ON.
Sometimes you will have to zoom in very close to see that a Wall corner is just slightly off the Slab corner etc.

[Dave Brach]

I have double and triple checked the accuracy and the lines are always showing up if contours are "on". In this case, it is the vertical lines between walls of different heights, and the horizontal line between the top of walls and a roof--no slabs.