Z Fighting

[gteacher]

I had a Plan that had tremendous Z-Fighting in perspective view. So much so, that it was almost not viewable.

I had to raise "clip surfaces" to 300" to eliminate the problem -- about twice the max recommended.

I am wondering if there is any downside to just leaving the setting of 300" as the default for all plans?

[Joe Carrick]

Gerry,

I don't think so. I have mine set at 400 and have seen no detrimental effects. It think it's hardware dependent so it just depends on what works for you.

[gteacher]

Thanks for the confirmation. My video card isn't that great, So I think I'll just leave as is.

[Tommy Blair]

How far off is your model from absolute 0",0"?

[Doug Park]

The downside is if you need to see things closer than 300" from your camera.

The basic idea with the Z buffer is that the scene is sliced into very thin segments starting at the front clipping plane and ending at the back clipping plane. The number of slices is fixed so if two surfaces happen to hit in the same slice you get Z fighting.

By moving the front clipping plane further away from the camera the slices are thinner reducing the probability of two surfaces being in the same slice.

[gteacher]

Hmmm

I haven' t seen any burring when I zoom in close to pick up detail of stone veneer?
The 0.0 point is at the starting corner of the lot about 100' from house.

Looking at some of my other plans-- seems OK at 300"?

[Doug Park]

There are two ways to zoom.

1) Move the camera closer.
2) Use the zoom tools.

Moving the camera changes the front clipping plane, much the same as in real life if you walk closer to a subject to take the picture.

The zoom tools just make everything bigger, much the same as blowing up and cropping a picture but also increases the resolution. The front clipping plane won't change in this case.