About Z-fighting Effect

Z-fighting (also known as "stitching") effect is a totally independent visual effect and combines one or more objects on a single one, thus giving a pattern looking like stitches.

Two objects displayed approximately at the same location in 3D can be mixed depending on the viewpoint and the distance from the eye: this is due to the Z depth precision.

When two triangles with two different colors are displayed at the same location in 3D, the two colors are mixed. This is what we call Z-fighting which is due to the 3D OpenGL renderer:

Stitching Examples



But when the two triangles have the same vertices, only one color is displayed since it is exactly the same triangle which is displayed twice. The color of the last triangle displayed prevails over the rest.

For instance, let's suppose two superimposed faces, a blue one and a red one:

  • when the red surface is in the Show space, only the red color is visible
  • when the red surface is in the No Show space, the blue color is visible.

Warning: When working in HRD mode, a Z-fighting effect might occur which could result in an incorrect display: depending on the zoom, outlines might disappear.

Z-fighting may be reduced by activating the Flickering reduction option.