Thanks for the links! I decided to make my own HDR image in the end! I'll upload the results! Anita

Or you can try kml or kmz and another online converter like this http://www.zonums.com/online/kml2shp.php Mike

OK thx I can understand and choose my side(:

Kind of pricey for a plug in though - $395 after the introductory period. That means modo is becoming sort of pricey also - $1495 for a license, $395 for this 'must have' plugin = almost $2000. I think when I bought my first license it was $695.

Lookin good Xavier...

I figured it out. Vector render under sketchup models in layout and explode. Exactly what I was hoping to do.

Fantastic trailer guys.

Paradise Sandbox v1.3 is almost here! Volumetric lighting, huge enhancements in projects management, tons of performance optimizations and lighting improvements... Here is a little sneak peak! [image: 8esr.png] Xavier

Hey Rich, Maybe it's just architectural work, or maybe I just need to delve into how Blender inferences. Snaps work just fine in Blender, but it's a pain to navigate because I'm always having to toggle it on and off if I am drawing. Does Blender follow line extensions and not just xyz coordinates? Any good tutorial reference about this you may be able to point to? I'm mildly curious. (I say mildly, as I am crunched for time as it is, and SU just gets me there damn fast. I hesitate to learn anything new currently.) Andy

@Alex Thx for the infos! Indeed 111 megas is not a little file! It's a little town! So it will a cool thing if the file size was shown somewhere before the loading! Like this users with light config will be advertised!

i messed around with this pumalogo.png and quad face tools.. originally did it with the yellow bricks but then deleted the brick layer in my image editor (i use pixelmator fwiw).. deleting that layer essentially does what i was talking about earlier regarding saving a png as a jpg in order to give a white background.. the neat thing about using this method is that once you get the uv mapped image into your photo editor, you can keep making changes and they update in your sketchup file.. so you only have to flatten it once then reapply and after that, it's really simple to make color adjustments. [image: HuMd_logo1.png] [image: PnHP_logo2.png] (rendered with indigo)

::sprinkles V-Ray on everything::

SketchUp model -> exported obj -> render Fluidray RT 0.9.7 [image: mnIc_10Living03Dn1600.jpg]

@masterpaul said: By bake you mean, that the lightning and colour information is saved inside the model itself? No need for lightup to be turned on? SketchUp doesn't 'know' anything about light sources, so it requires LightUp to draw the results. However, LightUp is integrated into SketchUp - its not exporting to a separate App + Window, it replaces the rendering SU normally performs. See this video about 1 min in showing switching from SU to LU rendering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiZOoxcz1lo

@unknownuser said: We've got over 75,000 registered users now - including companies like Pixar. Well if that is not an endorsement nothing is, congratulations. I will probably get another interior animation project soon and will give Lightup a try, looks like it may indeed be the tool I need.

WOW!!! but at £2499....meh! ($4112!) Although I guess you get what you pay for!

Here are some hints about installing plugins: http://www.thomthom.net/thoughts/2012/01/installing-plugins-for-google-sketchup/ Does this help?

There as a bug in SU8 with SKM files crashing SU with VR1.6-2.0 installed. Are you on SU2013?

@unknownuser said: Nice work guys! I love this software. So fast with amazing results. I do all my rendering with it now. One quick suggestion- add some lights under water in the sidewall of the pool. LumenRT works some magic with water. Thanks! I have been trying every thing I can think of to get my pool to light up. I have lights in the pool in my render that I posted in this thread earlier but the water looks black. If you look, you will see that the lounge chair sitting in the water is illuminated from under the water. I have placed point lights in multiple locations inside the pool, I have also place directional lights with not much luck. I have sent this backyard model to the guys at LumenRT and with no real response. I have tried creating the water with a flat surface and as a solid block. I have used the LumenRT "pool water" and the standard SU "pool water." I'm sure I am missing something simple along the way. Do you have any ideas?

A better example of how powerful is the new volumetric lighting system, two SU-27 flying at low altitude: (rendered in real-time!) [image: bo5z.png] [image: j3bc.png]