awesome. learn something new every day...

@unknownuser said: Thanks for the input! I'm still a bit confused, why is kerkythea free, and what makes all other render programs worth what they sell for? Kerkythea was born from enthusiasm and with active community it did grow in a point when entering into the commercial arena was only feasible option for further development. Even with a new born Thea Render, Kerkythea did stay free and is still been developed (but in slow cycles). @unknownuser said: Oh: don't choose a renderer over another because it does displacement. It's a nice feature and all, but it's terribly slow -in any app. And as Gai says, displaced grass doesn't look good. Indeed! For grass I'd use instancing or/and post pro. I rarely seen good enough grass made with displacement (specially when comparing the added render time). Gravel, pavement, stone walls, water... those are good targets for displacement. @pbacot said: And can the same be said of Thea? Like said before, Thea can import kerkythea xml (be it created by Twilight or Kerkythea). Material systems are different, although some similarities can be find. Thea does a KT material conversion with some heuristics, so little fine-tuning may be in need in case of complex materials. Exporting materials/models from Thea to Kerkythea is not possible. Before jumping to test Thea, it's good to watch overview tutorials.

There is a "thea_path.txt" file in: "C:\Program Files\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins\TheaExporter_files\thea_path.txt" This file has to be deleted. When you start SU again you will be asked to select thea.exe from Thea's folder. On Win7 the "thea_path.txt" might be located in: "C:\Users<user>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins\TheaExporter_files\thea_path.txt" Anyway, using installer is the recommended solution.

Most render plugins adopt this approach. Grouped geometry with smooth edges appear smooth when rendered. I don't have Maxwell (can't get it to work) but I guessed this was the issue. BTW in grouped spheres make nice disco balls

I have it and enjoy it... I only use it for a few things but it's much more powerful. I just haven't spent the time studying all the things it can do. I recommend it.

Thanks! I'll give that a try.

Quick word of warning. If you decide that LumenRT isn't for you, don't do what I did and try and uninstall it using the Windows Control Panel. It completely screwed half of the programme drivers on my PC and despite reverting to a previous restore point I've now got to reinstall half the programmes on my computer.

@mrmikeesq said: Can't seem to get any type of realtime view (wireframe or something). Have to render to see anything. Well it is called Nox (night in Latin) for a reason.

@yvan said: The geometries should also be exported as follow: Create a dynamic component with attributes to be exported in the csv file. [image: http://www.catalystinteriors.com.au/images/stories/sketchup/01.png] Select primary face in all components to be machined. (components such as hardware are excluded if no face is selected). Only one face per component can be selected. [image: http://www.catalystinteriors.com.au/images/stories/sketchup/02.png] Tooling is set by placing geometries in specific layers. For example vertical drilling with a 5mm bit would be associated with the dxf layer called “DV_5”; Routing offset for external shape with DXF layer “ROX_9” (9 for a 9mm router bit.) any combination of machining can be accomplished by linking tooling “strategies” in the CAM software with DXF layers created by Sketchup. [image: http://www.catalystinteriors.com.au/images/stories/sketchup/03.png] When the model is ready all “primary” faces are exported as DXF polylines in a specified folder together with the csv file. [image: http://www.catalystinteriors.com.au/images/stories/sketchup/04.png] The csv file is then used to automate the import in the CAM software (Enroute, Aspan etc...) [image: http://www.catalystinteriors.com.au/images/stories/sketchup/05.png] this is very interesting and this process is exactly what i have been looking for? i need to be able to select a face of a cabinet, automatically apply the shelf drilling & hinge boring. export this as a flat dxf, i have been doing this with a section slice and opening this is in autocad to set requirements for cam but the dxf from sketchup comes through with broken segmented lines so i use the dxf to trace. can anyone help with this??

Hi I have a similar problem.(On PC with SketchUp8 and Maxwell Free Plugin) I tried to give it a file extension (.jpg)but it keeps telling me --> "The specified directory \ blabla ... does not exist" I´m going mad I just want it to save the image without the BS! Has anybody had the same problem? If so how did you solve it?

The "Trial" version should give you all the features of the full pro version (which includes animation) but it expires after 14 days, so just register on shaderlight.com and they will send you an activation key which unlocks the pro version. Once your trial is up Shaderlight will revert to the free version which as iichiversii says does not allow you to use the animation feature.

This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks guys. Just a quick question, but is there any way to set the X and Y in the rubyscript to the current sketchup active window size? Something like, but not necessarily / keys = { ;filename => "c;/tmp/write_image.png", ;width => ActivewindowResX, ;height => ActivewindowResY, ;antialias => false, ;compression => 0.9, ;transparent => true } model = Sketchup.active_model view = model.active_view view.write_image keys

@unknownuser said: @unknownuser said: @dtrarch said: Kerkythea 32 bit under 20 min to finish. Twilight same as Kerky. Try Kerkythea Echo Boost, it will go even faster than Twilight! And if you run on 64bit, you will get much more speed. Make a test and come with the results ! The Intel Embree kernel is faster than all of them and runs only on the CPU. It renders the Imperial Crown in about 20 secs. Give any modern CPU based renderer a four socket workstation (four independent xeon CPUs, 40 physical cores) , that was used in my understanding in said Embree demo, and you will get a pretty fast renderer. Anyhow Embree is a nice demonstration about how CPU (=intel) based renderer can compete against GPU (=nividia) And it was not 20 sec, if you where referring the intel video, "a prefect image takes about a minute to compute". No doubt Embree is a impressive collection of ray tracing kernels. The original Austrian Imperial Crown by Martin Lubich http://www.loramel.net/showroom/3d/

@unknownuser said: The .vob files (native Vue object files) exported from Sketchup do not auto-update when changed but it's a good idea. I will make the suggestion to the developers. That would be great Dave. Thanks. @unknownuser said: You can always use the VuePython script that is generated (in the folder next to the exported model with the textutes) to make importing faster and more automated. I do use the VuePython script initially... it works great! I use the .vob files when I need to update a part of the model in a scene that I have already been working on in Vue. The auto update would only save a few steps, so it is not a big deal. The only time it is a big issue is if I have replaced a bunch of materials in Vue... updating the model means redoing all of that... I only noticed the material editor in version 2 of the exporter a few days ago. I think that might solve some of those problems... now I just need some time to play with it. Thanks for the help!

Hi guys, not sure what I'm doing wrong here with this resynthesizer plugin... 2012-02-09_1355.swf For some reason it is not finding the adjacent content; rather the trees!!!

It is a pretty killer combination -- I use it in Maxwell as well. [flash=853,480:223gj451]http://www.youtube.com/v/88_x_WFGaO8?rel=0&amp;hd=1[/flash:223gj451] Best, Jason.

MXED linked in would we incredible. The material editor in the plug-in is well done but some of us advanced users want more advanced settings.

I might be using CryEngine right now for visualizations if it weren't for the fact that they won't spell out their licencing costs. The Architecture portion of their licencing website still says "Coming soon", it has for several years now. One thing to keep in mind is that CryEngine requires a hefty graphics processor for real time playback, meaning you usually can't just pack a file and send it to a customer. Unity Pro is becoming more and more attractive as they add features, you pay them $1500 once and your good for life, no other fees ever. It also works on WebGL, iOS, and Android. UDK has a $2500 per seat per year licence for anyone using UDK for in-direct income projects, and $99 per direct income project. +25% of any revenue related to the UDK software after $50,000 in sales. UDK also can build for iOS and Android.

I made a quick test of Shaderlight 2.0 and Maxwell for SU along with a few other apps a while ago: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=41848 I found a few issues with Shaderlight and the results were not as realistic but it is faster than Maxwell.

Thanks Tom. And you should Francois, it's not my design. It's not apparent from this particular image but it's actually a houseboat named Watervilla de Omval. It may not be too far from you actually as it's in Amsterdam. Here's a link with a lot of good photos, floor plans, and an address http://architecturelab.net/2010/11/watervilla-de-omval-amsterdam-by-31architects/ Richard, my goodness, you're still around? I thought you'd fallen into a hole long ago I seem to see you so rarely these days! I hope you're just too swamped with work these days. As grandma always says, you really should come around more often Anyways, thanks for the congrats, it means a lot coming from you. -Brodie