Thanks for all the comments guys. I'm not sure about the shadow i think it's ok. The rotors should be a little curved and sag your right. Regarding floating on the grass that's a tricky one perhaps i should have added a few grass blades in photoshop in front of the wheels to complete the illusion. Carloh using a sphere may not be the most efficient way as more polygons means more time. I'd suggest a simple plane instead although it'll still add to time.HDR is the quickest solution IMHO and gives the correct lighting.It also means i can easily achieve SL20+ @4mpx in a couple of hours cooking. In this case the illumination intensity is double that of the other channels as it didn't pop enough. I'm still on the look out for aerial hdr maps if anyone has any leads.

new picture [image: teras2.jpg]

Thanks for the comment Steve, i look forward to seeing your aircraft.

Beautiful work I'm curious about something tho - while the "shower" of leaves is visually nice, it does seem a little out of place, since the foliage is indoors with presumably no wind.

Sorry for refloating this topic, but I'm wondering if it could be possible to gather the skp files of each entry in order to download them :-9

Thanks NeonGolden. Of course. No problem. Feel free to experiment. That's a very interesting effect.

Is that a secret government stronghold for when the zombie apocalypse happens?

Chedda, that's awesome mate, just needs a few bullet holes!

Yep, browser cache now emptied, can see it now

@davidh said: I have been posting here for about 5 years and what really makes it worth while is the positive reaction I have recieved. The beauty for us is that you are posting. And for me it's not just to see your talents but to see some REALLY nice images that intrigue me and make me dream of visiting new places, even if they are the stuff of your dreams.

Yes pretty much always AGS for speed sometimes i adjust the reflections up a little. Regarding the headlight groups just edit them in sketch up, you can open them (hide other geometry) paint your emitter material on the bulb etc. Be careful though high poly emitters are a slow down. You could also just add simple planes as emitters inside the lamp assembly.

Thanks guys, I can't take credits for the colour scheme, because I got "hints" from a professional person. I got some freedom, like how much or where to put colours, but I followed a specific colour palette. Regarding lighting, I'm using more and more a technique that I've picked up following some tutorials. It belongs to Fernando, and basically, is the use of the GI, with a big multiplier, without any map (sky) applied. V-ray users know, that if the light coming from the sun is not enough, sky portals in windows should be used. It's a shame I can't try the beta version, because I have no time lately, and it doesn't sound right to me to install it, and not to give proper feedback. Cheers, Stefan

@rich o brien said: Shame there's no shadpw catcher yet. Or am I missing a setting? Shadow catcher material doesn't work with GPU - yet... Works well for all CPU render options...

thank you very much for your hints and the video link Simon! actually i did use the car paint shader but somehow the lighting kills the shinyness of the paint, but i thought it was okay because actually there are a lot sls out there with matt foliage on them. i must admit that i didn't use sketchup for this rendering at all. i loaded the .3ds file into maxwell studio and created a simple plane for the ground. the displacement of course increases the rendertime but as there is only the car geometry in this it was okay for me... i just love playing with displacement i definetly will try the shadow channel solution!

@tadema said: Very nice . Is the inside of the Church plastered/rendered? John Its lime plaster with a distemper finish. It is a church but as they struggle so much for funding these days, they can becoming more community drop in / function centres, which is the reason for the glass extension and cafe area.

Thanks Richard, it was down to the excellent model source & maxwell.

Thanks Carloh i suspect an upgrade price rather than a full new license. i found this info interesting: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-state-of-rendering-part-2/#maxwell The next release of the product will support new volumetics, alembic, deep compositing and will see Maxwell integrated much more closely with Next Limit’s RealFlow with direct Maxwell previewing built into RealFlow. “There will be between 25 and 30 new features from volumetrics to deep compositing, it is a major release, the biggest release in our history,” explains Cañada. my biggest wish is open cl rendering.

Aha. It's certainly psychedelic

Interesting design, although it doesn't look very realistic. Hard to see what is sustaining all those bricks on some of the top floors. Surely not glass.

Looks interesting Hector, i see you are really enjoying sketchup !