Kris -- of all the custom home projects you've posted I like this one best. Very classy and nicely detailed. From what I can understand of the plan it looks really great -- it's hard to see how you resolved the potentially difficult central part. Is it walk-in closets? Making it a back-to-back duplex (you have haven't you?) seems a great way to deal with the octagonal form. Each half of the duplex really benefits from the octagonal shape and you avoid many of the common planning pitfalls seen in octagonal homes. It looks like one side of the duplex will get better views -- if you could rotate the building some it looks like the views of the second unit could be improved without much sacrifice to the views of the other. I like your landscaping but it isn't clear how it draws on over to the unit that faces the ocean more front-on. Regards, Ross

I actually now use the SU model to start my autocad drawings... I model in real sized, and thicknesses of walls and such. if you download my template from the "How A Pro Builds a House in SU" tutorials in the Tut section. you'll see I have about 10 scenes that I use to export DWGs elevation Front, Rear, Left, Right, Section North to SOuth, East to West, Floor Plan I, Floor Plan II, Floor Plan III... then I take those plain dwgs and start dimensioning and noting them. I also use them to Wow clients and allow them to live in the house for a few days before moving on to the next phase. Sketch to SU Prelim, SU Prelim to Construction Docs. I have not built as the "builder" anything residential... that is my ultimate goal, to build mine and my mothers designs I have been the project manager of several commercial projects Bass Pro in Las Vegas is one of them, Bass Pro in Myrtle Beach SC is another, a few popular stores in malls across the USA, Addias, Tommy, Chica Fila... etc. and a carpenter on quite a few residences in my earlier career. I'm very pleased that you enjoy them... some clients tend to dumby them down, and square them up... which is the point I normally tell them to take a leap... lol

the sliding glass door drapes are not correctly oriented in the mirror... so I caught you... but I couldn't tell until I saw that. quite incredible.

That's pretty cool. Might have to pick one of those up and give it a shot.

thanks Eric! I think I can use one of those.

Thanks Kim and Gaieus, Indeed, I had a little "é" in my path. It's surprising that such a tiny detail could cause that problem

my pinocchio never talks... so he doesnt have a nose!

Nice images Andy. I really like the layout style.

Thanks for the kind words guys! unfortunately I am unable to play with the materials at all... They've already been decided... I do agree however that the area behind reception requires some work, maybe a little post production faux lighting... humm!

To be honest, I don't even remember what settings I used. I kind of liked the way they came out though. Thanks

Thanks you all for your kind comments. it’s the first render I have been truly happy with, but there is always room for improvement. I’ve really just started exploring the possibilities of IRender Plus with the soft shadows, bump mats, procedural textures etc, and am gradually working through the Accurender tuts as IRender is based on this program. This was my first go at using the interior lighting tut, I found on the Accurender site Biebel to answer your queries There are a few good examples on the IRender site http://forums.renderplus.com/gallery/, which are improving all the time. I tend to look at the Accurender http://gallery.mcneel.com/?g=43site for a pointer to what IRender is really capable of. Accurender have just updated their gallery this weekend. The work flow - import Autocad if necessary - model in Sketchup, set material reflections, glow, lights etc in Sketchup with IRender, adjust settings ie chose Sketchup settings and or environs in IRender, or a mixture, and then choose radiosity, followed by raytrace, or just raytrace. You can save the environs etc and re load for another model. There was no post tweaking to the render, but you can use the tone operator. I just used the default setting I’m in the process of producing a tut for this render to show the settings used, it will give you more of an idea of my workflow. I don’t know what the render time was, as it was running in the background while I did my real work designing pubs in Autocad LT. I’ll re render to find out. I very rarely get the chance to use Sketchup and IRender. Oh and would you believe it, the very very first IRender I did just appeared in Oct 3D World magazine, in a review of Vray with a comparison of the basic IRender and TurboSketch Studio, fame at last!!, but anonymously as no credits, but that may be a good thing. It seems a little unfair as in my opinion they should have compared Vray to IRender Plus. NB For people using Macs Oct 3D World has the full Cheetah3d 2.6.1 CD included. Richcat

I keep going back to look at your Cow(Cowl)Boy and every time I see more than the last time. Is there any chance that you could share the .skp file with us? I would love to see it and maybe get a better idea of how he was constructed. If it is too big to be posted here maybe you could e-mail it to fortysixsouth@yahoo.com ? Cheers Bill

This is something very nice, i like it.

Dylan, James, thanks - that's exactly what I was looking for. Kris, thanks for your tips and encouraging words. Btw, I found the thread I was thinking of - it was Canoek who had posted a watercolor process. I think I'll give that a shot sometime soon - I like the look. Here's the thread: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=125&t=5624

Thanks for the comments guys! Anssi - I actually didn't have too much say in the design on this one, just did the model and some presentation work for it. I'm not sure I fully understand what you mean by the addition introducing it's own symmetry but I can sort of see what you're talking about. The original idea was to tear down the existing house which is really in poor shape. Due to the requirement of keeping it, there were a lot of additional factors that had to be taken into account.

thanks for hall coments, dylan i'm use kerkythea for rendering and now the version 2008

looks like an Aztec or Myan Pyramid...

Yes, I am pleasantly suprised by the back side as well. Thanks for adding more.

Fantastic work. Sweet job on the presentation. The animated .gif is a splendid touch. poster-Director Bob

james, they would be protected from the rain by the plexiglas roof. and, since the room is the bottom of a light well, there is no way to steal them from there. mike, you are right. and, being the design a gift to the owner, i have more freedom to suggest what I think is best. edson