Yes I noticed the light burning out, I am playing with different background and artificial lighting settings. This is better. [image: Ceiling lights only.]

I've only had 2 of them but they are sweet your right. I now buy mighty mouse in bulk from ebay. The ball always dies in the end and they are pricey locally 50+ euros a piece. I just had 11 delivered for £70 .

Szacun!

Thanks, Rafael. I didn't really change all that much -- talked to some video folks that I work with, and they though it looked great for youtube, so mostly I just stopped worrying. I did change the background color and exported to 1280 x 720 pngs, which helped some. It's the blue that looks the worst, and there was a lot of that in the sample I posted earlier (doesn't contrast w/the edges enough). It still looks a lot better on my computer or on drop box, but oh well. I do appreciate your help -- definitely got me to try different things, and to get unstuck. ps -- thumbnail seems to have updated.... hope someday I get to pick, as there are still much better choices.

Thank you all for comments. @pbacot said: I wish I knew more about the modeling of it though. next time, i'll show you my chairs modeling process. @pbacot said: Looks like a lot of creasing? creasing are made with artisans sculpt brush.

Ahh yes that's right until it gave a little squeak not too tight ! It's strange how we become intimate with everyday tactile objects. Especially a cassette tape which often invokes memories of times, places & music.

A night shot using the technique in the post processing tutorial section of the forum for turning day to night. The treeline to the left is the same as that behind the house,just mirrored and cloned to break up the main repeating patterns and the highlights burned in using the "Dodge" tool in photoshop. [image: manor field NIGHT SMALL.jpg]

Cheers Richard, no i haven't ever used the shift lens feature, sometimes i use the 2 point perspective camera in sketch up though.

Mine doesn't slow down ever, there was one time I tried to load 20 floors of fully furnished apartments into a high-rise and it froze for 5 minutes but the floors loaded and rendered after the freeze.

Looks like a photograph. Are you pulling our collective leg?

@rich o brien said: Some SU output would be nice too Here's some more SU output... [image: Nimbus 1.png] [image: Nimbus 2.png] [image: Nimbus 3.png]

This is a high school project? That's impressive! Great job!

Adam, In regards to your inquiry, I'd have to say that Artisan is the best choice for smoothing out the curves you already have. There's a bit of a learning curve, and a small price tag, but the results could be stunning. In the future, you can adjust the amount of segments SU uses to draw curves in the user interface. When you first hit the circle or arc command, look at the box at the bottom of the screen and it should tell you how many segments you are drawing with, you can increase or decrease them to suit. I've been away from Podium for too long to offer much advice with the renders, and many here have better opinions on what to use for a rendering software. I personally use Twilight because the price is right for the amount of options you get, but I'm seriously looking at Thea these days... Cheers!

Thank you for the gift. Very nice work and will water and make it grow properly. dtr

This is a nice little tutorial. Thanks, very nice approach.

It looks good. I like it.

Hey mate, nice job! I think though there is some miss match of the amount of illumination of the sky v's upon the facade of the building. One thing I would say and we all do it. We strive for realism without enough consideration toward what the image is to do - sell the proposal. Whether it be for marketing OR for planning we are still trying to sell, therefore would a little more light flooding the view of the facade give a better impression? I'd say this regarding the camera angle chosen too, could it be more dramatic rather than showing all?

That is fantastic quality rendering, please don't make it your LAST render in Vray for Sketchup

Very nice!

I think I like the first one best, still. The shoreline and water are nicer in the last.. but the viewpoint is better in the first. That super-saturated sky is hurting the latest one too.