Lighting Plugin for Sketchup

AdamB · 20 Apr 2008, 08:05

@adamb said:

@jclements said:

I downloaded the zip file, went to its properties and unblocked it, but still couldn't extract the contents without the Windows Block Content dialog.

Sounds like you have a virus-checker stopping the installation. Perhaps you should install elsewhere and move the files manually.

No, its Windows 'deciding' the content can be harmful... my Norton AV passes your zip file as clean... Perhaps the ability to download the installer Unzipped from Light-up.co.uk would help some people with the same problem? Just a thought.

Its the .msi file that is causing problems for JClements I believe so I'm not sure that would help.

I think there is bound to be a "learning experience" for me about the best way of packaging and downloading this stuff for minimal aggravation over the coming weeks!

Edson · 20 Apr 2008, 09:59

@adamb said:

@mike lucey said:

I will be posting some video tutorials. Any suggestions as to areas that would benefit most, would be much appreciated.

AdamB

adam,

no problems whatsoever downloading and installing LightUp in my mac.

i have started playing with it but, being a novice at rendering in general, it would be great to have a couple of tutorials or videos demonstrating a typical workflow. this will certainly allow us to make the best of LightUp.

a question: the time limit of 30 minutes means that everytime i open SU i have 30 min to use LU? what if a render takes more than that? if i am misunderstanding this please enlighten me.

it is difficult to navigate within the studio skippy you posted as there are no scenes set up. if one makes any false move the only way to get back to the scene is close and reopen the file.

congratulations on your effort.

tbd · 20 Apr 2008, 10:29

feedback:

model that is in the manual should be added to get on track easily
output bug: see attached (happened several times, cannot duplicate)
better icons (too much antialias when Larg Icons is set)
a way to disable the debug text from Ruby console
in direct lighting do not apply sun if it is not selected

ideas:

overlay on top of SU output with custom opacity - to have the lines visible

nice work Adam

tbd · 20 Apr 2008, 13:10

Juju: supersampling is not available in this version

juju · 20 Apr 2008, 13:16

Makes sense then, thx TBD.

Also, the room scale (studio2.skp file) seems to off quite a bit. I use the position camera and point to a place on the floor, eye height set to 5'6" and I'm virtually as tall as the room.

juju · 20 Apr 2008, 13:16

I get this error message when I press the LightUp prefences button.

If you press "yes" you can continue onto the settings window, but supersampling cannot be enabled.

AdamB · 20 Apr 2008, 16:03

@edson said:

@adamb said:

@mike lucey said:

I will be posting some video tutorials. Any suggestions as to areas that would benefit most, would be much appreciated.

AdamB

adam,

no problems whatsoever downloading and installing LightUp in my mac.

i have started playing with it but, being a novice at rendering in general, it would be great to have a couple of tutorials or videos demonstrating a typical workflow. this will certainly allow us to make the best of LightUp.

a question: the time limit of 30 minutes means that everytime i open SU i have 30 min to use LU? what if a render takes more than that? if i am misunderstanding this please enlighten me.

it is difficult to navigate within the studio skippy you posted as there are no scenes set up. if one makes any false move the only way to get back to the scene is close and reopen the file.

congratulations on your effort.

Generally LightUp rendering is pretty quick (obviously it depends on the model complexity) so 30 minutes seemed reasonable to give people a go with the technology to see if its useful to them. I've certainly added onto the TODO list something to allow you to quit from rendering if its taking too long - or there's a bug causing LightUp to spin endlessly.

As to getting lost in studio2.skp Yes, it was modelled with no scale in mind hence the crazy dimensions. However, you can control the speed of the camera motion in LightUp from the Preferences dialog. In "Viewing" look for "Speed". Also, if you ever get lost anywhere in Sketchup, Apple/Ctrl-1 to reset the camera position is always helpful.

Adam

AdamB · 20 Apr 2008, 16:05

@unknownuser said:

Juju: supersampling is not available in this version

Correct! And I have a question mark as to its usefulness too. Currently its a rotating multi-tap kernel but I'm thinking you might as well just turn up the Resolution of the lighting to achieve much the same effect.

Adam

AdamB · 20 Apr 2008, 16:19

@unknownuser said:

feedback:

model that is in the manual should be added to get on track easily

Yes, for the actual release there will be examples, videos etc.

@unknownuser said:

output bug: see attached (happened several times, cannot duplicate)

better icons (too much antialias when Larg Icons is set)

I have had some OpenGL drivers create odd snapshots. Try adjusting the size of the window (which will in turn change the size of the output size.)

@unknownuser said:

a way to disable the debug text from Ruby console

Yep, I plan to. Left it in for now since it doesn't do much harm. But yes I agree.

@unknownuser said:

in direct lighting do not apply sun if it is not selected

Can you explain. "Use sun" is selected by default. If you turn it off, LightUp shouldn't use the Sun.

@unknownuser said:

ideas:

overlay on top of SU output with custom opacity - to have the lines visible

Hmm. I have the greatest respect for the SU developers, but there OpenGL backend is the slowest thing I have ever seen. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but anything I can do to get as far away from it is going to help performance. If there is real call for lines - I'll draw 'em!

@unknownuser said:

nice work Adam

Thank you. Fair amount of work to do yet!

Adam

AdamB · 20 Apr 2008, 16:21

@unknownuser said:

I get this error message when I press the LightUp prefences button.
[attachment=0:2jd7eubv]lightup preferences error dialog.JPG[/attachment:2jd7eubv]
If you press "yes" you can continue onto the settings window, but supersampling cannot be enabled.

Its something to do with Explorer that I've yet to entirely track down.

If you get this a lot, you can reset the Preferences for a model from Ruby Console. Type:

LMap.resetprefs

tbd · 20 Apr 2008, 18:39

@unknownuser said:

Can you explain. "Use sun" is selected by default. If you turn it off, LightUp shouldn't use the Sun.

aha, I thought that it takes in account "display shadows" from SU. didn't saw the "Use sun" from preferences window.

why not use the "display shadows" ? more intuitive imho

AdamB · 20 Apr 2008, 18:48

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

Can you explain. "Use sun" is selected by default. If you turn it off, LightUp shouldn't use the Sun.

aha, I thought that it takes in account "display shadows" from SU. didn't saw the "Use sun" from preferences window.

why not use the "display shadows" ? more intuitive imho

Well possibly. Its an interesting one because I think the dynamic for Podium is slightly different. I've found myself often not having shadows in SU but wanting sunlight shading in LU as a flick between the two. For Podium you want to compose the view "just so" and press the big green button and demand you get the same settings as in SU.

In any case, its a 1 line change to check LUprefs or the SU rendering_options.

Adam

Burkhard · 20 Apr 2008, 19:32

Hi Adam, I made a mistake with the licence key 0 and O. Where can I get the second chance? I can't find the new registration field.
Edit Solved.

AdamB · 21 Apr 2008, 06:28

@burkhard said:

Hi Adam, I made a mistake with the licence key 0 and O. Where can I get the second chance? I can't find the new registration field.
Edit Solved.

Just for future reference. In menu Tools->LightUp->Reset Registration Key then Quit Sketchup.

Adam

AdamB · 22 Apr 2008, 13:13

A couple of video tutorials to get people started using LightUp.

The first shows how to set up a Point Light source and is available
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtyj40CS6tg

The second shows how to set up Area Light sources and is here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EhpRDCqbGA4

tbd · 22 Apr 2008, 13:31

Adam: thanks for the video tuts.
you can even do psychedelic renders

later edit: get some crashes (when freeing memory after writing .luca files)

here is the file

Edson · 22 Apr 2008, 14:08

thanks, adam. very informative indeed. it cleared up some doubts i had after reading the users guide, being the rendering dummy that i am.

please keep the videos coming!

kwistenbiebel · 22 Apr 2008, 14:33

Yes, the videos clarify a lot.
Thank you.

juju · 22 Apr 2008, 14:45

Thanks for the tuts Adam, as a matter of note, the RSS feed I have bookmarked for your site fails to load, has been for a couple of days.

Adam, any chance your LightUp application/plugin will be compatible with Podium (application/plugin by TBD)?

I think it will be quite useful if I can set up the scenes in SU, check them out and have pre-vis and later, once modeling is all done, render it in Podium without having to redo the lighting.

JClements · 22 Apr 2008, 17:07

Neophyte question.

I seems that Area lights and Spot lights are similar. What is the difference between the two?