Raster rendering quality

Sound · 10 Dec 2008, 16:22

Hi all,

I'm trying out SU7/LO2. I'm having trouble trying to output hi-res files to print scenes from my model which uses textures and much detail. This is the test case:

export as PNG directly from SU (5000x3500pixel)
http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suwa8.png
import into LayOut, same style, "High" output quality set under Paper options, then export as PNG (5000x3500pixel)
http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=looa8.png

The one exported directly from SU has way better antialiasing. The LayOut one has very bad edges, pixelated and sometimes missing. Also, sometimes shadows grey out receiving faces (instead of just darkening their texture). I tried with different line weights (0.25~1.00). I also tried to export as PDF. No luck. I also tried to set the rendering to "hybrid", and that slightly enhances the output quality, but still the image exported from SketchUp is nicer.

[BTW, what does "high/medium/low quality" mean in technical terms? speaking of DPIs, that is...]

My workaround is: export 2D images from SketchUp, then import them into LayOut... not ideal.

What am I missing?

jhauswirth · 10 Dec 2008, 17:13

Can you post the LO doc to reproduce this? We would like to test it.
The rendering should look the same between LO and SU (minus AA because LO
doesn't AA).

jhauswirth · 10 Dec 2008, 17:21

Probably not the problem... also check out-
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=14519

Sound · 11 Dec 2008, 15:42

jhauswirth, thank you for your interest. I sent you my LO file as a PM.

Yes, I had a look at that thread but there are no z-fighting issues here. I also tried to set render_to_lbmp but nothing changed.

Waiting for your feedback, thank you again!

agrazdi · 12 Dec 2008, 03:26

I am interested in the answer whenever you solve it.

Thanks

agrazdi

Sound · 22 Dec 2008, 11:04

jhauswirth kindly gave me some feedback about my file.

Grey zones were actually caused by a not-so-obvious z-fighting issue. Let me copy and paste jhauswirth's answer:
@unknownuser said:

Its the shadows that are causing the problem.
In SU in the "Shadows Inspector" there's an "On Ground" option. This causes the "On Ground" shadows and shadows from regular faces that are on the same plane as the ground to z-fight. So what you can do is turn off "On Ground" shadows, then right-click on your Scene and select Update so the new shadow setting is saved on the scene.

That works. However, LayOut images still lack antialiasing and I get bad edges. I still have to try out multiple line weight/resolution settings before I'm definitely satisfied with LayOut exported files...