Req: Vue sketchup tutorial

pugz1983 · 5 Jan 2010, 15:50

Hi Everybody,

Are there any good Sketchup to Vue tutorials? Is it possible to use ecosystem on a groundplane exported from sketchup? Or parts of the groundplane? I want to use it to populate the surroundings of a house model. Please help.

Greetz from Holland

solo · 5 Jan 2010, 16:01

Twan

I'm not sure about there being a tutorial available but what you ask is possible.

Create the plane in SU and then paint it a color (say green) then in Vue double click the model which will open a new window, select to weld model and then select to split it)
Now the model will be grouped by texture, so select the green color (the plane you want populated) and ad your ecosysten in material editor.

or...

Just select the plane and in the edit toolbar (top of main screen) select paint ecosystem and then paint it as you need it.

pugz1983 · 5 Jan 2010, 19:27

Hi Solo,

Thanx for your help on this one. I've noticed and Admire your work in Vue. This was the reason I've always wanted to test Vue. Now I did and I'm Blown away by its many options, but when i made a through a bunch of tutorials i'm beginning to understand and Like Vue. I really love the ecosystem feature. It realy solves the whole scenery problem. Now I have tp practice and practice . I've noticed that there arent't many architectural materials in Vue. Do you know where I can find them. Some more ecosystems would be great to. Thanx for the tips. Hoping to show some Vue renders soon

Greetz From Holland.

solo · 5 Jan 2010, 19:32

Twan, glad you are enjoying Vue, it really is an awesome and fun application.

As far as architectural materials go you are right, Vue does not have much pre made materials available, I'm hoping to get some together and make them available soon at C3D, I moderate the architecture forum there and like an idiot I have made a commitment to get a basic pack together. http://www.cornucopia3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10486

I'm hoping that future versions of Vue not only work better with SU but also with archvis, now that I'm on the team I get to complain, request, suggest and coax.

pugz1983 · 7 Jan 2010, 16:45

Hi Solo,

Still Loving Vue So Many options to play with, but to little time Your tips are very helpful and I managed to produce a fearly decent render. ( I will post it tonight ). The only thing I didn't understand was lighting, but I saw that there is an option to convert objects to area lights. I was wondering if it's also possible to make materials to produce light. I saw the options in the material editor effects to make a material glow. But that doesn't produce enough light. I realy hate using pointlights in Vue because i like to place the lighting in SU. Any tips to convert a material to a point light or something?

Greetz From a Vue Loving Pugz

solo · 7 Jan 2010, 18:39

Twan

Three ways....

This is the basic SU model:

First I will make the cube a glowing material, you are limited as far as intensity as it has a 0 - 100 luminous slider, this is at 100. This will not serve as a light, it is best used for TV screens, glowing materials, etc.

Next, I will convert the cube to cube light (right click and select 'Convert to area light')
As you can see this works much better and you can put any value in for brightness, default is 1 - 100, but you can type in 1 million if you want and it will work. The only drawback here is the cube will be visible.

Okay now a simple trick, select the cube then on the left side toolbar select a pointlight, notice that the pointlight appears in center of cube, select cube again, right cleck and either delete or select 'hide from render', then adjust the light value of pointlight as you need...Viola!

solo · 7 Jan 2010, 19:00

There is another trick, in Sketchup you can create a simple line or a cross and make it a group (naming it in outliner as 'light 1' or whatever you want) see image below.

Now when you click on it in Vue and select 'Convert to area light' it will be invisible and give you the effect you want as well as be easy to do your omni's in SU and use in Vue.

Chris Fullmer · 7 Jan 2010, 19:01

Solo, is there a VUE script to convert a component into a light using that last method? Essentially a script that would replace all components named "bulb" with a light like that? Anyone written that in VUE that you are aware of yet?

Chris

solo · 7 Jan 2010, 19:15

I'm not sure actually, I can enquire as we have many hobbyist Python scripters around at C3D.