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    Deciding on a Render....

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    • D Offline
      Dragoonprogramming
      last edited by

      hmmm.
      twighlight refuses to open on my computer so probably not that....
      ill try shaderlight though...
      anyone else?

      "...And if he says that one more time i'll punch him right in the throat" - Armstrong and Getty
      My website http://dragoonprogramming.weebly.com/

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      • V Offline
        Vicspa
        last edited by

        Try kerkythea, (free), Right now I'm looking toward Thea render.
        But try them all first.

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        • gascatG Offline
          gascat
          last edited by

          I use Podium at work and and I purchased Twilight to use at at home.

          I'm finding Podium gives great results with interiors but Twilight with exteriors.

          Just my thought.

          cheers...Wayne

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          • M Offline
            Mary_1.0
            last edited by

            Twilight's great, especially if you want to do animations and videos. For example, I used a model of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building that's in the SketchUp Warehouse, rendered it with Twilight, and made this video. Enjoy!

            [flash=480,385:1ypofy0k]http://www.youtube.com/v/3I345cW-7zM[/flash:1ypofy0k]

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            • jason_marantoJ Offline
              jason_maranto
              last edited by

              This is well outside your budget but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway becasue they are running a promo right now: Maxwell Render http://www.maxwellrender.com/

              Pro's:

              1. Incredible Quality.
              2. Outstanding Sketchup plugin that is getting better all the time.
              3. Stand-alone "studio" application for working with assets from multiple softwares and high poly assets that Sketchup can't handle.
              4. Free plugins for many 3D apps so you can take it with you from program to program.

              Con's:

              1. Price
              2. Requires Sketchup Pro

              Here's a link to some tutorial videos to give you an idea of how it works:

              http://think.maxwellrender.com/first10steps.php?categoryFS=15

              Best,
              Jason.

              I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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              • R Offline
                remus
                last edited by

                @jason_maranto said:

                1. Requires Sketchup Pro

                Didnt realise that, any ideas why thats the case?

                Sorry for the off topic post Dragoon 😄

                http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                • jason_marantoJ Offline
                  jason_maranto
                  last edited by

                  My understanding is the Maxwell exporter makes use of the C++ API in Sketchup Pro for mega fast exports to render... Ruby exports can take 10 times longer (or more) for the same scene. Since Maxwell is definitely a "high-end" renderer it seems reasonable to think that the user-base is mostly professionals where time wasted waiting for exports to render would be too costly to tolerate.

                  Best,
                  Jason.

                  I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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                  • R Offline
                    remus
                    last edited by

                    Im pretty sure thats not a pro only feature, can only be a good thing though.

                    http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                    • jason_marantoJ Offline
                      jason_maranto
                      last edited by

                      According to what little info I can find on the subject the C++ SDK is a Pro version only feature.

                      Best,
                      Jason.

                      I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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                      • N Offline
                        notareal
                        last edited by

                        @dragoonprogramming said:

                        hmmm.
                        twighlight refuses to open on my computer so probably not that....
                        ill try shaderlight though...
                        anyone else?

                        I don't recall that twilight itself have particular issues, maybe some other ruby is interfering. If you are on low budget, take a look on Kerkythea (Twilight uses same engine) or maybe luxrender, both are free. Thea Render might also fit in your budget (promotional pricing during beta phase) - it a step upwards with a full studio and interactive rendering.

                        Welcome to try [Thea Render](http://www.thearender.com/), Thea support | [kerkythea.net](http://www.kerkythea.net/) -team member

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                        • jason_marantoJ Offline
                          jason_maranto
                          last edited by

                          No doubt -- Thea would be my first choice if I wasn't using/couldn't afford Maxwell.

                          Best,
                          Jason.

                          I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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                          • R Offline
                            remus
                            last edited by

                            Doesnt mention anything about being pro-specific here: http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/downloadsdksubmit.html

                            http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                            • jason_marantoJ Offline
                              jason_maranto
                              last edited by

                              Near the bottom here:

                              Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

                              favicon

                              (sketchup.google.com)

                              Doesn't mention Pro only -- but only mentions Pro... there are a few other links to coding forums that back this up.

                              Best,
                              Jason.

                              I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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                              • D Offline
                                Dragoonprogramming
                                last edited by

                                Thanks all!
                                You have all been so helpful!
                                I will be trying out maxwell and shaderlight

                                See Ya

                                Taylor,

                                "...And if he says that one more time i'll punch him right in the throat" - Armstrong and Getty
                                My website http://dragoonprogramming.weebly.com/

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                                • fuzzionF Offline
                                  fuzzion
                                  last edited by

                                  @dragoonprogramming said:

                                  Thanks all!
                                  You have all been so helpful!
                                  I will be trying out maxwell and shaderlight

                                  See Ya

                                  Taylor,

                                  Why are you wasting your time? Vray is the only choice.

                                  "Only the dead have seen the end of war" - Plato

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                                  • FrederikF Offline
                                    Frederik
                                    last edited by

                                    @fuzzion said:

                                    Why are you wasting your time? Vray is the only choice.

                                    Glad you've read all posts in this thread... 😒

                                    @dragoonprogramming said:

                                    Also my budget is alittle over $100

                                    Cheers
                                    Kim Frederik

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                                    • D Offline
                                      dedmin
                                      last edited by

                                      @unknownuser said:

                                      Why are you wasting your time? Vray is the only choice.

                                      Vray is the only choice if He lived on the back side of the Moon ... ☀ 😎

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                                      • charly2008C Offline
                                        charly2008
                                        last edited by

                                        Hi,

                                        Why not try first the free Kerkythea! If you have experience with Kerkythea, you can you still decide otherwise.

                                        Charly

                                        He who makes no mistakes, makes nothing

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                                        • G Offline
                                          Greg Law
                                          last edited by

                                          Have a look at this site.

                                          http://www.renderin.com/
                                          It is a beta version of a very simple render. Even adds a sky to out door images. Great for doing fast renders. They say it will cost less than $200.00 when released. At the moment it is a Free beta.

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                                          • M Offline
                                            minguinhirigue
                                            last edited by

                                            I have said it many time, and will continue there :

                                            • kerkythea is the most polyvalent opensource renderer for sketchup as far as I know. Both biased and unbiaised render, many materials, users and renderer fonctions...
                                            • the fully intergrated renderers baseed on kerkythea are quite powerfull but not free... (thearender, twillight)
                                            • SUPodium is the simplest renderer I ever used, it make easy and good render without headeack (render with "noisy setting" always give beatifull soft shadows whitout complex configurations)

                                            Some professionnal soft could be usefull but to expensive I guess :

                                            • Artlantis, as it is the only soft I used exploiting all advanced render options of sketchup (fog, sections plans, ratio aspect, animations...)
                                            • Vray as it is quite powerfull and fast with it's biaised render, but I never test it
                                            • Maxwell as the nicer and the more realistic renderer I have seen, but neither test it

                                            Many recent softs are interesting, I never test them, but promising :

                                            • Octane render, cheap, with GPU integration, seem really powerfull with realtime render option (If you have good hardware 😄)
                                            • Shaderlight, quite young, but the gallery seem quite good
                                            • RenderIn, beta of a fully integrated sketchup renderer, still promising, but I guess you already know it better than me...
                                            • renderingkiller, really promising, fast and beatiful render, but still not available...

                                            Some are older, but could give really good result :

                                            • Indigo render, but always really good results with unbiaised render. I have tested it too years ago, quite good... but I dismiss when it turn from opensource to commercial... I don't like soft which exploit opensource community as beta testing support !
                                            • Lightup, fully integratd in Sketchup, with some nice feature like lux analysis and IES ligth, but render aren't the best I have seen...

                                            Good luck with this list... 😄
                                            So nowdays, I only use, podium, kerkythea and artlantis, depending on wich computer (home or work) I am and what kind of work I have to do, but I am thinking about testing octane render. You sould have a look to what is the best for your work...

                                            And never, forget, renderer didn't do anything. Modeler and postprocessing (people, vegetation, toning, context integration) are essential if your are work on large model (urbanism, architecture)...

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