Picking up sketchup again

nickh90

Hi,

I'm Nick and i just started (again) with sketchup, after quiting about one year ago. I would still consider myself as a newbie.

I really wan't to ask this thing that i am curious about for a long time.

Community | SketchUcation

3D SketchUp Community for Design and Engineering Professionals.

(sketchucation.com)

In this picture, how does the creator have created the nature? Is this also sketchup or just photoshop? Sometimes i see a 'island house' or something, and these guys have these amazing islands, how do you create these, and not just the island, but sometimes it seems like there is 1/2 miles of nature around the picture. They don't create that themselfs right?

2: What is the best (free) programm to render with? Unfortunately kerkythea doesn't work on my windows 8 computer.

Edit:
3: Are there any free material packs for sketchup which i can use?

Kind Regards,
Nick

ely862me

The render was cooked in Thea as stated and most likely edited afterwards with photoshop or something else to place the grass and the people(it is also possible that the people are just 2d components in Sketchup) .

I believe the trees and bushes are Sketchup files and the grass and the people are added in photoshop or other. Usually you use a mix of softwares to make it looks as close as possible to reality.
Usually you can't really have something very good and free too, so you could considering spending at least a couple of hundred for an average rendering program. Most of them have trial periods , so give them a try and see which one satisfies your need.
I am not an architect neither a rendering guy so wait a bit more for some proper responses from the render gurus around here !

Take care !

nickh90

@ely862me said:

[attachment=0:3elq6xzj]f52d1316-1cbb-4c8f-aaa6-956361eb001e.jpg[/attachment:3elq6xzj]
The render was cooked in Thea as stated and most likely edited afterwards with photoshop or something else to place the grass and the people .

I believe the trees and bushes are Sketchup files and the grass and the people are added in photoshop or other. Usually you use a mix of softwares to make it looks as close as possible to reality.
Usually you can't really have something very good and free too, so you could considering spending at least a couple of hundred for an average rendering program. Most of them have trial periods , so give them a try and see which one satisfies your need.
I am not an architect neither a rendering guy so wait a bit more for some proper responses from the render gurus around here !

Take care !

Thanks for your reply

But sometimes you see a picture in a forest, and there seems to be nature as far as the eye can see. Is this just a picture from google, or do people create this themselfs?

And second: Do you know any material packs which i can use in sketchup? I would love to use some more wood-textures.

ely862me

Most of the time people use just a background image or a Hdri because having an entire forest rendered is a killer, but indeed some are really creating the forest(or at least the edge of it) to give to the render a really nice touch . For example we have in the shop some treelines which posted in the back of your scene would look like an entire forest !
I think there was some pack with materials , somewhere in the google files.. just searched for it and I believe this one is http://sketchupplugin.blogspot.ro/2012/08/material-bonus-pack.html . There are also some packs here in the shop, but most of them are free for premium members . If I need some sort of texture I just google for the name I need and search in images(you can add seamless texture to it or what you need) and I usually find what I need.

notareal

Like said, these kind of works are often a composite of a render and postpro in photoshop (or similar app). In this case, there are topics on Thea Render forum and here in sketchucation that do explain the process in some degree. From the topic at Thea Render forum you can even find some pure test renders, so you can get a idea about how much postpro work is done. Btw the birch tree model is downloadable to registred users of Thea Render.