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Rendering - cheap?

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  • R Offline
    Rich O Brien Moderator
    last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 09:55

    Blender is free. Supports .DAE imports which SketchUp does and its EEVEE and Cycles render engines are on par with the big commercial apps.

    If you want something that works in SketchUp and has a good support channel then TwiLight would be my suggestion. Not the fastest render engine around but very affordable and low learning curve.

    But trial as many as you can. There's so many out there and everyone has bias on what's the best.

    Download the free D'oh Book for SketchUp πŸ“–

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    • H Offline
      HornOxx
      last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 11:18

      ... next so many others, also Render[IN] could be a plugin option for you as it has not an annual subscription model. Certainly not the fastest tool in terms of the rendering process itself, but can be grasped in a few minutes if you don't want to get lost in any too complex render software.
      https://renderin.com/en/

      never trust a skinny cook

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      • G Offline
        Glenn at home
        last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 11:38

        @rich o brien said:

        Blender is free. Supports .DAE imports which SketchUp does and its EEVEE and Cycles render engines are on par with the big commercial apps.

        Also look at the wonderful SketchUp importer for Blender here...
        https://github.com/RedHaloStudio/Sketchup_Importer/releases

        It work very well. Seems to keep the scale of SU objects and imports their material.
        SU2Blender.jpg

        Also look at Simlab Composer. Their is a free version (can be used for ANY purpose) that renders up to 1080 res or the Pro version (starts at $108/yr) with no render size limitations.

        SketchUp Pro 2024/2025 Dell XPS 8950 i9-12900K 64GB Ram RTX 3080

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        • R Offline
          Rich O Brien Moderator
          last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 12:06

          I use that importer. Its great. But I'm wary to recommend addons when I'm gently suggesting Blender.

          SU users, I find, are intimidated by Blender's UI. In reality you really only need the render engine and that's an F12 keypress. Maybe tweak lights.

          Download the free D'oh Book for SketchUp πŸ“–

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          • L Offline
            L i am
            last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 12:08

            Have a look at this (one click rendering)

            Link Preview Image
            1-Click Renders of Your SketchUp Models

            AmbientOcclusion is a fast, easy 3D rendering plugin for SketchUp. No learning required.

            favicon

            Fluid Interactive (www.fluidinteractive.com)

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            • G Offline
              Glenn at home
              last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:09

              @l i am said:

              Have a look at this (one click rendering)

              Link Preview Image
              1-Click Renders of Your SketchUp Models

              AmbientOcclusion is a fast, easy 3D rendering plugin for SketchUp. No learning required.

              favicon

              Fluid Interactive (www.fluidinteractive.com)

              I have this one as well. Super easy to use and great results.

              SketchUp Pro 2024/2025 Dell XPS 8950 i9-12900K 64GB Ram RTX 3080

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              • M Offline
                Mill3rLuke
                last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:13

                @l i am said:

                Have a look at this (one click rendering)

                Link Preview Image
                1-Click Renders of Your SketchUp Models

                AmbientOcclusion is a fast, easy 3D rendering plugin for SketchUp. No learning required.

                favicon

                Fluid Interactive (www.fluidinteractive.com)

                I had this and paid the Β£100 or so for it, was ok for what i wanted and then i missed the upgrade thing they sent out so now i have to pay full price again! not good! so im taking my services else where. That was a while back and haven't used a render package since.

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                • D Offline
                  Dave R
                  last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:24

                  I mostly use Kerkythea for rendering. It's old but it works well enough and it's available for free. These are quick renders I did with it.


                  https://live.staticflickr.com/7920/40278668183_8b0a795fdc_o.png


                  https://live.staticflickr.com/4828/39712523723_bc9c6b2bfb_c.jpg

                  Etaoin Shrdlu

                  %

                  (THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE)

                  G28 X0.0 Y0.0 Z0.0

                  M30

                  %

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                  • BoxB Offline
                    Box
                    last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:32

                    @mill3rluke said:

                    then i missed the upgrade thing they sent out so now i have to pay full price again! not good! so im taking my services else where. That was a while back and haven't used a render package since.

                    You go girl, stick it to the man.

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                    • M Offline
                      Mill3rLuke
                      last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:33

                      @dave r said:

                      I mostly use Kerkythea for rendering. It's old but it works well enough and it's available for free. These are quick renders I did with it.


                      https://live.staticflickr.com/7920/40278668183_8b0a795fdc_o.png


                      https://live.staticflickr.com/4828/39712523723_bc9c6b2bfb_c.jpg

                      Wow thats pretty tasty,

                      is it a plugin?

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                      • J Offline
                        JGA
                        last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:40

                        Another thumbs up for Twilight Render, or if you want free try Kerkythea

                        Regards,
                        JGA

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                        • D Offline
                          Dave R
                          last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 13:46

                          Thank you. Kerkythea is a stand alone renderer. There is an extension called SU2KT that exports from SketchUp to Kerkythea. It also has tools that let you set up lights in SketchUp and do other things. I prefer a stand alone renderer so I can set it to going and then go back into SketchUp to work.

                          Depending on the look I'm after I will sometimes do a clay render in Kerkythea and combine it with one or more image exports from SketchUp.

                          In the case of this steam engine it was just a wireframe image over the clay render.

                          https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49394970913_673fac7f37_c.jpg

                          This was just the dashed lines.

                          https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49821114908_05e768ba93_c.jpg

                          Sometimes I'll just overlay a textured no edges image over a clay render. The clay render is faster and if things are set up correctly it works quite well for a quick image.

                          Etaoin Shrdlu

                          %

                          (THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE)

                          G28 X0.0 Y0.0 Z0.0

                          M30

                          %

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                          • M Offline
                            Mill3rLuke
                            last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 15:53

                            @dave r said:

                            Thank you. Kerkythea is a stand alone renderer. There is an extension called SU2KT that exports from SketchUp to Kerkythea. It also has tools that let you set up lights in SketchUp and do other things. I prefer a stand alone renderer so I can set it to going and then go back into SketchUp to work.

                            Depending on the look I'm after I will sometimes do a clay render in Kerkythea and combine it with one or more image exports from SketchUp.

                            In the case of this steam engine it was just a wireframe image over the clay render.

                            https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49394970913_673fac7f37_c.jpg

                            This was just the dashed lines.

                            https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49821114908_05e768ba93_c.jpg

                            Sometimes I'll just overlay a textured no edges image over a clay render. The clay render is faster and if things are set up correctly it works quite well for a quick image.

                            Wow very impressive!. I will defiantly have a look at this over the weekend and try back some results.

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                            • L Offline
                              L i am
                              last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 16:32

                              I think Kerkythea is not a good choice at all. It is anything but intuitive and has the learning curve requirments similar to blender. Whilst it is a powerfull tool and the results are very good in the hands of users such as Dave R, rendering has come a long way regarding UI. I think Kerkythea is a relic of the past in terms of ease of use.

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                              • R Offline
                                Rich O Brien Moderator
                                last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 16:53

                                @l i am said:

                                I think Kerkythea is a relic of the past

                                It paved the way for rendering. It deserves its place in the pantheon and has outlasted many other 'here to stay' imposters.

                                Its an OG in da hood

                                Download the free D'oh Book for SketchUp πŸ“–

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                                • Gus RG Offline
                                  Gus R
                                  last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 16:57

                                  Depending on your budget I would suggest Twilight Render Pro V2 which is $99. If you can afford $280 you can instead get a yearly subscription for Thea Render for Sketchup.

                                  www.instagram.com/gusrobatto/

                                  www.flickr.com/photos/gusrobatto

                                  https://bsky.app/profile/gus-robatto.bsky.social

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                                  • L Offline
                                    L i am
                                    last edited by 14 Oct 2022, 17:04

                                    @rich o brien said:

                                    @l i am said:

                                    I think Kerkythea is a relic of the past

                                    It paved the way for rendering. It deserves its place in the pantheon and has outlasted many other 'here to stay' imposters.

                                    Its an OG in da hood

                                    Are you suggesting it is a good choice for somebody new to rendering in the face of somebody looking for an easy to use renderer?

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                                    • L Offline
                                      L i am
                                      last edited by 15 Oct 2022, 07:02

                                      @rich o brien said:

                                      @l i am said:

                                      I think Kerkythea is a relic of the past

                                      It paved the way for rendering. It deserves its place in the pantheon and has outlasted many other 'here to stay' imposters.

                                      Its an OG in da hood

                                      I have not used Kerkythea for about 8 years, after this thread conversation I looked up some of my old stuff with kerkythea. As a complete newbie at that time I think I was intimidated by the UI. The Physics terminology and UI was the problem I think. Anyway I still used it using the very basics and the outcomes would be perfectly fine for the type of stuff such as engineering schematics 😳

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                                      • panixiaP Offline
                                        panixia
                                        last edited by 14 Nov 2022, 20:23

                                        @mill3rluke said:

                                        Hi All,

                                        I use SU extensively for work, usually I model the project in SU and then detail using Autocad. I have layout although it does have its uses for some bits but i just preferer Autocad. I would like to start rendering some of my projects but im on a super budget. I would be interested to hear anyone's suggestions cheap rendering packages or any workarounds to make a more presentation during the final design to send to the client for approval.

                                        see link below for some examples + pictures of the scheme in construction.

                                        Link Preview Image
                                        Secure cloud storage that protects your privacy

                                        favicon

                                        Sync (ln5.sync.com)

                                        thanks

                                        I would suggest to give a try to D5 render, which is pretty good and easy to use, works very well with Sketchup and is quite cheap being that is actually free.
                                        The only drawback is that it requires a GPU suitable for raytracing, so make sure you've got one if you want try it.

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