Rendering

social_mogul · 14 Dec 2007, 17:51

Hi,

I've been using SU for around a week now at work. I've managed to produce some decent models of our house types but I want to be able to render these up. I've had some experience in 3ds Max but this was a long time ago. The reason I mention that is because I know that program has built-in rendering capabilities, however I can't seem to find this with SU........ Can you suggest what to do? Are there any decent rendering packages you can recommend? Thanks

jenujacob · 14 Dec 2007, 18:43

sketchup has some pretty good sketchy styles u could use... to give that hand drawn effect... pretty useful in most cases...
if u need photo realistic render u might want to take a look at podium which works within SU (http://www.suplugins.com ).. its not free but cheap and has loads of features.... that even the most novice of users can use... a cpl of sliders to move here and there and click render... and tadaaa... u get refelectionss, bumps, and even lights!!

if u neeed more control over ur materials and lights u could take a look at kerkythea (http://www.kerkythea.net )...
u also have to download the su2kt plugin availabel at the website to export ur SU models into the xml files which KT (kerkythea) reads... u could add lights and even specify the materials within SU (using the su2kt 3.0 only and u have to install the material libraries which are available at the repository to do this) and export and click render. thats it.. one touch render! besides KT renders in both biased and unbiased versions and supports multicores.. oh and its free!

then theres Indigo (http://www.indigorenderer.com ) which also has a export plugin... i dunno much bout this render app though... but its free too!

if u can shell out some cash theres maxwell (http://www.maxwellrender.com/ ) and Vray for SU which works within SU (http://www.asgvis.com )...

well u could also just browse the render forum here in SCF and find out more!

dylan · 14 Dec 2007, 18:50

Jenujacob covers a lot in his post.
I guess a lot depends on how much you wish to spend and how much time you have to learn new software.
All the programs listed above will give good results.

I personally like Kerythea because it is free, renders really well and has a great community. Lots of tutorials and people willing to help over at their forums.
http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/

Take a look through our renders forum here, you will see various gallery images from different programs http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewforum.php?f=82

I always love to see the vray renders, they look pretty amazing. Unfortunately I beleive the software is pretty expensive and has a steep learning curve.