so interesting - with regards to the faces. i've developed a bad habit of painting both sides, which i think was the case with this particular model. that should stop - as in this example, which i'm uncertain and now riddled with a problem.. and it didn't occur to me that the increased intensity was the issue. i just assumed there would be some basic illuminations from the get-go. i'll toggle the model later today will post the results. thanks!

Try the latest version of Thomthom's "Simple Plugins Installer", and after you've installed that and restarted Sketchup, you can try to reinstall the RBZ archive using it, rather than the native-installer [which I assume you have used initially]... It should spot some permission/VirtualStore issues that the native-installer might miss... It might still be an 'security/permissions' issue... Have you checked this, as I suggested previously ? The Plugins folder's security/permissions needs to be FULL for you [and All] and its contents/subfolders...

There's also this thread that could help! http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=20999

This is a good place to ask, but more appropriate would be Developers section.

Ok so for everyone having the same problem, This is my solution. Forget the hdri in the envrionment slot ans make a huge circle around your model, apply the texture on it and uncheck the "Cast Shadows" option in your material. That's it. Will work when the HDRI don't work for i know what reason.

Yes i have to.

@valerostudio said: Sunlight is controlled by GI. Here are some recommendations to help you on your learning path. I wouldn't use this file or the tutorials that go along with it. It's from an older version of VRay and if you are using 1.49.01 these tutorials, although helpful, are outdated. Go to the Chaos YouTube page and watch all of the videos for VR4SU. These are very informative. The link is in the stickies of these forums. Review the VR4SU manual http://www.vray.com/vray_for_sketchup/manual/ Thank you very much, very good recommendations, now I feel I`m going to improve my learning process.

hi, you can also grab mxm files from here: http://resources.maxwellrender.com/news_scripts.php?t=1 p.s. avoid using materials with displacement within Maxwell for Sketchup

Whoah, I had no idea. It is indeed the letter Ø causing the problem. Thank you very much.

Hi! I want to do the same, but render in a network. Dou you knkow how is the code? Thanks!

it is actually a challenge...but the only thing that Lumion is missing are the ''correct reflections....what i am trying to combine is Lumion's materials, water, tress and 3d sky with the reflections rendered in Vray so the rendering will complete one another....it's a huge challenge i know, but maybe someone can figure it out

I'm tempted, but I'm not quite sure whether I should get a new license. After all, how many apps does one hobbyist need? Edit: Watched the tutorial in its entirety. It indeed is good. If you want to know about rendering in Modo, these vids are just what you need.

@valerostudio said: The most powerful rendering engine is NOT V-Ray, it's Photoshop! Kind of agree with Valero statement here.. regards, vd

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17899 Bep

I see what you're saying, I would only tend to adjust individual textured surfaces after painting everything depending on what sort of final export/output needed, never had any bugs using this method, must be luck!

@notareal said: @atlastudio said: Would like to know how to reduce noise if there's any experts reading! Not sure how materials and scene is set, but I do get a impression that most light comes from the Sun trough a glossy based glass (a real glass that creates caustics) curtain wall. Some "tricks": Thin Film based glass (architectural glass) will speed up convergence a lot. TR2 will render most challenging light paths and materials (naturally with cost of render time) Super-Sapling set to "High" with TR1/TR2 helps to reduce noise Use some fill light (a emitter that is not visible to the camera) to boost convergence, if most of the light comes trough glossy based glass. Note: light components and mesh emitters intersecting nearby mesh may cause noise as well as emitters that has really dense polygon mesh. Make sure that pure white and black are not used, keep diffuse colors in 6-96% range. Thanks for the tips, have just coughed up and bought it today so looking forward to seeing what i can achieve.

in the upcoming beta, you will have the ability to just right click on the light group and convert it to a component. So that will make this a little easier to do in the future. A light list would be helpful though, I can understand that request.