You can use the jpegs as your material maps, but you will not be able to the material files. These files are for V-Ray for 3D Studio and the SketchUp plugin has its own format .vismat This site has some free vismats http://luzindirecta.org/ and there a ton on the Chaos site (for registered users).

ok, this has been really a great help to me. thank you everybody. I've read that other thread which is helping me understand better. The examples that best fit what I was originally thinking was pretty close to the last post (by andybot). i"m experimenting with it now. If moving towards a true glowing dusk shot, i'm guessing a different task alltogether. I need to spend more time playing with when there is no deadline looming. Thanks. If I get something worth sharing I will post it. GREG

@maeglin1 said: @dkendig said: There are new tutorials for our public beta that started today! http:http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vrayforsketchup_beta.html Lynda.com have a tutorial course: "Vray for Sketchup" which is the best video I have seen explaining how to go about things. It is simple and clear... unlike some of the videos from ChaosGroup, where it's hard to understand the accents of the teachers. The worst part of YouTube tutorials is when the narrator starts talking about 500 things a viewer does not need to think, or hear about, at the moment. Also, it would be nice if someone at Chaos would have thought - gee, a factory reset button would be nice to get novices back to where things start.

importing an image only works for flat logos - the drinking glass one would have to be mapped. Also, make sure the "use alpha for transparency" is checked in the vray material. Yes it worked fine and i found the use alphafor transparency, this one must only in the diffuse layer with the imported logo. By the way nice bottles you made, i will try these also to make

Sounds like you are trying to render a heavy model file. I agree that saving and restarting SU will probably help. I have found that with these issues, VRay clears reflections and some alpha map settings when you get this error. You should go through your materials list and verify that this has not happened, the re-render.

Unbiased presets like "19. Metropolis Light Transport" are always safe, they take longer to render, but if you are not familiar with biased settings, you probably will save time. You might want to look on http://www.kerkythea.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9803 for some biased optimization, but generally better start from basics with getting started tutorial http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=42&func=fileinfo&id=89 and Fast Start 4Architects http://www.kerkythea.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=63986#63986 Also read trough the tutorials master list http://www.kerkythea.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5720 There is not much benefit from caustics in model like this (if you looking biased speed). Also you appear to have some modeling issues with light components, make sure that they don't intersect with geometry (as that gives moire pattern on surfaces).

Hi Fred, When SketchUp crashes, do you see a dialog where you can submit a crash report? If so, can you submit a crash with your e-mail (you can private message me with it) or with some unique comment that I can search on and find? I'll look up the crash and see if gives us any clues. Regards, Tricia Google

@valerostudio said: If you want to render an elevation, I just go to that elevation, turn on perspective, change you field of view to 1 and render with the physical camera. FOV of 1 looks like an elevation. But after changing FOV to 1, render is extremly bright - nearly white. What set, change then?

awww, too kind thanks guys.

SketchUcam, generates 'g-code' direct from SU... john

@rspierenburg said: Once again though, the modelling seems nice and clean and pretty intricate. thanks. ...although i know there'sbeen a lotta triangulation of simple rectangle faces..making model untidy..vray ignores those bad lines that come

What about TIGs exporter? http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=33448

Have you updated to the latest version 1.49.01 ? If so - then you should report the issue to ChaosGroup.

i just ended up here. Fernando's trick seems doest work fully with sketchup 2016. so as new user i have to crack up my brain. I simply used Text Mix in environment Load the hdri in text A and set the Text Sky in Text B.Disable the Text C (Mix). Then after series of trials. I unticked the Text B. Seems working. Shadows apperared with affecting the hdri's intensity. Hope thus helps.

All the manuals that exist for VR4SU live here http://spot3d.com/

I would imagine you can get most things in one layer. There are many map slots available for the different aspects of reflections. I know some of the metal materials use two layers because there are two different IOR values used. Is there a particular example you are working on?

Don't forget to check out PixPlant and CrazyBump. Personally, PixPlant is better value as it does the seamless textures. I trialed ShaderMap and found it a bit of a memory hog.

hey, I get a message :vray encountered an error while trying to render, please check the ruby console for errors. can someone help? ruby console: "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/3rdPartyHelpers.rb:63:in call'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/3rdPartyHelpers.rb:63:in block in evalExternalCb'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/3rdPartyHelpers.rb:59:in each'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/3rdPartyHelpers.rb:59:in evalExternalCb'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/VfSExport.rb:1981:in start_render'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/R2PCallbacks.rb:538:in start_render_cb'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/VfSExport.rb:1938:in direct_send'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/VfSExport.rb:1938:in render'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/R2P.rb:1482:in launch_vray_render'", "C:/ProgramData/ASGVIS/VfS/Ruby/R2PToolbar.rb:30:in block in module:VRayForSketchUp'", "SketchUp:1:in `call'"] Scene fully processed in 0.050 seconds

i will recommend pixplant.