I have had this problem and the only way i managed to get arround it was as follows. You need to open the model in max weld all the components together and save as a 3ds. Then sketchup will be able to inport it. If you dont weld the parts it scatters the parts all over the place. Dont stress when you weld it, when you open it in SU it still sees the parts as seperate pieces and if you triple click the parts remain as seperate pieces. However if the model is too complicated or has a high poly count there is NO way to inport it sketchup just doesnt handle it but i do manage to get most archmodels inported.

I'm also a user of unbiased engines, but i have to admit that if i knew vray well enough i would probably just use that. The big advantage for unbiased is the litle time is takes to set things up, wihtout needing to know too much technical stuff, but in return the render times are ridiculous big. Now the problem is that, in this CG business, we're always learning and evolving our skills and knowledge, with time beeing allways against us, so often we reach a point that we want the same quality (almost) with a fraction of the time and that's when we users, that ironicly always ask for simplicity, start studing and using more complex stuff that fit our new goals... I have 2 friends that everyday remember me that no matter how good quality my unbiased render is, their Vray and mental ray stuff will allways look better (I'm talking really top stuff here). They don't even lose much more time than me setting a scene up (experience and material libraries compensate that) and in render times i don't have a chance either, especially if we're talking big print resolutions...Nowdays i'm using more and more biased methods for render and evolve my photoshop skills...some stuff is a pain but it's starting to pay off

Do not use emissive materials to light your scene. Some engines can do this, VRay for SU cannot right now. you have to place IES or spots in those cans.

@aceshigh said: @al hart said: @aceshigh said: How do you guys do it???? How do you set the z-distance as the color intensity??? We did it by extracting all the faces and surfaces and running them through OpenGL in a separate routine and grabbing the OpenGL z-buffer. However, I believe you can do the same thing by turning on fog, perhaps making it a color, making everything white, rendering the image, and then processing the intensity of the images. Things that are further should be a different color or darker. (I was considering a similar "distance from the eye" routine for making shadows which get lighter as you move into the distance (without applying fog to everything), or Sketchy Shadows which change as the object in shadow is farther and farther from the eye.)

@zimmerkl said: I'm working on one of my first interior renders with V-Ray and everything is turning pink. I feel like I should be able to fix this in the material editor but I'm not sure how? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks Lars It Is Corrected by change of importance Saturation c 1 (is defaulted), before 0,2-0,5, good result gives 0,25. [image: gCNx_3.JPG]

maybe that's a job for beer exploration pav

here is my scene... if you were lucky following the video tutorial, please, modify my scene and upload again so I can see where I screwed up... piscina.skp

@dedmin said: @cadward said: Thanks!......I just picked up a copy of 3DS Max Design 2010 ....trying to learn it on my own ......this should help greatly ...now all I need are good resources for the modelling part .... http://cg.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/autodesk-3ds-max/ http://www.3dsmaxtutorials.net/ http://www.creativecrash.com/3dsmax/tutorials/ http://www.3d-tutorial.com/tutorials.php?cat=7 http://tutorialoutpost.com/tutorials/3d-studio-max I would highly recommend these guys. http://www.go-2-school.com

Agree w/ Frederik, please post Twilight questions in the Twilight forum... we may not necessarilysee a question placed here. could be that some kind of geometry is blocking the light? could be that the lights are large radius? could be many things. copying a light from one file to another should work perfectly

That would be the simplest way. You can also try to additionally render a model version with white materials (clay render) and blend it over the photo parts in the photo montage. Maybe some of the render gurus can share some experiences.

@monksanand said: can any user please give me either a method of installation or something that can show me how to install the bloody thing onto my windows 7 x64 bit......sick nd tired of trying....its so much easier on xp. just install and go.. As long as you ensure that the path to your SU installation is correct there is nothing different. By default the SU installation is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 7 Notice the x86 bit. Maybe the VfSU installer doesn't suggest the correct path by default? I can't rememeber right now, but ensuring the path is correct should be the only thing you need.

I have had all sorts or problems rendering this one model at any res over 800x600???!!!!! My work around was: -To render the house and tree in one render with alpha. Saved out as a vrimg then converted to exr then converted to png 32bpp -Then render garden and fence in another render with alpha. Saved out as a vrimg then converted to exr then converted to png 32bpp -Then bring the 2 images into PS -The garden and fence become the top (which has a transparent or alhpa backgound) layer which has a slight ghosting around its boarders (fence line and some plants which overlap the layer below). Hope this makes sense [image: Trailrender_05resized.jpg] This is the top layer

1.0

Yes, that can affect the render output.

The blue color would be back faces, to correct this select all, right-click and choose 'reverse faces'. As for the zoomed out view, did you ticked the 'override viewport' checkbox in the output section of the vrayfsu options? If you did, uncheck it. Sometimes that worked

You're right, each medium has its advantages, but a medium of dimension n+1 can include the medium of dimension n. it is also true for post processing such as Photoshop and other rendering software, add some lights remember that what you see on the 3D pdf is just an ... jpeg ... I allow your computer to calculate the rendering in different positions and / or animation (or I does not). Each media has its time, one day when we will realize that the paper is so precious that it will end to the museum with the painting etc. ... The trick is to adjust the precision (or the features) of your model to the user. Do you think one day we will see cameras in 3d? in fact it already exists and is based on the technology of augmented reality, see the video I sincerely think that technology evolves too quickly, but we are not, we must be aware, and that is the goal of the tutorial ...

@solo said: FWIW I use Deep exploration for both import and export/conversion of .stl formats. Solo: I am new with SU. I just received a .igs file that was done in inventor. Can I import this to SU to view?

Thanks for news, are good that not only in fairy tales on Cornucopia are interested, only there still it is not enough people...

ah, yes. it's a console app! I remember now that you mention it.

Yes that is a nice site. I have been a member there for years.