Deciding on a Render....

puck

Sounds like twilight would be a good option. It's a really high quality final product, painless to set up and pretty quick. Loads of materials available to download and applying them is simple.

The trial will give you a good idea of the quality you can expect but I don't think anyone here would say it's bad at all.

Puck

kate-art

Why not try Shaderlight? There's a free 14 day trial of the Pro version but you can continue to use it with restricted lighting and resolution for as long as you like! If you're new to rendering, Shaderlight is ideal as it renders interactively. I won't bore you with a list of features here - just take a look at the video demo! http://artvps.com/content/shaderlight/sketchup/what-is-shaderlight

Dragoonprogramming

hmmm.
twighlight refuses to open on my computer so probably not that....
ill try shaderlight though...
anyone else?

Vicspa

Try kerkythea, (free), Right now I'm looking toward Thea render.
But try them all first.

gascat

I use Podium at work and and I purchased Twilight to use at at home.

I'm finding Podium gives great results with interiors but Twilight with exteriors.

Just my thought.

cheers...Wayne

Mary_1.0

Twilight's great, especially if you want to do animations and videos. For example, I used a model of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building that's in the SketchUp Warehouse, rendered it with Twilight, and made this video. Enjoy!

[flash=480,385:1ypofy0k]http://www.youtube.com/v/3I345cW-7zM[/flash:1ypofy0k]

jason_maranto

This is well outside your budget but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway becasue they are running a promo right now: Maxwell Render http://www.maxwellrender.com/

Pro's:

Incredible Quality.
Outstanding Sketchup plugin that is getting better all the time.
Stand-alone "studio" application for working with assets from multiple softwares and high poly assets that Sketchup can't handle.
Free plugins for many 3D apps so you can take it with you from program to program.

Con's:

Price
Requires Sketchup Pro

Here's a link to some tutorial videos to give you an idea of how it works:

http://think.maxwellrender.com/first10steps.php?categoryFS=15

Best,
Jason.

remus

@jason_maranto said:

Requires Sketchup Pro

Didnt realise that, any ideas why thats the case?

Sorry for the off topic post Dragoon

jason_maranto

My understanding is the Maxwell exporter makes use of the C++ API in Sketchup Pro for mega fast exports to render... Ruby exports can take 10 times longer (or more) for the same scene. Since Maxwell is definitely a "high-end" renderer it seems reasonable to think that the user-base is mostly professionals where time wasted waiting for exports to render would be too costly to tolerate.

Best,
Jason.

remus

Im pretty sure thats not a pro only feature, can only be a good thing though.

jason_maranto

According to what little info I can find on the subject the C++ SDK is a Pro version only feature.

Best,
Jason.

notareal

@dragoonprogramming said:

hmmm.
twighlight refuses to open on my computer so probably not that....
ill try shaderlight though...
anyone else?

I don't recall that twilight itself have particular issues, maybe some other ruby is interfering. If you are on low budget, take a look on Kerkythea (Twilight uses same engine) or maybe luxrender, both are free. Thea Render might also fit in your budget (promotional pricing during beta phase) - it a step upwards with a full studio and interactive rendering.