Rayscaper for Mac – Beta testers wanted

[pixelcruncher]

Hi all,

Rayscaper finally runs on the Mac! Photorealistic renders, live in SketchUp, on Apple Silicon GPUs. Before the release, I'm looking for Mac users to try the beta and help me find what still doesn't work.

Download and install instructions: https://www.rayscaper.com/mac-beta/

What you need

• A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer). Intel Macs aren't supported.
• macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
• SketchUp 2025 or 2026.

Install it with the Extension Manager
In SketchUp, choose Extensions > Extension Manager, click Install Extension and select the downloaded .rbz. Please don't unzip it and copy it into the Plugins folder yourself: the beta isn't notarized by Apple yet, and macOS blocks it when installed that way. The release will be notarized.

The first render takes a few minutes longer, while Rayscaper prepares the GPU of your Mac ("Preparing the GPU" in the status bar). That only happens once.

Feedback
Post anything that doesn't work, looks wrong or could be better in this thread, or email help@rayscaper.com. For a problem, please attach the logs (Extensions > Rayscaper > Export Logs for Support) and mention your Mac model, macOS version and SketchUp version.

Thanks for testing!
Thomas

[pixelcruncher]

A new Mac beta is up: Rayscaper 0.9.102. Same link as before: https://www.rayscaper.com/mac-beta/

What's new since the first beta:

• Support for SketchUp 2027, next to 2025 and 2026.
• Fixed a crash when quitting SketchUp 2027.
• Fixed an error when stopping the render.
• Fixed Start Render and saving right after installing Rayscaper from the Extension Manager: before, the model didn't save its Rayscaper settings until you restarted SketchUp.

If you installed an earlier beta: install this one over it from the Extension Manager, then restart SketchUp.

Still looking for Mac users to try it, any feedback is welcome!

Cheers, Thomas

[pixelcruncher]

Hey folks,

A new Mac beta is up: Rayscaper 0.9.104. Get it here: Rayscaper for Mac

It brings the Mac up to date with the latest Windows release. What's new since 0.9.103:

• Light presets with real brightness: bulbs, downlights, an LED panel, a window, the sun and more. You set a light's intensity in lumen, cd/m² or lux, and a new light starts as a real one, like a 60 W bulb.
• Lights are easier to place and aim: while a light is selected, SketchUp shows the cone of a spotlight, the radius of a point light and the spread of an area light. The new Aim Light tool turns a light towards the point you click, and right-clicking a light gives a Rayscaper submenu: Edit in Rayscaper, Turn Off/On, Aim and Change Type.
• More light controls: change the size of an area light in Rayscaper's light editor, and copies of a light in SketchUp keep its settings.
• Material ID and Object ID render methods, and render passes (Material ID, Albedo, AO, ...) in File > Render Scenes...
• Translucency in the Standard material, for curtains, lampshades and leaves lit from behind. Thin glass modelled as a single face now reflects too.
• Fixes: hidden nested tag folders stay hidden when their parent folder is made visible, plus fixes for crashes when removing lights, groups and components while rendering, and a notification instead of a crash when the GPU runs out of memory on a very large render.

If you installed an earlier beta: install this one over it, then restart SketchUp.

Thanks to everyone testing, keep the feedback coming!

Cheers,
Thomas

[pixelcruncher]

Hey folks,

Rayscaper 1.0.0 for Mac is up, out of beta together with Windows. Get it here: Rayscaper for Mac

It brings the Mac up to date with the Windows 1.0 release. What's new since 0.9.104, the last beta I posted here:

• Grass material: paint a face with it and Rayscaper grows real grass blades on it in the render. Presets for a mowed lawn, a garden lawn, a meadow, dry grass and artificial turf, with mowing stripes, and Wind to lay the grass over one way. The online material library has thirty Grass materials to start from.
• Fur material: shag rugs, sheepskin, faux fur throws and plush cushions grow real strands in the render. An image texture colors every strand, so a patterned rug keeps its pattern.
• Render in Viewport: Extensions > Rayscaper > Render in Viewport draws the render inside the camera frame of the SketchUp view.
• Rayscaper speaks your language: Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.
• Presets for the Post Processing, Environment and Render tabs, and your own keyboard shortcuts.
• A new look: the render window has calm dark surfaces, clearer selections and a new font.
• Smoother navigation: the render follows the camera faster while you navigate or change the model, and the status bar shows what the renderer is doing while a render starts.
• Fixes: no more crash next to extensions such as Unreal Datasmith, Two-Point Perspective views render as SketchUp frames them, scene tabs set the sun, and soft edges of PNG textures with transparency no longer turn dark.

Good to know: the very first render after installing prepares the GPU of your Mac. That can take a few minutes, with "Preparing the GPU" and its progress in the status bar. Rayscaper isn't stuck, let it finish. The first render with a Grass or Fur material does this once more, after that renders start right away.

If you installed an earlier beta: install this one over it with the Extension Manager, then restart SketchUp.

Thanks to everyone who tested the Mac betas, your reports made this release!

Cheers, Thomas