Thanks for the great feedback all!
@dale - Calgary and area are great these days! New mayor is awesome, the stampede and globalfest and everything are just booming here!
@tadema - thanks for your rendition! looks great - did you just brush in that effect?

Thanks for the hints on the white - I added a procedural noise bump map and it didn't have as much effect as I would've liked... I also changed the colour a little bit, and then added some noise in ps. let me all know what you think!

Great looking renders! mind if I ask what your settings were to get that level of soft shadow from your sun (in the plan view rendering)Thanks and keep up the great work. I love kerkythea

good looking render! I bet a little vignetting around the edges would really make the building pop!

Hey Guys and Gals - I'm working on this sketchup-vray-photoshop render and am looking for some feedback please. Specifically, how can I make the white trim and roofing of the building look less.. cartoony? and if anyone can point me in the direction of a good cedar shake texture it would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Whelp...

I'm reminded of the big stink we all put up after google bought SketchUp and we had to switch from the SketchUp Pro forums to the SketchUcation forums... which turned out not so bad after all. I mean I still hate and avoid the Google Groups help section for SketchUp, but we've still hung on to the community here at SketchUcation (even though I'm mainly a lurker ).

I'm sure that Trimble will be looking for integration with their devices and software, and frankly I'm looking forward to that. Expanding my business using my SketchUp Skillz will be a pleasure, as long as Trimble allows us to come their way easily, and not vice versa (ie; try and give their current software users a hand up over the SU users)

Lastly, and I'm sure that everyone will want this: For a Trimble rep to come into the forum here (or post on their site) and definitively say that they will continue to develop SketchUp as a stand alone 3d CAD program. That would really put my fears to rest!

That's great! if you don't mind my asking, what brush set are you using?

-I like it all except the windows on the building don't look quite right...maybe too opaque or just need some thing to reflect in them.
-yeah windows too light. from this angle the windows wouldn't appear to reflect much....but at sharp angle they would....fresnel. so darken them.
Windows are the bane of my existence! lol, good point though, I have artificially lightened them with light blue

grass image (in photoshop) would look better than 3d grass and significantly reduce render time.
I've tried that in a previous version of this house, I was a little undecided which I liked better.

tree looks fake, sorry i know its hard finding good trees.
understandable, any ideas where to grab a better one? turbo squid? this one is from formfonts.com

materials need more work, have you applied any templates to them? or are they all plain diffuse textures?
Every single texture has diffuse, bump, specular. obviously the effect wasn't strong enough? The siding could use a stronger bumpmap probably

I would choose a lower view angle, as if a human has taken the photo.
heh... I guess I've worked on this long enough, and adjusted enough things that I didn't notice I raised the camera at some point! thanks for that catch! I bet that will help a bunch.

Brighten exposure or sun strength, it seems quite dark in contrast to the bright sky.
Humm I'll have to give this a shot too

-Probably depth or occulsion pass would be more desirable
-Try overlaying a depth render in photoshop.
A couple of people have mentioned this... but there IS one of each, and I thought the effect had come off quite well! maybe the bloom effect I've overlayed on top has removed the effect of the depth render..
D-space, is there a tutorial somewhere for occlusion passes in Kerkythea?

Reduce the amount of diffuse glow/bloom as image is not bright enough to justify. you would not perceive a hazy atmosphere on a dull day as your render suggests.
I'll give this a shot too, hopefully it will bring out the depth render.

Yeah I don't think that tutorial you read would apply to an exterior shot like this.
I've read just about every tutorial I can find, and this one seemed to have the best method for bringing out textures and reflections, which is what I was after

Have you tried using any standard presets that come with the program. (if they come with the program? I am not familiar with it)
I've rendered in quite a few of the presets (MLT, Depth, Ambient Occlusion) and I've used a few preset materials (the car is probably the most notable one)

TBH it's pretty hard to comment when there's no reference. You say you are trying to optimise your 'time spent vs quality' ratio, but without knowing how long this would take (or what it would look like) using your normal workflow there's really not much to be said.
I've spent about 10-20 hours on this house. I've probably rendered it 20 different ways, and composed it 40 different ways in photoshop. To go from 2d drawings straight to this, using these techniques would probably be around the 10 hour mark (4 hrs modeling +3 hours rendering + 3 hours photoshop)

I think my clients wouldn't go for an image like this. On the other hand, if it's a hobby-project or a quickie you did for a friend then it looks allright to me.
This started as a client project, then turned into a hobby when the client's company folded

Hey all, I'm trying to perfect my method for completing houses as quickly and efficiently as possible. This, as per my norm was modeled in SU and then Rendered in Kerkythea. Let me know what you think, good or bad! I've basically tried to replicate This method http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=60333 rendering a few different passes and compiling them in photoshop.

A HUGE thank you to tak2hata for the AMAZING and long awaited fur plugin http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=28092 I've used it for the grass, and the snow on the mountain plants.

Thank you in advance!
-Will03

Hey, good looking render, Just a couple of improvements and it will be looking great! I would add a couple of interior lights, maybe above the couches and in the pool. To make the floor look better, I would add a trim around the pool, even just the SU tile textures, and then a different tile inside the pool, and add a bumpmap to the water, This will add a huge amount of realism. looking great!

looking great! I really like the first 2, how did you achieve that effect in the interior? photoshop, or was it a SU style? my only crit would be that the 2nd last one has a bit too much emphasis on the trees... but that could be up for debate, anyways, looking good!