@tig said:

Have you tried Sketchup.send_action("viewZoomToSelection:") ?
It should work cross-platform.

I just tried it - it works just the same as Sketchup.active_model.active_view.zoom(Sketchup.active_model.selection) and moves the camera over next to the wall, and you cannot see the object on the wall.

The right solution will point the camera at the selected object, without moving the eye itself, and then adjust the FOV so that the selected object is zoomed in on from the same camera position as the original view. We can write it and post it here on SketchUcation. But if someone else has already written it, it would save us some time.

I want to be able to zoom in on an object - by rotating the camera and changing the field of view, rather than moving the camera like the standard zoom area does. Does anyone have this in a ruby anywhere already?

Often when you use Zoom Area in SketchUp, the object you were trying to zoom on is no longer visible. If you were to zoom by changing the FOV, then the object would still be visible - just larger.

The attached image shows what happens when I use the standard Zoom Area to zoom in on the sconce on the left wall.

We have used Sketchup.active_model.active_view.zoom(Sketchup.active_model.selection) with the same results.

I have placed this model, created by 3D Mesh, on the 3D Warehouse to use for making rendering samples with various rendering products: Sample Exterior Retail Scene

Render it with your favorite rendering package, post the results here, and I will place them in the Sample Renderings section of SketchUpRendering.com.

Besides seeing samples of various rendering packages, the purpose of this thread and/or the SketchUpRendering.com site, where we will post these images, is to show SketchUp users the value of using add-on rendering packages to improve the quality and value of SketchUp models and images for internal or client presentations.

It is OK to change materials, backgrounds, lights, and other rendering settings – but do not add or change other geometry – unless there is something wrong with the original model.

Also, check out these two similar Sample Rendering Threads if you like.

Sample Model for Rendering - Interior

Sample Model for Rendering - Water

@ledisnomad said:

What's the best way to set up a wiki, do you think?

The old SuWiki - (SketchUp Wiki) has been merged into the SketchUp Sage Site, The SketchUp Sage site is a Google Docs site with various authors contributing information.

They list a number of Rendering Engines for SketchUp on this page:

Perhaps that would be the place to host a collaborative spread sheet of rendering engines.

For this image, I placed some lights below the water level, turned off the sun, turned down the sun and placed a procedural bump on on the water, and zoomed in on the shark.

Rendered with IRender nXt - using alternate Rendering Engine 4 - which s better for caustic effects. Allowed to "cook" overnight for 625 passes. No post-processing

@pibuz said:

Nice scene Al!
Could you post a v7 skp file too?

Tye 3D Warehouse page has both SU7 and SU8 downloads: D Warehouse page

@elibjr said:

Here is my attempt. ... I hope you like it.

Elijah (Elibjr)

Thanks Elijah - I have posted this and most of the other images on SketchUpRendering.com

Everyone - If you get a chance, take a shot at the swimming pool scene:

1:1 (1" = 1") works well, because you can use it for construction directly, without having to scale the drawing.

Just lay out the sheet, place the 2 x 4s on it and start nailing away.

@ledisnomad said:

I've started a very simple one and will attach it. What would be the best way to allow people to collaborate on filling in the blanks and adding more information?

How can you claim to have put together a list of Rendering solutions for SketchUp, and have completely left out both ArielVision and IRender nXt?

This thread started out with a list of rendering engines, and many people have suggested ones which were left out. Perhaps you should add all of them to your spreadsheet.

Nice work on the video.

It really highlights how the water is a procedural bump map and not just a flat material

@macmac12 said:

here's my render, using vray for sketchup.hope you like it.

Nice background, reflective chair legs and other materials

I have placed this model, created by Boothy, on the 3D Warehouse to use for making rendering samples with various rendering products: Water Effects Sample

Render it with your favorite rendering package, post the results here, and I will place them in the Sample Renderings section of SketchUpRendering.com.

Besides seeing samples of various rendering packages, the purpose of this thread and/or the SketchUpRendering.com site, where we will post these images, is to show SketchUp users the value of using add-on rendering packages to improve the quality and value of SketchUp models and images for internal or client presentations.

It is OK to change materials, backgrounds, lights, and other rendering settings – but do not add or change other geometry – unless there is something wrong with the original model.

@carloh said:

here my quick attempt using lumion free version. some of the materials are from the maxwell material library.

Is it OK to upload this to the SketchUpRendering site, and mention you as the contributor?

If you re-render it later, we can update the image on that site as well.

Thanks for giving this a try. You can add lights, replace the lights, etc. depending on how your rendering program works.

I didn't create this model - but I believe the lights are either a face set to emit light, or a "ceiling light" placed behind the grids of the ceiling. It is probably marked as directional pointing down, but if it is behind the grid, then onmi-directional would work as well. You should choose the brightness what works to get the proper balance of sun, sky and lights, or go for a night time scene, etc.

In the rendering I created I the sky was on but not the sun. However, you are not trying to produce the same rendering, but rather to show a rendering you could get from the same model - for instance a rendering which would be good to show a client for whom you were designing this room. For instance you could make more, or different materials reflective, and have different reflection settings. The purpose of this thread and/or the SketchUpRendeirng.com site, where we will post these images, is to show SketchUp users the value of using add-on rendering packages to improve the quality and value of SketchUp models and images for internal or client presentations.

I ran this through IRender nXt.

Reflections were added to the ceiling, Index of Refraction to the glass table top and lights behind the light grids.

100 passes - about 2 hours rendering time.

[

We are posting some models to the 3D Warehouse to use as sample models for rendering.

Take a look at this one: Interior Conference Room Sample Model

Add some rendering parameters, render it with your favorite renderer and post the results here, or send them to me at al.hart@renderplus.com.

It is OK to add materials, backgrounds, and other rendering settings - but do not add or change geometry - unless there is something stupid wrong with the original model.

When you post it here or send it, let me know if it is OK to post your image on SketchUpRendering.com. I will place some good examples from various rendering packages on that site. Include any other useful information - name of rendering package, special effects used, etc. Let me know what credit I should put on your image: (Rendered by...)

Most people use SketchUp primarily for Architectural Design and Visualization, Interior Design, Renderings and Presentations. However SketchUp can be a great asset in the Furniture Layout Industry. By using predefined furniture Symbols or Components, you can make your own design work easier and more efficient.

SketchUp makes it easy to:

Create Components to visualize furniture in 2D or 3D models.
Spin, Place and edit your components as you layout the furniture.
Create 3D renderings to make it easy to visualize furniture.

Taking things even further, in SketchUp you can create special Components with attributes, use special placement and editing routines, customize attributes and reports, and create parts lists and presentations for clients.

Create Parts Lists and custom Reports - using attributes - such as Manufacturer, Part Number and Cost – for costing and client presentations.

SpaceDesign

All of these things can be performed with SketchUp, but it can take quite a bit of time and some essential elements are missing. SpaceDesign, from Render Plus, is a SketchUp add-on the makes this process easier to set-up.

SpaceDesign reports can give you valuable information like total material quantities and costs for your entire model. So, for instance, if your office furniture layout includes fluorescent task lighting, your SpaceDesign report can tell you how many fixtures and bulbs are used and their total line-item cost.
SpaceDesign makes SketchUp a more powerful tool for furniture layout.

Easier to select and place components
Easier to define attributes
Easier to create detailed reports

Check out SketchUp and SpaceDesign and see how you can use the power of these two tools to make your layout work easier and make better client presentations. To learn more about how to use SketchUp in your industry, visit How to work with Components in SketchUp

@unknownuser said:

Al,
Curious what error message you get when trying to save an image. (is it something like "fails to recognise the drive")
I ask because I have a 1tb Seagate Goflex ext. drive I purchased of October 2011 to which I have no problem with saving a Win7 drive image.

Charlie

The error is something like "I/O error while writing to drive"

You can see if the drive i unsupportable by typing in:

Fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo F:

(replacing F: with the drive letter)

It is the Bytes per Physical in bold below which is the problem. "Not Supported" means that the drive does not report the number of bytes to Windows, so Windows does not know that it is not a 512 byte drive.

NTFS Volume Serial Number : 0x7420b59d20b566b0
Version : 3.1
Number Sectors : 0x000000002baa0a1f
Total Clusters : 0x000000002baa0a1f
Free Clusters : 0x000000002b78d793
Total Reserved : 0x00000000000df800
Bytes Per Sector : 4096
Bytes Per Physical Sector : <Not Supported> <-------
Bytes Per Cluster : 4096
Bytes Per FileRecord Segment : 4096
Clusters Per FileRecord Segment : 1
Mft Valid Data Length : 0x0000000000d00000
Mft Start Lcn : 0x00000000000c0000
Mft2 Start Lcn : 0x0000000015d5050f
Mft Zone Start : 0x00000000000c0100
Mft Zone End : 0x00000000000cc900
RM Identifier: 230A744D-C625-11E0-9ECD-101F740C3A98

@andybot said:

Al - my best advice - get an external drive, at least 300GB, but 1TB is pretty cheap. You can use the windows backup to write a backup image of the C drive and system files. I've used it successfully to restore my windows 7 to a previous state. For file backups - use something like synkron (there are many other synchronization software that do the same thing) that allow you to duplicate and keep your files up to date on an external drive. (it only copies new files and files that have changed, so you are not having to copy the entire directory every time you back up.) Hope that helps.

Andy

Thanks for the response. The problems is that I purchased a couple of Seagate 3 TB USB External drives just for backups, but they won't work with Windows System Image backup. Because the drive manufacturers have switched to a different physical sector size (4096 rather than 512 bytes), and Windows 7 won;t support it unless the drive reports the new size (whic WDC does apparently, but Seagate does not)

I see that SketchUp changed their web pages yesterday, so I presume the sale must have closed.
Although the old URL's are still active.

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

(sketchup.google.com)