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Lets try to agree on a model. It doesn't matter that it was originally created in SketchUp, but rather that it can be represented with SketchUp geometry and can be rendered well with one of the SketchUp add-on rendering packages.
I we can get one more vote for the Jaguar XKR-S below, lets use that.
I'll see if I can get the Rhino model exported to SKP and we'll see if it has better detail and/or someone can suggest a better model on the 3D warehouse.
We received an email from a SketchUp user who liked a rendering of a Rhino Model using Brazil better than the renderings he saw of SketchUp models.
Here is the rendering he sent as an example:
We have often wondered if it is the Nurbs Geometry in Rhino which makes good renderings - or just the skill of the Rhino users. So we would like to see what some SketchUp users can do with a similar model using the various rendering packages available wit SketchUp.
Lets use this model as a base:
[This 3D Warehose model has been edited since the original post was made]
Put something behind it or in the sky for reflection and see what you can do.
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 to the car – unless there is something wrong with the original model.
Also, check out these similar Sample Rendering Threads if you like.
Sample model for Rendering - Exterior at Night
Here is a better example, equivalent to
Sketchup.is_a?(Module)
VALUE Sketchup = rb_path2class("Sketchup");
VALUE Module= rb_intern("Module");
VALUE is_a = rb_intern("is_a?");
VALUE result = rb_funcall(Sketchup, is_a, Module, 0);
[Ignore this for a minute - I need to add a second parameter for what the value to pass to is_a?]
You can execute the equivalent of any ruby function using rb_intern() and rb_funcall()
Try this:
VALUE fid = rb_intern("is_a?");
VALUE vret = rb_funcall(klass, fid, 0);
I tried simply renaming them to Material1A and Material1B - no hyphens - and they loaded OK - so simply renaming seems to fix the problem.
Then I renamed them again to Material21 and Material22, and they failed - so it is not just sequential names 1,2,... which fail.
I suspect that SketchUp tries to map it automatically assigned material names, MaterialNNN, to an identical material if found. That makes some sense - since SketchUp might assume that people who create materials and don't change the names don't really care if they get renamed when importing the model as a component.
Thanks for your help on this. It is a lot of work to learn how materials really work.
Rich is working now on a edit box during placement which will make it easy to select a material from the library, rename it and then place it all in one step.
Take a look at SketchUpRendering.com - they have several models which have been rendered using several different rendering packages.
I had the same problem importing your 2-square model.
I noticed that your 2 materials were called Material1 and Material2
I renamed them and saved the model with a new name and imported it and it imported OK.
Do you usually leave the default names on your materials before importing the models as components, or do you rename the materials first?
Try importing this model - which is your model with the materials renamed.
If you want to have use functional names for your materials - such as "Counter Tops" so that they can be easily used for cut lists, for example, then it is handy to rename them as you place them.
The Render Plus Material Placement Wizard make it it easy to view all the materials in your model
Just Right click on any material name to quickly rename it.
If you don't mind doing a little more work, lets try this with a minimum amount of materials
Apply the same material to them - renaming it as you go so you now have two rectangles with two materials which are identical with different names.
Purge Unused just before saving, and verify that there are only two materials in the saved model.
Create a new database, and apply the original, un-renamed material to a rectangle.
Load the first model as a component (I was using import for this)
When I am done I have three unique material names.
1 I had just placed and 2 from the component.
(Use list view to see the material names, rather then the colors)
Try my two SKP files: Open
Load 1-rectangle with color.skp, and then import 2-squares with color.skp into it.
It works fine for me. If it doens't work for you, perhaps a rendering package you have loaded, or some other plugin i optimizing the materials for you???
I sounds like if our Make Unique function not only made the name unique, but also changed the RGB slightly until is was unique as well, then the materials would stay unique.
I'll try that out.
It also sounds like when you load a component, SketchUp will use existing materials if they are identical to the materials already in the component. That would still be a hassle - since the material colors in the component materials might accidentally match the colors in the model already.
I'll see if the reuse happens even if they component has attributes. If attributes solve the problem, then we can just add a unique (UUID like) attribute to each material when we make it unique.
@gullfo said:
the issue i raised though is that the name of the material is not observed by SU, only the actual underlying RGB composition. for example you could (in your tool) assign the same A02 color to multiple names in your rendering tool (i can do the same in Kerkythea) but in the native SU i cannot have 2 materials with the same RGB - so for example i cannot use the same gray color to represent all steel items, i have to use variations. when it comes time to render (only a small part of my workflow) i can apply the same color to as many things as i want (and it looks like your rendering tool can as well) but when i need to generate material lists for parts, lumber, sheet materials, steel structure, etc - i cannot because the SU materials are not separated by name (annoying as noted before
)
it would be a good feature in your tool to enable unique so your tool would want to create these as true SU materials (and the unique forces a small tweak to the RGB to enable it to be truly unique).
I must be missing something here???
In this model I place color 0001 on the first component, then renamed it (-A), and then placed the same color on the 2nd component and renamed it to -B.
The two materials both have the same RGB, and both show up in the report.
(I have attached the SKP)
How can I reproduce what you are describing?
Make Unique
We are adding a Make Unique button to our material placer which will take the selected, but not yet placed material and and -01, -02, ... to the name until it has a name which is not yet being used in the model.
If what you say about RGB is true, then we could easily modify the RGB slightly until it became unique as well. But i would like to be able to demonstrate the problem in some way.
gullfo,
You will also want to see our other post:
Replace Materials while keeping the names
Which makes it very to change to color of several materials at once, while retaining the original names.
As part of our Material Styles project, we needed a quick way to place library materials into a model without changing the name of the material.
This is valuable if you prefer to have functional material names, like Lumber 4x4, which you use for reporting and want to change the color without changing the material or if you Material Styles - which replaces all materials in a model by name, but needs to preserve the original names.
Map-Replace Materials is a function on the Place Material Wizard which lets you select a material from a library - or another material in your model and 'Map' it to a material in your model - replacing the color, texture and other attributes without changing the name of the current material.
First select a material using the left and center pane, then select one or materials in the model in the right hand pane.
Click Assign to assign the material in the center pane to the materials in the right hand pane.
Repeat this as often as desired to map all the material you want.
Notice that we are assigning the Red color to the lower cabinet base and doors which are currently white.
When you click Apply all the material assignments will be applied to the model
This makes it easy to make multiple color and texture assignments, and apply them by material name to your model - keeping the existing material names.
Beta Test
This is currently only available for testing in IRender nXt. If there is interest we will find a way to release it as part of RpTools rather than IRender nXt.
Download the latest version of IRender nXt to see it in action.
If you need a new 30 day trial of IRender nXt to try it out, send us an email at support@renderplus.com
What do you think - will this be useful for SketchUp models?
Thanks for the thoughtful reply, gullfo.
You may want to take a look at our Material Placement Wizard.
Replace Material
We added the "Replace" check box to support these Material Schemes. "Replace" changes the current material to match the library material - keeping the original name. So that once you rename a material to "lumber_runner", you can change it color or texture easily without having to then rename the new material.
This "Replace" feature also, automatically, changes the material color and texture for all objects using the current material.
See: Replace Material
Change Name During Material Placement
Based on your comments we could add a text box to let you rename the material as you place it - so you would not have to first place a material and then rename it in the SketchUp Materials Window. (This would be completely separate from "Replace")
Make Unique Name
And we could add a "Make unique" button which adds -1, -2, etc. to the end of the material name until it finds a name which does is not already being used in your model.
Automatic Drilling
The Render Plus Material Wizard also, automatically drills into groups and components to determine which face, group or component is best to apply the material to.
SpaceDesign Reports by Material
Also, if you have never looked at SpaceDesign, you may want to consider using it for reporting. This forum thread discusses reporting on components based on their material name.
[url]
http://forum.irendernxt.com/forum/topics/space-design-material-in-report[/url]
The normal SketchUp user sets materials on object by selecting a material from the library and then placing in on a object. When you select materials from a library and drop them onto objects in your SketchUp model, then often the name refers to the material - such as Red Brick - rather than the use of the material - such as Outside Wall.
If you create objects whose materials have functional names, such as Ceiling, Table Top, Floor, etc. Then you can assign materials from a library to these materials - without changing the material name - using Replace Material or you can replace all the materials at once using Material Styles.
Example
Here is a SketchUp Kitchen model with material names which are functional. ('Base Cabinets', 'Lower Cabinet Doors'), instead of descriptive ('Red', 'Wood_Floor'), and one set of material defined.
Here is the same model with different materials applied to the surfaces.
Yhe original Material Style is then selected from the Wizard, and when Load Selected Style is clicked, the materials in the model are re-mapped to the materials in the saved style.
Select Material Style
Model after applying Style
Want to learn more?
See: Material Styles
Beta Test
This is currently only available for testing in IRender nXt. If there is interest we will find a way to release it as part of RpTools rather than IRender nXt.
Download the latest version of IRender nXt to see it in action.
If you need a new 3 day trial of IRender nXt to try it out, send us an email at support@renderplus.com
What do you think - will this be useful for SketchUp models?
I should work for other rendering packages as well, because we save the attributes on the materials into the Style and reload them. Try it out and let us know.
@chris fullmer said:
I don't think that we normally get rain this time of year, not real rain. We've been getting afternoon thunderstorms that might dump for 30 minutes or so, then its all clear skies again. This rain is apparently very abnormal.
.
Chris - are you living in Boulder or Davis now?
Your sidebar says Davis.
@solo said:
Would this be a good time to discuss Base camp 2013?
There is a lot of newly cleared land along Boulder Canyon which we could use for camping, outdoor un-conferences etc. 
I presume you mean the 12" a day - not the 15" a year.
But up here, in the granite mountains and a thousand miles from the Ocean, there is no place for the water to go - so it just flows into the streets, wipes out roads and bridges and creates all kinds of havoc.
We had all been "praying" for rain after a two week spell of 95 degree temperatures (35 Celsius) which is quite warm for September but not this much. It is still raining outside my window.
Another day of rain and flooding in Boulder and other areas around Denver - especially the creeks and rivers coming down from the mountains which are all overflowing.
The main roads into Boulder (36, 93 and South Boulder Rd) are all closed. We pretty much got about 12" of rain in the past three days in a part of the world where we normally get 15" of rain per year.
I hope all our SketchUp friends are doing OK.
75th Street east of Boulder is flooded and closed to traffic.