Still playing around. See what you started Edson?, now I have to add some patio stones, some greenery, maybe some outdoor furniture.
@ Tom, I explained it a few posts above yours, wanted to post a skp but file was to big. Will post some screen grabs, it's pretty simple though.

Mike

Just had a look at your tut remus, very good info. I rarely use any rubies. What I did was very simple, draw a sqiggly line, copy it and close the ends in to form a face, draw another line for the water path, use the follow me tool. That's what I love about SU, so many ways to accomplish something.

Mike

Edson, here's a quick idea. skp attached so you can play around till you get the effect you want. Sorry couldn't attach skp as it was 577 KB zipped. If you're still interested I can e-mail it to you but it seems like remus did a nice job.

Mike

Jon, very nice website though there are a few grammar and spelling errors on the home page (unless I'm mistaken and some things are spelt differently in the UK). BTW your portfolio is also very nice, you have some really good presentations, very enjoyable to look at.

Mike

Boo, also look at this post http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=5293. The files already have the .style extension, so I can save right to my styles folder or somewhere else and then copy/paste into my styles folder. Never had this problem with the xml files before. Thanks again.

Mike

Boo, apparently I must be missing something, when I go to save the file, it's zipped, so if I save it to my Styles folder I get nothing, when I extract the files I get xml files instaed of a .style file which I could then just drop in my styles folder. I'm probably doing something stupid so thanks for the help. I'm not the only one thats missing something here.

Mike

@loafin andy said:

I really like the Watercolour styles, they're lookin' great !!
But I'm having a problem installing them, I've downloaded the zipped files into my styles folder, but when i unpack them I just get the 3 xml files, a 'ref' folder (presumabley for the 'stroke' line and a doc-thumnnail.png). Am I doing something wrong or is it just a simple renaming exerise to achieve the blackwatercolour.style.

Not sure where to go from here,as I have not come across this before when downloading a .style file, so if anyone could point me the right direction as to what to do, it would be very much appreciated

These styles look great, thanks Dave. Now can someone please explain the correct procedure for getting these installed in my styles folder? When I download I get a win-zip file and when unpacked I get 3 xml files, a png., and a ref. folder. I'm using the latest SU6 Pro on a windows machine. TIA

Mike

remus, sky color and time of day will effect Podium renders. I like my sky color to be 230,250,253 and a morning time between 8:00 and 10:30 but it depends on what atmosphere that you're trying to create. Also even if you get a blusish tint you can use auto levels in PS or other editing software to fix it. I used it on your picture but there still seems to be a little blue, I would try playing with your sky color and time of day or even turning the sky off. I'm sure that solo will have some good tips for you.

Mike

Here is the action applied to SU output, I will try and play with the dodge and burn tools when I get a little more time. Thanks again.

Mike

modelhead the decking and railings look good except the woodgrain covers more than one piece of decking, in reality every piece of decking would have its own grain pattern. BTW do you work for Luxwood?, I looked at the Deck Design software about a year ago, I build about twelve or so decks a year(along with other projects), I was turned off by the fact that there wasn't a price on their website and that you had to request a quote, ending up gettin SU, do all my deck designs and working drawings in SU and cad. Do like the fact that Luxwood uses actual products in their apps that we use in the field.

Mike

I feel your pain er I mean love. Friends and family know I do 3D drawings for my projects so when they want a deck added to their house or a wall knocked down in their kitchen it's "Can you draw up something "quick" so I can see what it will look like?". But what makes it worst is that I do remodeling for a living so I also get "I'm building that deck you drew up this weekend, think you can give me a hand?" or "Can I borrow one of your nail guns?" Then having work trucks I always get "Can you pick up this playset?" or "Can you help me move?" But you gotta love your friends and family, that's what gets you through bad times. I almost stopped a guy in traffic the other day to ask where he got his bumper sticker, it read "Yes this is my truck and No I won't help you move".

Mike

Thanks modelhead, I've just started with rendering, have a ways to go before I can put out the type of quality renders that I've seen posted here. As far as Indigo, maybe after I get more comfortable with Podium or Kerkythea I will try another rendering app.

Mike

Well I finally had some time to try some rendering, seeing all the fine renderings here is definitely motivating. The first one was with the beta Podium, noisy setting, 125 passes (maybe not enough?), the second is with Kerkythea, path tracing progessive, around 300 passes (maybe too much?) They both need some work, hopefully the rendering experts here will have some tips (needed and appreciated), but I'm pretty pleased with my first serious attemps at rendering. BTW this is a small project that actually is going to be built so I will post some differrent model views and actual construction pics when it's completed. But for now off to practice some more rendering.

Mike

There are actually quite a few render farm services, here are just a coulpe that have online price "quotes", I guess if you're getting that kind of money you can afford these services, http://www.rebusfarm.com/ http://www.rendercore.com/rendercoreweb/index.do

I don't think that there is one "perfect" software especially when it's being used for design, modeling, animation, rendering, and presentation, there probably never will be. "Falling Water" wasn't modeled and animated using just one app. I think the trick is to find the right combination for your workflow and desired results. Everyone here uses more than one app to get the result they want and I think that most everyone will agree that SU has improved their workflow. However that doesn't mean that there isn't needed improvements for SU and Layout and hopefully as CraigD has stated, they are coming.

Mike

It's laughing all the way to the bank with someones $90,000 USD.

Thanks majid!!, just downloaded and ran, can't wait to play around with it a little more.

Mike

I also love the concept and agree with Dylan that it's a little harsh on the eyes right now. I also think getting more sunlight to the gardens using mirrors could be problematic, it could be very distracting to near by buildings and traffic. There was a thread on the pro forums I believe, concerning sun glare reflecting off of a building and becoming a safety issue for motor traffic and pedestrians.

Mike