Wow, Pete

I think you have answered all my questions with that one render! And it looks like Thea will be adding me to their list of users very soon.
Really appreciate you taking the time to do this, thank you.

Suppose that does just leave one question: when is the new version of Thea released? When? When? When?

A.

Thanks for the responses.
The more I look into Thea the more impressed I become... And the new version does look VERY interesting.
Cad father: I'd be very interested to see an example of one of your "15 minute" renders, if you are able to share one?

Hi Pete - yes I certainly can.
I'd prefer not to share the model too widely, but it you can PM me an email address....
Very grateful for your help

A

Thanks Pixero. I've looked at the real-time solutions, and although good, they don't quite have the quality I need.
Your point about set-up times is very valid. In Max, my set-up time is generally about 15 minutes - so not quite 'one-click', but close.
I know that ultimately the need for 'realism vs speed' is going to mean some kind of compromise. I suppose I'm looking for the least-worst compromise!

A

OK, I've been in this game long enough to know that asking a 'which renderer is best' question opens all sorts of worm-cans

However..... I'm currently using 3DS Max - this is really a hangover from the bad ol' days when I used to model in AutoCad (that and working for a company who can't believe there is life after AutoDesk...)

Anyway, as I now do ALL my modelling in SU, paying for 3DS Max, and only using it for rendering is a real waste, so I've started looking into 3rd party render engines for Sketchup - Vray, Thea, etc etc...

The problem I come up against is this: in 3DS Max the render-time for the image attached (not amazing I know, but typical for my industry) is about 10 minutes, at a resolution of 3200px wide. What I need is a renderer that can get close to these times - in my indusrty render times of hours are simply not realistic. I work to ultra-short deadlines, and designs are being reveised on a constant and rapid basis. You'll see from the example that I don't need ultra-high levels of realism, just basic GI capabilities really. In other words, I can sacrifice total perfection for speed! The model shown is fairly typical in terms of complexity, poly-count etc..

So any and all advice would be appreciated. Render engines are mostly judged on their final image quality, which is fair enough. But what I need is something that is good enough, and FAST. I'm sure there must be others, working in the real world, who have had to deal with this?

Can 'o' worms well and truly opened

Andy

Lovely interior, and FWIW, your people aren't that far off the mark... compared to some of the awful stuff we see in some achitectural renderings

I thought you might find this link interesting and helpful (i know i did)

| Page not found

(vyonyx.com)

A.

Hi Ken,

It was done for a movie-pitch - which as I undertand it is still on-going, so I'm free to show the images, but the NDA won't allow me to say what they are for just yet

Attached another image from the same project.

A

Thanks Ken,

Yes, I'll post the SketchUp wireframe here later. - Don't expect great things though the wireframes are really just used as a perspective guide for the painting and photo-reference stuff

A.

Hi All,

Bit of new work from me.... all a bit Blade Runner-ish.... but that was the brief

Buildings were block SU models, the curvy girder things were modelled in SU, and a couple of the 'cars' were acquired from the Warehouse... everything else was painted.

A.

Cute litte building indeed. Beautifully rendered as usual. Building sits nicely in the landscape, and the image sits nicely on the page. Lovely.
A

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

Tina - the feeling is mutual - was just browsing through your latest work here as well

Marked001 - still haven't had a chance to grab the SU files from my home pc, but will do this weekend!

In the meantime, here are 3 more recent bits of work from me.

- A very crude SU block-model overpainted.

- SU used to model the cooling towers and bits of the distant buildings.

- SU block models used as a perspective guide for the 'shanty-town' buildings

- SU model from the Warehouse, re-worked and messed-with before over-painting

Andy

Thanks Mark,
Yeah, I'll post the sketchup elements when I get back onto my other PC later

Hi,
Dunno if any of you remember me, but I used to be semi-regular around these parts a few years back - looks like the place has changed, but in good ways!

Anyway, I've been busy, and thought it was time I shared some recent work.

All the paintings feature SketchUp to varying degrees - all buildings, ships, structures etc began life in SU, before over-painting in Photoshop.

Thanks for looking

A.

Thanks for the replys guys.

Exactly what I was hoping to hear

A.

Hi Guys. Is anyone currently using SU and Lightwave3D in their workflow? ie. modelling in SU, and rendering/animating in Lightwave?

My current workflow is SU to 3dsMAX, exporting from SU as a .3ds file, complete with materials etc. This works perfectly. Is the route from SU to Lightwave just as straightforward ?

Any insights or experiences would be much appreciated.

thanks

Andy.

Thanks guys

Karina: yes, the background is composed from around 20 different photos of different locations which I put together in Photoshop. They needed to be colour-corrected to get them to match, and then I add several extra layers of hand-painting to merge them all together. The sky is a mixture of photos and hand-painted clouds.

A.

Hi Guys... Has been a long time since I was last around these parts...

Anyway, thought I'd share a bit of unfinished work from a few months ago. This was produced for a short film, which ended up being nor being made...pity, but does mean I'm no longer bound by the NDA Anyway, ususal work flow for me: basic SU model, 3dsMax render, and a LOT of photo and digital-painting work in Photoshop to bring all the bits together... I never got to finish this piece entirely, but thought it may be of interest to some of you...

Thanks for looking as always.

A.

SU model and max render:

WIP part one:

WIP part two:

Final painting:

Not to late Pilou, thank you!!! Loving the brush-strokes....very cool

A.

My eternal gratitude to all of you

Next time i need something weird....I'll know where to come

Thanks again all !

Andy.

Ahh... I knew this place wouldn't let me down

Oli - nice one mate, I owe you one, thank you

Tom: recognised your style before I even saw your name next to it - perfect - you're a gentleman

Andy.