Thanks Rich.

anstvam I have a folder of how to,s I've collected for a while. This from the 4 09 time frame. I don't have the author info and maybe dated but perhaps it will give you some ideas. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=f48b65c28d87667427d16763a0ff49 Update 0201 2011, found the author while looking for something else. It is catamountainThis is some data she has in the sage site.Here is a better link http://groups.google.com/group/Sketchup-Pro/browse_thread/thread/b97e3d2cb4fe0a75/117b0f68b52ee3f3

Very nice. Cozy. A very inviting design. Excellent render.

Use the Force, Antsvam, Use the Force! Jim

There is a plugin for import-export of UV maps from a number of UV tools (some of them free) ... and here it is http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=23725&hilit=plugin+uvtools

nice texturing,mood and combination

That is one great resource David. Much appreciated...

See this link for your chair http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=e0f16ba60e1deefe427d16763a0ff49. How it was done: Saved the Febo chair as an obj file( it has 5825 vertices and 11238 faces); Imported to Mesh lab( it will import 3ds also) and ran through filters: Merge close vertices ( d= .00010251) with 3 merged; removed duplicate faces with abuot 40 removed; Saved as dxf file and imported to DoubleCad free. Scaled by 10e6 in DoubleCad; Imported to SU 7.1 free with the result you see. I have not re-scaled yet. The reason with the step to Mesh lab is because it has a number of filters for clean up and decimation. I have not tried to reduce model size smaller than above. In addition I think Mesh lab is using a older version of dxf and wanted a later one for import to SU. Note the small artifacts at left/ right cushion back rest/ seat are in the basics model as well as the small ones on seat front edge. You can try different filters in Mesh lab to reduce model size to what you find acceptable. Good Luck

Hey Anstvam do you follow "a schematic life" blog, the stuff you posted looks familiar.

As someone who does NPR all the time, I can say that the hardest thing is to develop your own style of work. You don't want your images to look like all you have done is a couple of tweaks to a render, but to have a special quality that is your own. My suggestions would be: 1) look at what other people are doing and find styles that you like 2) look at architectural photography to get a sense of lighting. The image you posted has some very dark areas, and also has a rather cold color palette. A photographer will use warm fill lighting in various places that are in shadow. I also don't depend too much on the render, but hand draw a lot of elements using Photoshop and a pen tablet.

These might enlighten you on how to use Subdivide and Smooth, Subdivide and Smooth Tutorial Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LcLPPz0fWM Subdivide and Smooth Tutorial Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbdiThh4fio

I like them, they look very very good.

SU is very slow indeed but not meant to do professional modeling for photorealistic rendering. Using more appropriate modeling programs is the answer. With Sketchup you pay a high price for the ease of use and the amount of information you get while drawing. But we use Maxwell and import portions of our model from Sketchup into Maxwell Studio and so we never have to handle the whole model all the time in Sketchup. Devide your models when they become slow.

3RD image looks superb, wish they were higher res so we could see more detail. Vray really looks like a very capable sketchup renderer. Agree about the 2nd image shadows, something doesnt seem quite right.