@remus said:

Not really a pic as such, but i think it fits in to the same sort of theme: http://www.chilloutzone.de/files/player.swf?b=10&l=197&u=ILLUMllSOOAvIF//P_LxP92A42lCHCeeWCejXnHAS/c

So thats what people do who aren't addicted to SketchUp

Or there is the time in a meeting, when Donald Rumsfeld was briefing George W Bush on an incident in Iraq where 4 Brazillian soldiers had been killed by insurgents.
George W went all white, and was visibly shaken.
When the others in the briefing room got up to leave the President asked Donald Rumsfeld to remain behind.
When they were alone the President again looking quite shaken asked Rumsfeld " How many is a Brazillian?'

Just a question. I'm in the middle of a fairly complex project, and I'm a little hesitant to download 7 Pro in case I have problems in translation etc from Pro 6. Any noticeable problems in this regard? What about plugins such as Renditioner, Podium, or Kerkythea (I know, not really a plug in, but the exporter is) which I use quite often, any problems with them?

From my point of view, I am an old guy who started in this field hand rendering, and I don't think most of you understand just how you have been empowered by the SketchUp software. In fact people are always talking about a SketchUp challenge, for your next serious project, don't do it in SketchUp, hand render it first,( no not napkin sketches, reasonable presentation renders) then submit it, and we will come up with a list of revisions, then revise your rendering. When this is complete do it in SketchUp and look at the differences not only in the professionalism and quality of the presentation in the SketchUp version but give us a time comparison.
I am certainly not pushing the boundaries of this software like silvershadow and others, but I know that it is by far the most enjoyable software on my computer. It never feels like work, and I get the feeling that outside of a few irritations that are founded, mostly people just want it to do everything for them, and I don't think this will ever happen.
Oh I'm attaching a few hand renderings by some of the greats, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Antonio Sant'Ellia, and Lebbeus Woods. There are other that are worthy of having a look at, like Steve Oles (who is actually now using SketchUp) and Hugh Ferris, the list goes on.

And I thank the folks on the SketchUp Team, and all the Ruby Scripters, I haven't had this much fun at work in years. (now back to work on SU 7.5 )

A guy is drinking in the bar, when suddenly the bartender whips open his coat and pulls out a little man about 12" tall sitting at a little baby grand piano just wailing out some jazz.
The bar patron is just amazed, and asks the Bartender where on earth he got the little guy.
The bartender opens his coat and pulls out an old green bottle with a cork in it and tells the patron that he got it from the genie who lives in the bottle.
Well the patron smiles at the bartender, and asks if he can make a wish. The bartender is a little reluctant as he only has three wishes, but he finally agrees.
The patron pulls out the cork and out pops the genie asking how he can be of service.
The patron whispers something to the genie, and wham! the bar fills up with a million ducks!
"A million Ducks"! screams the patron. "I didn't ask for a million ducks, I asked for a million bucks"!
The bartender glances over casually and says" What, you think I asked for a twelve inch long Pianist"

+2 (split personality)

Could you perhaps get pleasing results using the Dennis technique?

"Front" will only appear when you have chosen that view by choosing it from the icon menu. If you slightly rotate the view it will disappear, and the difference in view is hardly noticeable. Sorry you'll have to scroll the second image to see that there isn't much difference between the views( for some reason it is just uploading bigger).

Whaat can I say

Thanks solo
I use Cheetah 3d (mac user) for good 3d exports as well. Is the rendering process more "Podium" or "Kerkythea" like in complexity?

Nice work solo, Vue looks really interesting. What file format are you exporting from SketchUp?

I don't think we should be surprised. Your work is that outstanding.You deserve it, and happy birthday.

Isn't Sandbox only in the Pro version?

What astounding work. And thanks for sharing your methods. Please post more.

I'd love to give it a try but I've used up my trial time for the mac, and they don't have a free mac version yet as far as I know. I had a lot of fun with the software, and would have liked to play with it some more, as the results in some cases were very good. I'm following this thread with interest.

Yes, you are right, it certainly wasn't giving Kerkythea a chance, but considering I didn't even know how to tweak the glass when I posted this morning, I'm coming along.

Although I have used SketchUp for quite some time, I am brand new to rendering. I have been playing with Kerkythea, Renditioner (eval version), and SUPodium (eval version).
I thought I would post a comparison of a rendering from the three software. I realize this is not a very scientific comparison, but though it would invite comment as to where one goes from here, in terms of making better renderings from the "Raw" SketchUp information the software uses to process the images.
Some more information:

All were rendered from the same SketchUp model, which is posted from a screenshot.

Renditioner- Presentation Mode- Hazy Sky- Sketchup Colors- Render time 38s

Kerkythea- Only Sketchup materials untweaked- Render Time 48s

SUPodium- Exterior .xml - Render Time 39s

Well Calvin. You have inspired me to keep on. I've been working with Kerkythea for only a few weeks, and my pace is progressive but slow. Seeing your work will keep me at it. Thanks for posting.

Hey Lewis, congrats on being included in AIArchitect Fantasy Architect Issue. Actually it looks like Stormhouse is at the top of the list.
Great work. http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0822/0822a_2wadsworth.cfm

Hey Durant
Yes, Hemingway was about macho bravado with a touch of clacking from a manual typewriter. (I'm not so sure you don't come away with a lot of respect for the fish though.)
More great stuff from you.
Keep your feet on the pedals.

In the sixties there was a preoccupation with bigger joints