If you are using post pro to say add landscape plants, grass etc. assign colors in SketchUp that will be easily recognized in photoshop(etc) so you can extract and create your layers.
This also applies to emitters.
If you are using lots of high poly objects, ie modeled plants etc. instead of using layers, create another Skp. file as a storage area for these objects. In really high poly environments it will make quite a difference to the way Skp acts.
If you are in a very tight room situation where you will end up trapped in the walls, set up ample scenes so that you can easily get back to modeling.
This is fun even if I don't win.

This looks like an incredible plug in, particularly for mechanical engineers. But I can see a lot of other uses as well.
Great work.

This is a nasty cool idea Mike.
If someone set these up at North American shopping malls it would give purpose to those nameless, drifting, lost males, attached to the mall benches (not to mention giving their wives plenty of time to shop).

Well this is interesting. I took your file, and deleted the sandbox skin, and did a "from contours" command, and it took about 6 minutes to generate the terrain.
A file like this would normally generate in under 30 seconds or so for me.
It's not that the size of the whole terrain is that big (95 m or so). hmmm again.
So what Did was deleted everything but the contours, and exported them to Vectorworks (my Cad program). I did this in both dxf and dwg format just to compareand had a thorough look to see that there weren't any hidden layers etc.
What was interesting is the dwg file of just the contours imported into Vectorworks with the mesh subdivided and looked like this
This is not what I would usually get, so it has me suspicious that the file may be corrupt.
The dwg file came in as just the exported contour lines.
I exported this file from Vectorworks back to SketchUp, and did a "from contours", and although it cut the time down to 4 minutes, that still seems too long.
So, I'm not much help, but it may be worth a try seeing if you can bring the file into Skp. in a dxf format.
Sorry. Perhaps someone else can jump in with some advice.

If you can possibly post the file, I'll have a look, because it sounds to me like you have taken the right steps, and the crashes sound odd.
The only advice otherwise is to be sure there isn't some random def point left over somewhere from the dxf import, and if the contours are grouped, try exploding them.
Otherwise, I'm not sure, because I have a similar approach, which works well even on huge terrains.
Hmmm....

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate these tutorials. I use PS in post pro all the time, (usually due to time constraints) and your examples are really useful to me.
Thanks.

Enjoy the day. Happy birthday

I have the i7 chip in my Macbook pro, and it is real workhorse with big poly models. I also have an older 25" Imac, but usually use the MacBook because of speed, but sure miss the screen size.

Commodor 64.... way ahead of it's time.

Not in the least bit bored. I wasn't aware of this work by Voysey so have been thoroughly enjoying them. Please don't stop.
Cheers

It would sure help to pull those two blurry images together when your drunk
Or maybe it's just that Apple sex appeal thing.

Yes, I agree, and with these fairly large projects I'd love to know more about your key software and workflow.
Welcome!

This looks like really interesting and valuable research, and suggest others follow the links you have provided to have a look at the scope of the work your doing.
Your work seems to be reasonably open sourced. Do you see the algorithms you have developed being applicable in other rendering software, or is the intent more pure research?
Congratulations on quite an accomplishment.

Yes, I re-installed the whole package, and I think it actually even works better. Sometimes the roof deck tools would balk at strange shaped roofs, but the model I was just working on had the strangest yet, and it never flinched.

Sounds like a great day. Happy Birthday and enjoy your family.

I had problems, after installing M2, as you described only with the roofing deck tools. I downloaded it, and re-installed, and it has worked flawlessly ever since.

This is one very enjoyable, ans sensual visual experience. I have gone through it several times, each time picking up on beautiful details.
I would love to know more.

Some interesting renderings on the Cupertino site.(Foster and Partners)

Another Beauty.

And Merry Christmas back at you.