I own this collection http://www.doschdesign.com/products/vizimages/Birds_Eye_Trees.html. I use it from time to time with photoshop.

For me, I wouldn't mind a few more top view options. I include a plan view with all the designs I present to clients. Most of the time I do them in a program called Dynascape and the plants are represented as symbols which are more CAD then they are photoreal. I need this so I can do callouts which label all the plants in the design. This allows my installers to accurately place and plant the landscape.

What I would love to see would be a way to "hook" a top view plant to a normal faceme billboard in sketchup so when drop in a tree, the overhead view comes in with it....perhaps on it's own layer. This way when the camera is overhead, you'd get a nice depiction of the layout in a photoreal sense. When you use faceme plants, if you switch to a top view and turn off shadows and perspective, the plants disappear. In the past, when I've used sketchup to do a layout presentation for a landscape design, I would import from my library of colored CAD symbols and place them where the plants will go and put them on their own layer. Then I'll bring in all the faceme plants and put them on top of the symbols. I shut the symbol layer off for different 3D views, then I'll turn them on for an over head shot. Works good, but it's a PITA.

For the water, you can always take the surface and subdivide it a bunch. Then use the sandbox smoove tool to manipulate it a little. What you did with photoshop looks better though.

This render really makes me want to hang out by this pool and strum on that guitar in the background. The bamboo is a perfect touch and adds great framing overall.

Thanks for the suggestions. Here's an update.

Awesome render! I love it. Maybe try and manipulate the surface of the water a little to distort the reflections.

Still working on the scale for the tape measure. I think I'll end up making my own. Had a chance to work on the plan under the scene. Imported and rendered in Modo 302. Need to work more on the bump and lettering.

It's already apparent that your geometry is a mess. Try to keep your polygons cleaner and more evenly spaced. This will help make it easier to add details down the road. Also, as mentioned, you need to align your blueprints better.

Maybe you should start by modeling the garage that the car is going to go in. Then move up to the car itself. The gallery is already over saturated with "look at my car WIP" threads.....why not do something original?

Here's something I modeled today. It's part of a larger design I'm doing for a marketing ad. I still need to add the lettering detail and find a decent texture for the measurements on the tape.

 What a great interim gift in lieu of Profile Builder.....which we all eagerly await.  

Will BoolTools work with 3D text?

@kdsdesign said:

wtf?

WTF, WTF?

This cracked me up on Kev's site. -

That Is not My model The Model Is By Rogue Of 3D Warehouse, And the people are by antics Plus the restaurant(hidden) is by Custom Car Garage (CCG) this render (on an XP) takes 8 minutes

KDS - Kinda Drawn Stolen Designs

I just realized Vue could export images in Piranesi format. I thought I'd have some fun.

Well done sir! I love the signature on the side of the box truck. Nice touch.

I did some water tweaking with some different setting and new bump map. I think I finally have a decent pool water material for Vue. (Attached) What do ya think?

PoolWater.zip

Looks good Julie. I would change the shrubs to something more photoreal and increase the size of the driveway pavers. Perhaps a little reflection/tranparency on the glass material would bring it to life.

Also, in Podium, when you turn on shadows, the light and dark sliders will come into play. Try to turn the dark to something around 20 or below and the light to something above 80. Also, turn on Use sun for shading to get softer shadows.

Thanks Daniel. The stone is a honed travertine paver. It's non-slip, but has a slight sheen to it. See here - http://www.woodburycement.com/images/andes/andes%2019.JPG

It's the same texture as I posted here - http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=13561

I've had this happen before, but I don't remember exactly the culprit. Are you using the newest version? Try purging your model and pasting all the geometry into a new SU file. Make sure all your materials are applied only to base geometry and try again. If that doesn't work, I would try exploding everything.

Thanks guys!

Solo, the vegetation is all billboard, except for a Vue tree behind the camera for shadow effect and a few off in the distance. I also replaced the Vue sky (imagine that) with a high res Dosch background and most of the distant trees are from within the image.
Any advice for pool water settings? All of the presets seem geared more toward large scale bodies of water. I tried an assortment of different bumps and scaling, but nothing seemed natural. I guess maybe I'll have to experiment with some custom gradient maps.

Stinki, Thanks for the advice. I'll see if I can take the clone stamp tool to the trees a little more.

A simple pool design rendered in Vue6. Any advice to get better looking pool water?

Hi Res -