Forklift animation with SketchFX using AmbientOcclusion integration:

[flash 640,480:3e6jsrr6]https://www.youtube.com/v/WeFZ08I3TD8[/flash:3e6jsrr6]

SketchFX Ex is now available for download:

SketchFX - SketchUp Artistic Rendering in 1-Click

SketchFX extends SketchUp capabilities with a complete set of compelling visual effects. No learning required.

Fluid Interactive (www.fluidinteractive.com)

Ex version adds animation support to SketchFX:

[flash:37giqw5c]https://www.youtube.com/v/VXt_5pLSfQQ[/flash:37giqw5c]

We just released Viz 0.2.1, you can get it here.

The biggest feature is the possibility to create and export custom nodes, for reuse and sharing. Adding this feature required a major code rewrite, and forced us to drop the support for files saved in the previous format. In the download page there is a new sample project that includes a custom node.

Here are the other features:

• Improved node creation dialog (bigger and resizable), adding the possibility to sort by node category or description.
• Grouped many nodes into a single one, with the possibility to choose the function performed by the node
• Added nodes for loading and sampling image files
• Added a node for loading arrays from text files
• Added nodes for constant and gradient array creation
• Added Clamp and Fxy nodes

Tomorrow we should be able to release a new version of Viz. There's been a lot of code rewriting going on, to add the possibility of creating custom nodes for reuse and sharing.

As a preview, here is a video showing how to create a custom node:

[flash:1wgut946]https://www.youtube.com/v/EiBrQ8NwCFs[/flash:1wgut946]

The "Gain" parameter changes the overall brightness of the image.

The "Occlusion Distance" parameter changes the maximum distance for object to be considered while generating the soft shadows from the environment. For example, let's say you are rendering an interior. By setting the occlusion distance to 1 (1 meter) the ceiling for example won't be used to compute the soft shadows on the floor, because it's further than 1m. This will improve the results for scenes that are highly occluded, such as interiors.

SketchFX adds a totally new type rendering compared to AmbientOcclusion. While AmbientOcclusion is focused on creating renderings that are realistic enough, SketchFX creates renderings that are more artistic looking. It includes presets for pencil style rendering, watercolor, etc. We'll soon release a version of SketchFX that supports animation.

If the scene is too dark, go to AmbientOcclusion and try setting the "Occlusion Distance" parameter to a value of 1 or 2, and try to increase the "Gain" parameter a bit.
Also, to increase the rendering speed, you can go to the Render Window of AmbientOcclusion and set a lower resolution. Normally you don't need to render animations at the same resolution as still images.

In AmbientOcclusion, the Shadow control is independent from SketchUp. There are two ways you can turn off shadows:

1. Go to AmbientOcclusion Ex -> Render Viewport, right-click on the viewport -> Shadows -> Enabled
2. Go to AmbientOcclusion Ex -> Render Window, click on the Shadows icon -> Enabled

Version 1.0.4 has just been released and can be found on SketchFX download page. The main new feature is custom rendering resolution; this is a standard 1024px wide rendering compared to a 4096px wide one (and rescaled to 1024px):

1024px:

4096px rescaled to 1024px:

Yes, we'll soon release a Mac version as well

Hi spadestick,

What system are you using for testing? AmbientOcclusion should render a scene like the cube above in just a few seconds.
Yes, it's possible to have the shadow lines as crisp as the example

We just released a new version of SketchFX that allows to use AmbientOcclusion extension to render ambient occlusion layers directly inside SketchFX. You can get it here.

Without AmbientOcclusion Layer:

With AmbientOcclusion Layer:

Without AmbientOcclusion Layer:

With AmbientOcclusion Layer:

We just released a new version of SketchFX that allows to use AmbientOcclusion extension to render ambient occlusion layers directly inside SketchFX. You can get it here.

Without AmbientOcclusion Layer:

With AmbientOcclusion Layer:

Without AmbientOcclusion Layer:

With AmbientOcclusion Layer:

We just released AmbientOcclusion 1.9.0, you can find it here.

In this new version:

• Added support for Parallel Projection and Two-Point Perspective cameras
• Add Gain parameter to change overall scene brightness
• Added support for disabling all section planes at once
• Speed improvements and bug fixes

We just added a AmbientOcclusion specific forum to add feature request, show your work in progress and report bugs

We just added a SketchFX specific forum to add feature request, show your work in progress and report bugs

We just added a Viz specific forum to add feature request and report bugs

Thanks! We'll soon release a Mac version. At the beginning we want to keep it Windows-only to speed up iteration times

Something like this?

It will be a paid extension, but we don't have a retail price yet.

@Pixero:

• It will be possible to group nodes into a single node for reuse, and to share nodes created in that way with other Viz users.
• Copy is not implemented yet, but it will be available soon
• There will be ways to get reports from the plugin, as well as save files with data
• If I understand correctly the Add example you provided, there is a similar functionality in Viz with the node "Fx"

Thanks for all the feedback! Rolling up the sleeves for next version...

There is a lot of new nodes to be added, and node categorization too.

@Pixero:

• What do you mean for "Any way of creating custom nodes apart from functions?"
• Look at the Fx node for math for a list of math functions
• Image inputs will be added soon
• There are cases when you need multiple geometry sinks, and cases when you need none, for now probably it's a good idea to let the user choose

@JQL: we'll add sliders so you can set the range/numeric type, as well as a way of quickly replacing connections