Beautiful work. Probably my favorite of your NPR stuff so far.

Topology is really a tough subject to address. It really depends on what is the purpose of the model. It also depends on which software you are using. "Good" topology in sketchup would be considered horrendous in other programs. What most people consider good topology in general doesn't really work well w/ sketchup.

For instance Ngons (faces with more than 4 sides) is a good thing in sketchup but in general is considered bad practice. All quad models are typically considered good topology but in sketchup this causes problems if all quad faces are non plainer. Sketchup can't produce non plainer faces and splits them into two tri faces (generally bad topology but good in sketchup). Evenly spaced meshes are generally a good idea, especially for sculpting apps. In sketchup this isn't always the best practice because it usually results in excess geometry.

A few things that are always considered good regardless of app, purpose, exc... Normals should always face outward. Never have non manifold geometry. Unless absolutely necessary, Never waste geometry (Excess geometry that will never be seen).

Feel free to use them any way you want. I was just curious how well they worked w/ 3d coat. Ive never tried it. Ive used Zbrush and Mudbox quite a bit but they do not like sketchup meshes at all. In all honesty I'm glad they are getting put to good use. It seems like typical topology (quad models) sketchup doesn't like and vise verse. My only Experience from sketchup to a sculpting app required quite a bit of retopo work for it to even work. This isn't required when you import as voxels in 3d coat?

Are the columns you are using the ones I did? If so I am glad they are getting put to good use. Very nice work.

Sounds like its an issue with Snow Leopard. It works fine for me on Sketchup 8 and windows 7.

I think it would be a good idea for us to have a poll to vote on Plug in of the year, scripter of the year, etc... It would give our great ruby scripters some notoriety for the great work they do here. Maybe create a little trophy badge for winners similar to CGTalk and their Choice Award badge. Possibly even round up some prizes if possible. All these rubies people wrote here have saved me countless hours of work so they deserve a little payback.

Thanks a lot. These are very useful.

Just messing around w NPR styles. Done in Sketchup, Vray, and quite a bit of PS.

Will the importer remember edge weights or will we still have to manually soften edges? Also, how does it handle very small faces?

I'm not sure how much work would be involved but I think it would be a good idea to include a small thumbnail preview for the finished work gallery posts. It seems like most forums nowadays are going that route anyway.

From what I understood Detail enhancement was similar to an AO pass for nice sharp contact shadows so you didn't have to use as high settings for Irr map. I could be mistaken though.

Also use a skylight portal in the window if you aren't already. It will help with reducing GI artifacts.

Turn on detail enhancement. It will help to bring out the small details so you don't need to use as high settings for the Irr Map. Also try lowering your irradiance Map samples to around 25.

As thom mentioned use light cache instead of DMC.

Finally buy some more ram. Ram is relatively cheap nowadays and 1 gig is pretty low by today's standards.

I was wondering if it would be possible to create a plugin that overrides materials based off of different scenes or a separate dialog. This would make exporting different passes for post much easier and give many more possibilities for different custom passes.

Here is an example that should make what I am talking about a little more clear.

Yes, I used curvemaker and tapermaker for the spirals then cleaned them up by hand after.

I uploaded a wrought iron gate to the warehouse if anyone is interested. You can find it here.
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=73e17c79c0cebf69c574b9bc59cc8a57

Let me know what you think.

Karl

Here is a brief explanation on how it is done. I separated it as 3 different jpeg exports. Shading, shadow, and sketchy edges. All you have to do is save a scene so your camera stays locked. Then start exporting jpegs with different styles. Shading = Shaded style edges off (White material). Shadows = Hidden line edges on (white edges). Edges = Any Sketchy edge style you prefer. In photoshop run some filters on the shading and shadow passes. I used alien skin snap art which isn't free but you can use a combination of native photoshop filters with similar results. Then set those 2 layers to multiply and adjust the opacity to your liking.

I attached an example of the process. Pardon the crappy model I used as an example.

If you have any questions please feel free to pm me.

I usually export the shadows as a separate pass and then tweak them in photoshop to look sketchy. It seems to work pretty well. Here is an example for the Corinthian column I made a while back.

I made one too if you are interested.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=4eac61ea58668ee2e7526b618f37b43f

Very beautiful work. I especially love the landscaping.