Hi all,

This feature is on the wishlist for many people that use external rendering applications.
The drawback using sketchup in SU to Photoreal rendering is the fact that all edges/corners are too sharp.
This compromises the sense of photorealism.
I know there is a bevel ruby around that can help in this matter. Downside to the current bevel option is that editing objects after applying get's very difficult.

Maybe we could have another sort of 'beveling/chamfering' in Sketchup. One that works like the 'smooth/soften edges' option in sketchup,meaning a non destructive bevel option that can be applied to an object/group/component.

The idea for this was launched in this gallery thread:
http://www.sketchucation.com/community/forums/suc/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=647&p=5318#p5318

What do you guys think. Can this be made possible?

Thanks,
Kwistenbiebel

Sketchup will make use of all 8 cores (just not optimised which makes a big difference).
So you won't be running Skethcup with 1/8 of your CPU(S) power.

However, the multicore architecture makes it possible to 'split' several tasks and spread them over the 8 cores in an optimal way . Your software needs to be adapted to that and the code optimised.
Skethup isn't written that way so in no extent optimised for multicore.

Now, let's hope the Google-SU-developer-team is watching this thread, as it seems we all share the same needs...

Did anyone already mention the wish to have support for directX 10 in SU7?

DirectX 10 should be much better and would solve the trouble we all seem to have with OpenGL.
Faster viewport panning/zooming etc....

I'm not sure if the Apple users would be happy though....

SU7 can't be here soon enough

And yes, some organic modeling features !!!
Also some more texturing tools as the 'projected' texture method is limited for texturing organic forms.
I would love to see a 'wrap around object' texturing tool.

Another important thing: high poly model support.

If these things could be implemented in SU7, I would be a happy man.

@todamgood4u said:

Actually the "walkstation" would be good for that. They are taking orders soon...

Document Has Moved

(news.yahoo.com)

Well yes...but that looks really ridiculous right

@cyberdactyl said:

Tom Cruise was quite dramatic in his hand waving 'orchestrations' in Minority Report, but let's see him do that in an eight hour business day.

It would solve the lack of exercise that people,working in an office, can experience though.
Working and at the same time doing a good workout just sounds great to me!

Being an architect, I just get fed up by sitting on a chair a whole day,looking at a big light (=monitor) and only move two fingers (left and right mouse button)...
So let's bring those big movement workstations along

...I wish it was true

Hi Frederick,

You make me curious
I know Indigo has a 'hybrid' option, but it is a mix of different 'unbiased' calculations (PPT+ MLT, BiPT + MLT, etc...) so it's actually adding 'slow' to 'not so slow' (I think Indigo is a good render engine BTW)

However, the mix of 'biased' + 'unbiased' I only saw (sort of) in Vray...
Are you indicating that Kerkythea will go that route?
Sounds interesting...

TIG,
Thanks for all this support.
I will try that method right away.

Regards,
kwistenbiebel

@didier bur said:

Hi K, (too long for a name )

@unknownuser said:

Just a question more: is there also a ruby that let's you select all the instances of a same component?

As a suggestion you could try my quick selection command.
It can select what you want in the model, it is based on filters, Autocad-like.
Download it at my site, "Selection-Layers" page, or here:
http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/EM/quick_selection.zip
Hope this helps,

Hi Didier,
I installed the ruby but I do not understand how it works properly.
I have a hi polycount tree component that I want to place as multiple instances.
As a dummy I created also a simple cube as component.
Now, how can I substitute all those cubes to the trees?

Thanks

There are so many rubies that I don't know and that are useful.
Thanks...and my appreciation to all ruby writers.

Thanks Didier and TIG for pointing out both rubys.
The first one seems very suitable for what I have in mind.
I will try that one out.

Just a question more: is there also a ruby that let's you select all the instances of a same component?

Any of the scripters thought about combining all the rubies that involve component behaviour/editing/selecting/instancing in to 1 ruby window?

...Thanks again guys, it feels as if this community has the @last spirit again.

Hi all,
First my congratulations with the forum. It's really nice. Thanks for setting the whole thing up.

..And here is my question:
Can instancing be done in Sketchup (by a Ruby script)?
Instancing would be veruy usefull for making a lot of trees people etc.. in Sketchup.

I can imagine a following workflow:

1. Make a dummy component for a tree (a simple cube for instance).
2. Place (a lot) of 'instances' of that simple component on the terrain mesh.
3. Open up an 'instancing' ruby window: link the cube component to some hi-poly tree component.
4. In that same Ruby window you have a check box that toggles on/off the appearance of the component.
   Off= you see the cubes , ON= you see the trees.

Is this possible to perform?

Such a tool would be great to have so we can finally export 'big' scenes to our 3d party rendering engines.

Regards,
Kwistenbiebel

In Sketchup there is no sign of the ruby what so ever.
It appears as if nothing is installed.

Hi all,
Maybe this is a dumb question but I can't get a script to work that I downloaded from the http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/EM/PutOnLayer.rb website.

It's the PutOnLayer.rb ruby that I want to use to put a component with all its nested groups/geometry to a specified layer.

I put the ruby in the plugin menu but when I reopen sketchup (v.6 on vista), the context menu doesn't appear when I right click the object.

My apologies if this is a dumb question
....but thanks in advance for an answer

By the way, does this script also puts the geometry itself to the specified layer?, or just groups.
I would want all subelements to be put on a different layer (not layer 0).

regards,
kwistenbiebel

Thanks Edson.

Just to point out one of the handicaps of the unbiased render engines: you can still see some noise on the interior walls, while this image has been cooking for more than 10 hours. (the exterior parts were clean already after 1 hour though).

Thanks Marked

I must admit I had to level light/color in Maxwell because of the strange orange/red overcast the physical sky seems to produce in 1.5.
I don't know about the new update 1.6 that has just been released today.

Fryrenders Physical sky doesn't seem to have that colorcast...but at the risk of being dull?
I am not sure. Chema (developer of Fry) announced that upcoming 0.9 version will have improved colors for their physical sky...

Vray has a really nice color bleeding going on with their sky system.
However, for exterior shots, renderings can easily look washed out and need some leveling in post.

Oh well, nothing is perfect

@frederik said:

@thomthom said:

Nice renders!
Which of the render engines did you feel fitted best for the job?

I was going to ask the exact same question...

First, thanks for those comments!.

The question you pose is a dificult one.
For exteriors I prefer the unbiased solutions (Maxwell and Fry), but they perform poorly for interiors when you consider the Render times (count in days for an indirect lit interior).
On the other hand, the so called 'biased' engines (Podium, Vray) perform better in terms of speed for interiors but (sometimes) need a bit more tweaking (photoshop) to obtain comparable realism.

So to me, there is no real winner here.

The magic solution to me would be to have a 'hybrid' render engine that calculates an unbiased solution ('brute force'methods like MLT and all sorts of pathtracing) with a little help of some 'biased' code to clean difficult indirect lit parts.
The only engine,capable of doing something hybrid like that for the moment, are certain engine presets in Vray , but it is more a biased solution (like Irrmap or light cache) with a little 'unbiased' added ( 'QMC', also called 'Brute force').

Let's see what the future brings.

Wow...The main forum page has changed!
Much, much better now. All topics to be seen in one glimps of an eye. PERFECT

Thanks for listening to your audience.
Top work.

Cheers,
kwistenbiebel