@gh0stp1rate said:

Thanks for the tips, I'll give them a try when I get back home. As for using textures, I just don't like how they totally disappear when moving around on highly detailed models.

If you dont like how slow it is now, if it had to render textures whilst panning/moving that would be a whole new magnitude of slow.

Yes nice work mate That freaky cat is not the most restfull image I could think of

Yes beutifully done I wonder what a parellel projection view trying to emulate the original amazing old rendering would look like, acheived in sketchup

That sounds about right. At the risk of stating the obvious, have you purged the model and have shadows turned off?

Nice computer! I am not an expert at all others may be able to answer your question more succinctly than myself. One thing is that SU only operates on a single core. That is a known bottle neck and a major deficiency, annoyance and severe limitation for sketchup users. Yes it seems to become virtually unusable with hign polly's and textures.
I had an SU model the other day and it felt like my screen was on Mars with the associated delay.
Imported it into Blender as a colada file with texture and I could spin the model around like a top.
Just to reiterate it is known a limitation of Sketchup.

Just curious, how big is your model, Pollys amd MB's?

Certainly evokes that feeling of the mixed emotions of exitement and exhaustion, that I have felt at that stage of a move............"phew, almost there" feeling

If only you could use your powers for good instead of evil.

Not sure if I understand your ploblem but one way is to explode everything and then do the opertaion or simply close the tube end with a couple of lines after the operation. And then delete the lines

At the moment, it is Sketchup and rendering. With no post processing at all. I resort to many lights which has an effect on render time. So I wait to get the image in the render so I can see what is happening and because of the complexity of my lighting takes some time. I then In light of the output close it down and then make adjustments. It is extremely inefficient and feels like a neurotic feedback loop searching for something acceptable which almost never happens. Have been studying Photoshop on YouTube for architectural rendering which seems appealing but has a different "feel" Hopefully I will learn to integrate the two. But that will only come with experience and I can employ a cost/benefit analysis approach
So I guess I am just a student ATM. Have the passion though.

Thanks, I had a look at your folio for the first time, nice stuff I came to the conclusion from the images that that was the case. So I think the answer is that everyone will develope there own workflow/style. I will just keep working and see where I land, no substitute for experince I guess

@solo said:

If you are committed to rendering 'tropical' locations and insist on using HDRI lighting I'd suggest investing in an HDRI library so you are not restricted to the few you have, I'd also look into good 3D people and not 2D cut outs.

When you start a next project and need help, let me know.

A question to Solo and others here who are involved in Exterior Architectural rendering: What percentage of your work, is post production (Photoshop, Gimp Etc) to augment your renderings? I supose that may be hard to quantify, but just a ballpark however you wish to express it.
Cheers

@solo said:

If you are committed to rendering 'tropical' locations and insist on using HDRI lighting I'd suggest investing in an HDRI library so you are not restricted to the few you have, I'd also look into good 3D people and not 2D cut outs.

When you start a next project and need help, let me know.

Thanks mate, I understand what you are saying and investing in assets is my goal. Just playing and experimenting within my limits for now. I have learnt so much from failures so far:)

@ntxdave said:

I certainly am no authority but I personally like the 2nd render the best. A little lighter antdom me the boat and dock show up a little better.....

Regardless of which one you go with...…..I like all of them.

Hi Dave, thanks:) thing is due to trying a raw render and tweaking it, Sun angles, intensity, fiddling with the HDRI...................... I lost the plot and started to chase my tail if you get my drift. It's all about nuance I guess.

Hi, have attached the final render, It is without post processing work. This is the best I can do and it has faults. Bottom line is, I will need to get my head around Photshop or Gimp

@solo said:

What render engine are you using?

Can you not add a sun with the HDRI?

I am using Raylectron. I just remembered that I can make the water transparent but I had invertantly push pulled the water's surface.

Yes I can set the Sun independantly of the HDRI but kind of think that damages the integrity of the image as it is contradictory. Would like to know your opinion on that. If I could get away with it I would like to. I have been struggling with getting a good background image for the last 2 hours and getting nowhere. Am struggling a bit TBH.
Oh by the way it is either "set sun from HDRI" OR HDRI with sun set independently

@solo said:

I am currently doing a lot of 'tropical' renders, first thing is a reference, do you have images of the locations where this waterway will be? do you know the tones of tropical waters? the native vegetation of the tropical zone?
There is a lot more to tropical and subtropical areas than just palms and water.

Hi Solo, all good,thought full points thank you.
I have worked in the roll of Landscape Architect in that area (North coast Queensland and adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef) previously for a short time. Palms are endemic and are very prevalent in the area and very much part of the vernacular. Delonix regia (Poinciana tree) is also represented although not endemic but has been adopted heavily all along the tropical and subtropical Queensland coast. I can understand your point completely though, but that may be partly due the the fact that I have only placed the main architectural, vertical plants to see how they work with the buildings as the work progresses to test the composition. Part of my task today will be making choices about the other minor, more grounded plants to fill the planting out.
As far as the water, agreed also, and I will be experimenting with that today. Am toying with the idea of putting in a texture below the water so the depth can be read, not sure how I will achieve that yet.
One of the main problem I see is because of the HDRI environment and Sun direction, I do not have enough light on the people as they are cut outs. But I do like the look of the horizon I think I may have to change the Sun direction to optimal (Sun behind camera) and then save the render without a background so I get the reflection of the HDRI on the model/buildings, but then replace the sky/horizon with another image once I find an appropriate one.

Thought I would post an update. About 10 more hours of work today. Need to address the sun direction and put in some hi res people in te forground and lots of other stuff. So prob about another 8 hours to "tune" as not happy yet.

Not sure where to post this, so defaulted to the corner bar. Am trying for a job at the other side of the Country which could involve tropical waterfront work. Since I have nothing in my folio that covers that I began designing a waterfront yesterday. I have attached some images of where I am at ATM. The render took about 10 mins and is very raw as is the model. I have used the only HDRI I could find (HDRI haven) that even remotely work so the shadows are wrong relitive to the percieved light source. I dont want to just use a backgroundas I will not get the reflexions that are working for me. Any suggestions for improvment would be welcome. I intend to find some good textures, lots of plants, more watercraft including jet ski's, paddle boarders etc and about 100+ poeple milling around. Again suggestions/ideas welcome.

Nice work mate When I was a student I had an interest in Japanese Architecture and Landscape. In particular the Kyoto imperial palace. All the dimentions were based on multiplying Tatami sleeping mat (0.955 m by 1.91 m) Nice Bonsia also are they 3D? Just a thought would be cool to have a Japanese garden outside.

Oh and the stone wall does look great against the flat clean white, they worl really well together