Nice work!

It's complicated and it's going to be a massive pain whatever option you choose. I used Unity to start off with then moved to UE4 as it's better documented and works better with VR (something I am learning). You can email me at liam@robotsvdinosaurs.com and I can send you my thoughts but really I think they will perform the same. I am not a developer so my coding is limited at basic HTML/CSS and JSON I found UE4 easier to scrape by with.

Well good luck, i've been using Blender as a go-between for Unreal but there is an SU>UE4 plugin available now (unofficial) that I hear is quite good but I am yet to use it myself, and can't find the link sorry but it's probably an easy Google.

Nice! Do the moon one next!

@leonard96 said:

Good idea but I don't think I will make it. I may have 3 million views so far but I don't think people will donate for me.
I'll see what I can do.

Well if you do setup a kickstarter I would donate to your cause, ill give you exactly what it costs me for 1 beer, lucky for you I am in Sweden and that is $10 so that takes you 25% of the way to your goal.

Spectacular, are you in Unity or Unreal yet or still using Lumion?

@l i am said:

@tadema said:

Nice clean model & render IMHO the lighting inside the house (during daylight) lessens the contrast in the image, although it seems to be a trend at the moment.

John

Thanks Tadema I think I get what you mean about the contrast. I have no skills in photoshop so ATM I am relying purly on the renderer. I use the lighting as a device to compensate. Seems to give the image some "cred":D If you would be so kind could you post an example image of "more contrast" to assist my learning curve it would be most helpful.

(Edited) oh I think I now what you mean now. I was a landscaper/designer and have had professional photography done. The photographer shot at dusk and has about a 5 minute window in which to shoot (twilight) The image was meant (perhaps unsuccessfully) to look like twilight. The sky is a twilight sky as is evidenced by the orange/yellow cast to the sky to the far right. Room for improvement perhaps

Looking good!

I am building an automatic Photoshop script for SketchUp at the moment I will keep you posted, it's going to take a few months!

I did a breakdown of the layers here. Maybe 118 layers in total grouped into 10 categories here. Used Thea for the reflection pass. I will be doing illustration breakdowns and tutorials with SketchUp at basecamp if I catch any of you there.

Nice work, I bought it on Google Play movies not so long ago have watched it three times since!

@db11 said:

@leonard96 said:

the trial period of the Keyframe animation has expired and I can't afford to buy a license for it

Given that the license for Keyframe Animation is only $40, why not do a small Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign? All you would need is a handful of people to throw in a nominal donation and you'd have the money to buy the license and complete your project.

Given the enthusiasm that people have for it, I'd think it'd be a no-brainer.

Just a thought.

Indeed this! You're SketchUp titanic video alone has had over 3 million views

Finished version

Nice, I watched this on reddit and then I went to youtube and watched the titanic video!! ALl mazing work with some real dedication keep it up

Sketch from a recent project I am working on. Based on the pickup truck from the movie District 9.

A few simple reflection passes in Thea then around 100 layers in Photoshop

I just got my flights in from London, £400 direct with Norwegian great deal if anybody else is flying from UK.

I am all booked in now, got offered a new job on Friday so no longer running around after freelance, nice flight booking to celebrate!

If anybody wants to car share from LA > Palm Springs let me know. I found this Tesla company who do ahead shuttle bookings for $70 if not.

Can't think what it could be, the only Bond film I know with a spider is the first one but that was in a bed...

If I hadn't already spent hundreds of pounds on the things sitting on my desk right now then I would probably give it a go. Looks like a good option for freeing up space on the USB ports. If I upgrade my PC this year from full tower to Mini ITX then it could be a good solution

@box said:

I just what to meet the enema that is box.

Ha you mean Enigma?

If anybody is renting a car or what not from LA>Palm Springs let me know, I will gladly pay for petrol and what not, saves me a 7 hour bus ride.

I did something similar in THEA, I used emitters instead of actual lights and it did not turn out too bad. I think he meant actual directional lights that you had inserted, you can do this in many rendering engines.

I could render these scenes in a reasonable time, these images also rendered at oversize, around 10,000 by 6000 px.

• 8 hours:

-13 hours

The larger scene used much more dumbed down server models but there are probably still over 1000+ light sources.

I would not be able to do this without GPU render support, what are your hardware limitations, that could be the issue?

@mike amos said:

I have seen lots of contradictory suggestions of UI changes but nothing solid, anyone else?

No nothing I have heard and I don't expect anything really. Most people start with 3D software such as Blender or Max so although the UI is much more complicated than Sketchup it's just normal for them. I have lots of friends who started on Blender and they don't see it as complicated. The UI has changed slightly over the years, the biggest aspect is the UI navigation, once you have got round that and selecting and editing meshes then it's not too difficult.

The problem is Blender is infinitely more powerful than SKetchup, not only is it a hard surface modeler but it can handle organic modelling, sculpting, nodes, real time physics, animation, rigging and of course rendering. Even after years there are still buttons and menus that I have not even used!

The best thing rather than 'learn' Blender is identify your need's and if you plan to still use Sketchup, how Blender will become part of your workflow. Then it's just a case of learning specific sections.

If you after rendering them that will be at its most basic UI/Interface > Nodes > Cycles.

The only way I got my head around it was I had a project on that Sketchup could not handle (for a car manufacturer who supplied some incredibly large and detailed models) so I was forced to use Blender. I think if you complete the eight hour Bender Essential training a few times you should have wrapped your head around it. I would highly recommend the Lynda course I posted a while back, you can sign up for a month free trial so you don't have to pay, just make sure you have some time to spend in that month so you can make the most of it.