60K!!!

Surely thats totally unrealistic! It reinforces my view, we are designers - not animators. If he can get 60K for that then leave him to it because he's not competing with us.

Amazing Animation!

I understand what your saying Kannonball but I'm with Baz on this, I am in the same position as you, small business trying to deliver what the client expects. I think perhaps my clients are less media savvy than some. I am a perfectionist but I can't afford to let that stop me bashing out cad plans and a model and showing it to the client. I've tried 3DS Max, Vue, Kerkythea, Podium. I'm not great at rendering but my clients want me to design and model, they are not paying for rendering and wouldn't understand the concept. I'm never happy with the renders I've tried, it's too hit and miss for me. There is no way I will leave my computer idly rendering when I could be starting another job. The way I look at it, you introduce your clients to photorealism, you give them the idea that you might be able to achieve Pixar like results, you have raised the bar and you'll have to keep raising it. That's great but at the moment I can't factor in that time.

You have to ask the question, is rendering intrinsic to good design?

That's really interesting, I've been thinking just this week about approaching a local magazine with a comic / illustrative concept. I had my sketchpad out and tried to reacquaint myself with hand drawing. I hadn't actually thought of including sketchup in the production.

Good work.

VERY NICE!

Thanks Stu,

Yes I have checked these sites, Vyonyx is great. What would speed things up most would be top view photos of trees, I haven't found any on the net, but I've made a few half decent looking ones. I think for my next project I'll have to go to a tall building and photograph some trees from the top!

and my own personal favourite

404 Not Found

(www.penwill.com)

Above is a link to some very funny cad jokes.

I use SU on a Toshiba laptop (as for the spec, er, its shiny with an nvidia card) and a six year old Sony Vaio - runs great on both.

Have you looked the asus eee, it's tiny and very cheap, but I'm not sure if it supports 3d graphics.

Solo, Mike

Thanks so much for these links.

For the past few weeks I have lost a serious amount of sleep doing several large 3d site models that are heavily foliaged. Putting in the foliage has got me behind with the project, but it is a requirement and I've started so I'll finish. I have trawled the net and I thought I'd found every free 2d pr plant out there - most weren't much good. I've spent many a coffee fuelled hour trying to make my own. But these links are great. I might actually finish the project today!

P.S. Anybody know where I can find aerial shots of trees, that I could use on a plan view - tried Google Earth, too fuzzy.

I have had this problem, I think it can be caused by not having all your lines drawn on zero in Autocad.

Finally the fact that in Yorkshire, we couldn't get pumpkins, I don't think I saw one until I was about fourteen. Turnips were the common substitute. Turnips with apple corer eyes.

Next, the fact that I wasn't allowed to use a knife, had to use an apple corer.

Right, first up the pumpkin I would have carved as a child

That is amazing!

Excellent, you've done an important thing here and proven that SU is capable at construction detailing. One thing your brick skin doesn't look right in section as the texture is making it look like there is more than one brick width. I model the bricks individually when detailing sections.

Thanks mates!

I'm truly moved by the songs Ross. Superb. I'm 33 today. I have celebrated middle age by buying a shed. There is something very comforting in having your own shed.

My girlfriend got me a card that refers to my lack of hair, it says;

The Hairs Speak:
"Let us abandon the head of this man and leave him with a shining Dome of Glory,
for people will respect his newly wise appearance as we migrate to other regions of his strange and naked form"

Word to the Brits!

Wow they make a good deal! I was employed as an interior designer/architectural technician by The Playground shopfitting contractor Joe Taggart Installations. I'll post a visual (pre-sketchup) when I find one on disc.

I think there was a different architects practice dealing with each floor, we were liaising with with Lifschutz Davidson.

I think Gordon Brown is a big brother nutter. Anyway doomsday aside good to meet a fellow British northerner here! Although you are fair bit further north than me. Whereabouts in Scotland? What is your line of work? I designed the Playground audio visual department in Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh - although I think it is now leased by Alessi. I visit Scotland from time to time.