Every video format has pros and cons, but you have to understand first what video format your client can watch. On windows OS you can sure open an uncompressed AVI file, but this is not the best format to atach to an email, since it generates huge sized files.

You can easy create a DVX or XVID avi file: there is plenty of free applications that can do it automatically, but be sure that your client can open such formats.

There is even some free program to create FLASH videos. Flash videos can be compressed and are platform independent. Every good internet browser can play them, with the flash plugin installed.

In such cases, if my client has a minimum of computer knowdlege and skills, I suggest to install Sketchup. Then I send directly the .skp file. You save a lot of KB or MB and this is sure the best way to watch what you created. Moreover, your client can fully explore your creation.

Remus,

thank you - I've been blind finding the keyboard shortcut from that list.

Abot my second question, I'll post it in the Ruby Forum.

Just to explain what I mean with similar faces selection: in Wings 3D, the subdivision modeler, by selecting similiar faces, the program let me select all faces with the some shape and area (not really the some, but with a tolerance that tends to zero. That's why it's named select similar, instead identical - in some complex models it selects unexpected faces sometimes). The selection cares about the bounding geometry too.

Here a couple of screenshots to explain it better: the red highlighted faces are selected.
This works with the edges too. This saves a lot of time, when editing complex geometries: in sketchup I had to select manually the faces with ctrl + left-click.

When you select a face, the right-click menu lets you select the adjacent faces and the bounding edges. I find these features very useful: with a bit of practice you can make really precise and quick selections.

Sketchup 5 allowed me to associate a key to these operations, while I can't find this association in sketchup 6. Did I miss it? or isn't it anymore available?

I used to press the key "+" to select all adjacent faces, while with "shift" + "+" I could select the bounding edges. Pressing the "+" more times let me select large parts of my model quickly. If I do this by right-click menu, it becomes uncomfortable.

One more question: is there a ruby that allows you to select by similiar faces, or by similiar edges (like in wings 3D) ?
I've done a quick search about it here, at the Ruby Depot and Smustard but didn't find anything about, beside the inverse selection ruby.
I know this second question is for the ruby forum and I'll be glad to post it there, but I prefered to keep them together.

You may give a try to Topmod:

http://www-viz.tamu.edu/faculty/ergun/research/topology/

It is free and can reads & save obj files.

/matteo

Here my personal experience; I hope this helps you some more:

First of all, there is Vue d'Esprit 6, the cheap version, and Vue Infinite, more professional and expensive. Vue Infinite should be able to import Sketchup files directly, but I never tested how it works. I like Vue, because it can achieve results that look photorealistic, but are somehow surreal, odd. And this can be a great feature for architectural renderings. For photorealistic renderings I prefer Indigo and the superb plugin for sketchup Skindigo or Kerkythea.

I've noticed that Vue 6, but it works also with version 5, opens better 3ds files exported with sketchup than the obj ones.
The 3ds format keeps better the UV-mapping and the group hyerarchy. For example, if you export a floor with a wooden texture on it, it will keep the some texture size and orientation in Vue.

That's good for me, because I prefer to assign the materials in Sketchup: it is much more easy and faster.
There is another big advantage: textures based on bitmaps are usually faster to render than procedural textures allowing you to decrease dramatically the render time. The procedural textures of Vue are fun, but not so quick and easy to control. Of course, when you want to apply materials like simple metals or glass, you will find more useful the presets of Vue.

When exported to Vue, you can then further edit your material, adding specularity, bump, transparency and what else you need, making it more natural than in Sketchup.

Here a couple of renderings I made vith Vue d'Esprit:

the first one is based on the picture Rooms by the Sea of Edward Hopper, modeled in sketchp and rendered with Vue (the grass is also added in Vue)

the second is modeled with Groboto, Sketchup and Wings 3D and rendered with Vue. The flying character is inspired by Arzach of the french comic master Moebius.

/matteo