@tuna1957
Take a look at Sketchfab or depending on your SU License, you can look at Trimble Connect (saving a model and then showing it on a web page via a Trimble Connect shared link.

@pixelcruncher
You need to talk with @fredo6-animator and discuss having RayScaper as an option with his Animator plugin.

As usual, very good and interesting.

@Rich-O-Brien said in Rayscaper render.:
First, let me say I really appreciate your feedback. Although this model is very "elementary", it is far different from the type of modeling I have done in the past.

Now I will respond to your comments (positively I hope):

The camera is set to Orthographic which doesn't suit Environmental maps so you won't get the correct lighting.

OK, I will change that that in a future version.

Your textures applied to the main board are a herring bone floor texture. Not quite sure if that is correct? Unless it is some type of intentional choice?

Agree, this was not a good texture choice. Again, I will try to improve in a newer version.

Your texture for the 'font' are scaled to a large value which seems to clash with the tiny herringbone texture.

When you consider the object itself is 1.5" x 5.5" there seems to be a non-physically correct texture dimension.

The size I used when creating the model was based on the actual dimensions of the object I had received. Creating it at that size caused several problems (some of which you have pointed out). I will redraw at a much larger scale and then look at resizing later (not sure I will need to really do that though).

Hard to create a great or meaningful render if your textures are not physically correct. Having textures reflect real world objects and appearance helps sells believability.

The model itself has textures applied to both the groups and geometry within the groups.

If it was me, I would consider what it the object made of and go source a texture that helps sell that aspect. Polyhaven has loads of textures but most important is they tell you the size:

So if you make a texture using these in SketchUp you can set that size for the correct appearance.

I like the texture in your image much better than what I used and will do some looking around (including the site you referenced.

There really was no "font" (as I think you pointed out) The texture I used to "outline"/create the text was something I used to try to emulate what was on the item that was given to me. I might stick with that or try to find something closer to "real object".

Again, I REALLY appreciate your comments and hope I can use them to improve my model. This project has some meaning to me that I do not know how to share. As I said before, the original object was a gift that I found inspiring, and I would like to be able to create a got SketchUp version.

@pixelcruncher Thank you sir. I will give these a try.

This is all part of the learning process.

@Tru-la-la well done!

In order to get this topic back on track, I have created a new thread to discuss the materials issue(s). Here is a link to that thread https://community.sketchucation.com/topic/164671/create-new-or-adjust-materials

@pixelcruncher OK, I just did some more "playing around" and here is the result.

Final result:

And here are the settings I used to get here:

Still a long way to go to get comfortable with Rayscaper but progress is one step at a time.

@Mike-Amos Agree!

@majid
As usual, Majid - nice work. I wish I had the talent to generate something like this.

Well, here is my first attempt at an external render. Many things to work on but I have to admit I am a little surprised at how this went on my first try.

@Gus-R Much improved - IMO.

@ntxdave
I spent a couple of years in Germany while I was in the US army (late 1966 to late 1968) and I think I drove through Munich but am not sure.

@pixelcruncher Yes, I totally agree about the windows. I did try the glass on the roof. but I did a bad job. I might find another simpler model to try to adjust the glass and then come back to this one.

Rayscaper has a ton of options which makes the learning process kind of hard at times. From that point of view, while Twilight Render may not have had as many options, the user interface, at least is some aspects was a little simpler and easier to learn. Hope you do not take this as negative comments. I do not mean it that way.

The other issue I have is that there is no way to use Rayscaper with animations. I think this is becoming very popular these days and I hope it is something you plan for the future.

Again, I really appreciate your feedback/comments.

OK, I was wrong. 🤪

Excellent work & render.

@Box the door is beautiful and the pictures of the boat are neat as well.

@ntxdave OK, here is a second try.

I went to the Mido site and the product sure looks interesting. However I saw that they are discontinuing support. I also could not see anything about the cost of the software.

Can you share any information about it?

@majid Thanks for sharing.

I wish I had talent and a brain to come up with stuff like this. Maybe this is what happens as we age.

@pixelcruncher said in Rayscaper Learning-Practice:

Rayscaper has a ton of options which makes the learning process kind of hard at times. From that point of view, while Twilight Render may not have had as many options, the user interface, at least is some aspects was a little simpler and easier to learn. Hope you do not take this as negative comments. I do not mean it that way.

It was not taken as negative! It's all good feedback. I understand it's not easy to use, it's something we should work on by improving the UI. But when I remember Twilight Render, it has a ton more options and features than Rayscaper. Is that not the case?

Maybe I have not done a good comparison of the two systems. I do find the UI in Twilight Render somewhat easier to comprehend and use. I will try to do some more detailed analysis and give you some more specific feedback about the features that I have found a little more complicated to use.

I am still struggling a little with is setting the scene in SketchUp so that it will produce the view I want in the render.

@ntxdave Can you clarify so I understand better and see how we can improve this?

You should be able to match the exact view you have in SketchUp in Rayscaper:

I have tried this option but had some problems when dropping the HDRI background and matching it to my model. Again, I will do some more experimenting and try to be more specific.