Chris, if you look at the very first image he posted, not the second one, you will see he has posted the new tumbler, even though it is a bit dark.

http://cgtextures.com/textures.php?t=browse&q=23740

Hi scottpara, Just had a quick look at your website. Some nice rendered shots. I notice you have used SU Podium, Vray and Artlantis Studio 2. I didn't see any examples of Hypershot. Do you have any to view? As you seem to have experience of using all these renderers can you give some impressions of what you think of them? Having taken a quick look at them myself, Vray seems to produce the best results (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I know). and has a reputation for being fast. But I also found it to have the most stark interface with a steep learning curve. For best results it also requires you to use its own optimised materials. For Sketchup, these seem to be in very short supply. There are suggestions for converting the vast material libraries available for 3DS MAX for use in SketchUp. For such an expensive program that seems pretty ridiculous! SU Podium seems to be the most user friendly and well integrated option for use with SketchUp. The next version with its new features, sounds like it could make it a powerful tool. I believe Artlantis Studio 2 requires you to export SketchUp files and then import them. I have always thought this to be too much of a kludge. I prefer integrated solutions. However, I suppose the results are more important. I would be interested to hear your views. Regards Mr S

I was looking for design design contests. they will be done with SU but that's not the focus. Thanx for the great links so far.

As an experienced smoker I know that those lines on the cigarettes are toned down a whole lot more... well on my marlboros they are! You should've done a Bic lighter as well... we all know any other brand sucks... the spring always break! I agree with Modelhead about the subject...

Pugs, great job so far. I would suggest upping the scale of the textures on the rock and roof, so you don't that repeat. Are you using seamless textures?

Good stuff (except that plant...) Are you using bump maps and displacement maps? (doesnt look like it ) if not its definetly worth trying them out, they can add a lot to the render.

If your using kerkythea, id suggest switchint to a biased render method, if i remeber correctly theyre a lot faster for doing interior scenes (which is a lot of the reason your lights take so long to render.) In indigo there isnt really a lot you can do other than sit it out. Oh, and if your using the latest version of indigo you can put all the lights on seperate layers nd adjust how powerful tey are while the renders going. Useful stuff

Im a L.A. and I need tree graphics all the time. Check out http://www.vyonyx.com for some really good free high res things... look under the download section... they recently added a bunch of new trees and they measure around 10" by 10" at 300dpi, pretty dam good!!!! Keep in mind you owe me for telling you my "secret" site!!!

Check out this. http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6184 You say you're from holland, so you wouldn't mind reading it in Dutch I guess, there's a Dutch and English version of my tutorial available at my forum, you need to register to read the Dutch version, not the English. enjoy. It explains most of the things to achieve a good result. The basic workflow. Some things might be changed since Maxwell 1.7 but not that much.

I recommend cheating the perspective a little bit to make the image more dynamic. I would pull the bamboo plant forward so the leaves are larger in relation to the camera and so they overlap the face of the left hand cabinet a little. Then I would light the leaves so they pop forward from the dark cabinet with a lighter yellow green tone. Don't worry about blocking circulation or access, in the real world you can always move the plant back where it was once you have created the image. What I am trying to do is increase the illusion of depth.

Nice image, Mr. Pugz. The only crits I have to add is perhaps add some reflection to the floor, and give that rug some thickness.

@pugz1983 said: Thanx for the constructive feedback. I put in some pointlights, but i think ik can get the ceiling lighter with self luminance in Kerkythea. Why don't you just change the color used in the Diffuse channel..?? I wouldn't recommend that you make it self luminant... @pugz1983 said: Any hints on how to soften the shadows? Use a higher render preset... Or go to the Render > Setup and change the Soft Shadow value to High... [image: crjk_Render-settings.jpg]