Exceptional exporter! I can actually import models into Zbrush from SketchUp without them being almot completely unusable. Thank you!

I understand that SketchUp has a single plane method of applying UV Coordinates; however, I can't seem to get them to be seamless and/or non-distorted on a rounded object. So I'm curious to know if there is some kind of plugin that creates a flat texture map of the model in question. Or if there is a way to use SketchUp's method more efficiently than that would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

@unknownuser said:

Where is this screenshot, can you show your model and see how i can help, i use sketchup for developing games and it works effectively

My bad, I thought it uploaded

So, I love SketchUp because of its ease of use, however, I know that it isn't the best at creating meshes, as the screenshot shows. After trying so many different tutorials, guides, and forums to fix this, I haven't found a solution.

On a side note: I'm making models to use with Cryengine, and they need to be as efficient as possible.

So, I've finally decided to switch to 3ds Max for my game creation purposes, everything else I still plan on using Sketchup for though. However, I need some with simple things like separating objects into sections, creating holes for windows or door in the mesh, and just general ease of use. (Or, if you can help me fix my polygon problem otherwise, fantastic!)

So here are the 3D Programs, I currently use:

• Google Sketchup 8
• Meshlab 64-bit
• CryEngine 3.5.4
• MakeHuman
• Daz 3D Studio

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I'm experimenting with the the new beta of VRay 1.6, and it seems that when I render something the texture maps don't appear when I use the RT engine, but yet they do when I use the regular rendering engine. Help?

In my case at least, even though SketchUp itself limits the resolution, the VRay rendering engine doesn't. I usually render at 2048x1536, and I use one non-repeating texture on the floors of my models, and they come out crystal clear.

I couldn't understand if aren't sure if it will be limited or that you know its limited and trying to figure out why. So I answered to the former.

I've been searching for days now and I can't seem to find the IOR of warm (37c) human blood, can anybody help?

NOTE: I posted the link to this a few months ago, but it was quickly removed due to a misunderstanding occurring because the file come from BitSnoop.com, normally a site used for pirating digital media. But perfectly legal content exists on the site, and this file is entirely legal and free of virus, (I use it personally). If you do not feel safe using a torrent to download the collection, you are more than welcome not to download the collection, but just know that its a tested file and is a legal download. Its a torrent because its easier to use torrents for very large files, due to loss of a collection and speed of download. I just haven't got around to reposting this since the misunderstanding had been solved.

Hello, this is a very large collection of VRAY for SketchUp materials. While there are very specific materials that are missing, i.e. non-conventional use materials. There around probably around 1100 different materials in the collection. But take note that there are some duplicate materials, for reasons I do not know. This file comes in a little shy of 7GB, so be prepared for the download. The file is password protected, and the password is "4render" (Without the quotes).

Good luck fellow SkecthUp artists!

The Link: http://bitsnoop.com/vray-for-sketchup-materials-7gb-vis-q22433315.html

(You will need a bittorrent client; my suggestion is uTorrent.)

NOTE: I posted the link to this a few months ago, but it was quickly removed due to a misunderstanding occurring because the file come from BitSnoop.com, normally a site used for pirating digital media. But perfectly legal content exists on the site, and this file is entirely legal and free of virus, (I use it personally). If you do not feel safe using a torrent to download the collection, you are more than welcome not to download the collection, but just know that its a tested file and is a legal download. Its a torrent because its easier to use torrents for very large files, due to loss of a collection and speed of download. I just haven't got around to reposting this since the misunderstanding had been solved.

Hello, this is a very large collection of VRAY for SketchUp materials. While there are very specific materials that are missing, i.e. non-conventional use materials. There around probably around 1100 different materials in the collection. But take note that there are some duplicate materials, for reasons I do not know. This file comes in a little shy of 7GB, so be prepared for the download. The file is password protected, and the password is "4render" (Without the quotes).

Good luck fellow SkecthUp artists!

The Link: http://bitsnoop.com/vray-for-sketchup-materials-7gb-vis-q22433315.html

(You will need a bittorrent client; my suggestion is uTorrent.)

I found that this website has some very well made free textures, HDR maps, sky maps, and some models, I've used them and they are very well done. (NOTE: For nearly all the models, you will need an .obj importer.)

(www.viz-people.com)

I've had that problem in the past too, and I noticed that having multiple SketchUp files open while trying to render can, on occasion, cause an error to occur while rendering, at least in my case that is.

I think it's because you're trying to put too much strain for too long a period on your poor notebook.

You have a massively detailed scene rendering at a 4K resolution running on a laptop with a pretty run of the mill graphics chipset and a slightly above average cpu.

I have a desktop running a Nvidia GTX 660ti and an AMD A10 APU along with a hack file for allowing VRAY to utilize 4GB of RAM. And I would never even think of doing that.

Also, what I've realized is that with rendering, at least with VRAY for SketchUp, is that doing either more than five or six renders and/or an extremely demanding rendering considerably lowers the graphics performance of the GPU, but for me, it only lasts until the next reboot. Hardware gets "exhausted" too, even without using demanding programs of any kind on most systems, it's smart to shut down your system for around 15-30 mintues every couple days, or far more frequently if you're putting that kind of strain on a notebook not optimized for such things like say the Alienware M18X or the MSI GT70.

Keeping that in mind, you also really need to bump down the resolution. I have a nearly top of the line graphics card and I never run mine over 2048x1536. High-poly models also take a huge toll on performance. Honestly, I don't recommend using a high-poly anything unless it's absolutely necessary, for say a severe close-up. As long as its not a really low poly, most times in an internal scene it's difficult to notice really any difference in quality between high-poly and medium-poly.

One last tip. It's typically better to have more realistic renderings rather than really high resolutions. Here's a link that you'll hopefully find helpful.

V-Ray for SketchUp – super crash course :: SketchUp 3D Rendering Tutorials by SketchUpArtists

By Steven Man V-Ray for SketchUp is a rendering plug-in that can require a lot of time to learn properly.  To fully understand V-Ray would be ve

(www.sketchupartists.org)

I've been working on getting the best realistic environment for a while, and I am going to show what I believe is the best way.

1. Find your HDR and or Panoramic image.

2. Go into the Vray for Sketchup option menu, and select the "Environment" tab.

3. Enter the "GI" submenu

4. Change the texture from "TexSky" to "TexBitmap."

5. Scroll Down and select you HDR or Panoramic image. *NOTE: I've found that Panoramic HDR/PNG/JPG/etc. make the environment isn't being stretched. Also the larger the resolution the better!

6. Select the "UVW Type," and change the setting from "UVWGenChannel" to "UVWGenEnvironment."

7. Very Important Under the "UVWGenEnvironment" settings, change the "Repeat" value of both "Horizontal" and "Vertical" from 1.0 to 0.1.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 for the "BG" submenu, using the same image as well.

9. Now change the multiplier for the "GI" and "BG" to a number that works best for your scene. This number can vary depending on the type of scene, desired amount of light, and type of image used. I.e. if you want a environment that's isn't very bright, you may not need to edit the multiplier, but if you want it brighter, you can increase the multiplier. Most often than not, you'll want the "BG" multiplier to be set lower or equal to that of the "GI" multiplier. (NOTE: I would not recommend going for anything over 6, because then things get to bright and is a bit blinding on a bright screen.

@andybot said:

try setting up a light just for your caustics. Using the sun doesn't always work. (when using the sun, you need the geometry to be at the origin, plus you need to increase the radius to calculate the caustics.)

I've tried making a closed off room and using a VRAY spotlight, I've also tried HDR lighting. Nothing

I've been reading many tutorials and have yet to find out what I'm doing wrong. WHen I render a cup of whiskey with ice cubes all I get is the black shadow, but not the caustics. What am I doing wrong?