@unknownuser said:

Can that be a complaint? the fact that we have become so tame and polite?

I can't remember there ever being any fights?.....

@unknownuser said:

Animating with a simple Sketchup animation and then pausing for a detailed rendered view of the building

I prefer when this method is used to show off detail. I also like the break in the animation that it provides. I often get dizzy watching video that is perpetually moving. The break helps to punctuate, break the monotony and prepare the pallet for the next moving scene.

[quote]theoretical work that solved the problems of the Alcubierre Drive concept, a theory that allowed faster-than-light travel based on Einstein's field equations in general relativity.

......whew

Having a look at what you are trying to accomplish would help. There are many easy ways to lock up your box building curvy things with Sketchup and Artisan. I felt the same frustration when I first gave it a try. I like to just dive in but with Artisan after a reasonable play period it is a good idea to reference the forum and do some reading or you will end up against a wall.

As you have probably seen Artisan is remarkable but requires some study and practice. If you search through the forum for "organic modeling" you will find good resources on many tools that can assist in the creation of abstract drawings.
I think you may find that you will adopt a number of specialized plug-ins and pull them out of your inventory as they are needed to perform certain functions. It is not fair to say there is a do-it-all tool for SU organic modeling. Artisan may be the closest to that.

@unknownuser said:

small project with a winter theme

Well that was a real snow job...

Beautiful renders. I love the way you create your tree lines. They are very authentic at least in the context that I am familiar. There is one particular tree that I see you using.....it is the largest on the line, craggy, looks like a big Japanese of maybe Manitoba maple. I'd like to know what the species is if it has one. Of course I would also love to know where to get one....
Enjoyable images thanks!

If you are disciplined enough you can turn of your auto-save. Before you do, check to see that it is actually the file save slowing you down. It is going to happen if you have complicated geometry and many texture images. Opening another SU session will either crash your box or slow you down to dead stop.

@unknownuser said:

Cheers Rich. I've made it home. First Christmas with my family in 17 years.

Wow!.....great Christmas present for you!

@unknownuser said:

Did you have too many eggnogs

Merry Christmas...lol. It is a valid complaint..."The loading has nothing to do with 'us'
Contact your ad machine owners and tell them to clean up their messy scripting. No excuse.
..and the thread turned pretty snotty there at the end.
Or not...it's your traffic.

People complain about Sketchups texture mapping process....they should give UDK a try.
Just combine all the fragmented google pieces and "render to texture"....easy!
Here are a couple of links to get you started.

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/udk/udk-import-custom-textures.php
https://forums.epicgames.com/threads/918963-Import-google-sketchup-meshes-(-skp-textures-to-UDK.

ps: I was kidding about it being easy.

"http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/"

I went there and I would recommend that you stay away from the site. Like many stories of virus devastation this one is really riddled with bull. The site has some focused obsession with malware. If you run into a room full of people trading "torrents" and talking about security it is best to back out of the room.

@unknownuser said:

I didn´t enjoy the experience,

I am sorry to keep pounding this approach but if that is the case you are a candidate for Lumion(or twinmotion, lightup, luminRT any of these for quick results) Go get a free or educational copy of one of them. Visualization and animation are too important to just give up. In 15 minutes you can build a little world for yourself. It is easy and it will help to educate you. It is a tremendous method for accelerating your visualization process and will lead you to more sophisticated approaches and back again depending on your needs. I think your next stop (in three years) would be K or Thea or maybe Vray or Vue. More challenging a learning curve but with perseverance unapproachable results in terms of realism for anyone of those products. There are many products you will discover (see the list posted) that are just as powerful as any I have mentioned here. Rendering is becoming a very rich science with many alternatives. I can see why at this point in it's history it is very confusing.

"if something is wrong"
Nothing is wrong. It is my feeling that your page is too complicated. A doctorate in visualization might ask why simplicity is so elusive.

One influential factor is the set of algorithms being used to render the scene......the more realistic the render the longer it takes usually. Just as important is the processor being used. The most realistic rendering software available today usually runs on your CPU. There is also another category of rendering front-ends that are "biased" (throwing that word around lightly). They run over what amounts to a real-time gaming engine. Twin Motion would be one, Lumion is another. They are very fast. I mean a full order of magnitude in some cases but they suffer for quality in many situations. They are not great at radiosity for example. The ambient shadow work particularly where objects meet the ground sometimes lacks realism. They take less time to really measure what light is doing and more time making an estimation and producing a procedural result. I must say they are rapidly catching up though.

To sum it up time is about money. You have to produce renderings or animation that your client can afford and that he will except as good quality and you have to deliver on time. Both these rendering approaches work....slow and fast. They just need to be employed in the right situations.

@unknownuser said:

one frame is 2 minutes

so following the math (900X2)/60 = 30 hours?

Their BS of VIZ curriculum has a list that starts with "Communications".
You basically ignored my comment and it was about that very subject.

" If you want to talk, you take a copy of the model when it is available after Christmas and we will have a go."

For this you have no answer so I guess the debate is over. I didn't think you would surrender so quickly.
So at this point we are done talking.
I'll be waiting here if you find your pants.

"I will not debate your point"

What I forgot to mention is, I am willing to debate you but through my work. If you want to talk, you take a copy of the model when it is available after Christmas and we will have a go.

I'll be proud to let the forum judge at that point where the value is.

I will not debate your point because there is some truth in it. Your English makes it come off a little harsh though.

I do this because it gets me work. In fact so much that I am going to hire a modeller for the first time in my career. (my son..lol) Once upon a time I came across a product that stopped me in it's tracks. I turned it on and played with it all day like a big kid. About half way through that same day it came out of the blue like lightening (or I guess that would be black).....it struck me that I could make money with this thing. "This thing" was Sketchup. That day I got a feeling I have had only one other time since.
That other time was my first day with Lumion.

Lumion has it's limits for the consummate rendering artist. But so far it has no limits for me in terms of earning power. I am not a talented rendering artist. I am a hard working illustrator who loves his tools and has found a way to make money with them.
Thank you Sketchup!
Thank you Lumion!
My life is much richer because you exist.

When I got to the page I was greeted by what looked like an ad pop-up so that was very distracting. After that I wasn't sure where to go, it was all a bit confusing for me. I honestly thought maybe I had been redirected but after close inspection I could see it was your page. I didn't get to the content at all. It took so long to figure out what might be of interest there.
My feeling is you need to simplify it. It does not convey a message for me. At least I couldn't find one.
Cheers!