Thanks everyone, I'll try that.

Sigurd

Shadows are very important for realistic images. They don't just darken, light interacts reflects etc.... I do most of my graphics in Photoshop but I can see the huge potential of sketchup. I'd appreciate it if someone would help with a task.

If I have a basic city floorplan - building footprints - how can I quickly turn those into rough pillars in sketchup? So for example 'box a' is 3 stories next to 'box b' 9 stories. I might have a picture or layout with a city block or two. I'm not concerned with roof shape or fancy detail but I am concerned with elevations being correct relatively.

Imagine a city block seen from above. The bank is 3 stories. The Mall is 2 stories. the apartment building is 12 stories. I want to trace the shape of the building and grow that shape to its correct height. I dont care about whats in it or too much refinement at this point. I want a series of irregular pillars that will cast shadows based on the same light source.

Can sketchup do this? Anyone have links or a tutorial they can recommend? Sketchup seems really efficient. How can I do this efficiently? I want to create a view with a dozen low detail buildings in it.

Sigurd

Any help much appreciation.

In the picture below I'd like to render these shapes as buildings of 1-8 stories. Then I'd like to collect their shadows and use them as part of a artistic map.