Any way to get this plugin to match the UVW coordinates of the face it's grabbing the texture from? This would be incredibly useful for converting Xfrog plants to SKP format.

I finally figured this out.

If the component has a geo-location associated with it, then it automatically places it at the origin. If the component has a set geo location and has shadows turned on in the component file, then it automatically places it at the origin and turns shadows on in your file you placing it into (annoying with larger files).

I assume that whoever has created these models has a geolocation associated with their template file possibly. They simply need to go to Model Info and under location, choose clear location then resave their template.

Alan, could you get word around at FormFonts for the modelers to make sure that they do not have a geolocation associated with their models?

If you are using the latest version 1.49.01, I wouldn't use that visopt because its from the older 1.05 version. That vispot uses an insane DMC GI and a high Light Cache setting. These settings are overkill. Especially for the rendering you are doing. My recommendation for that type of rendering is to reset to defaults and use IR Map using -3 -1 and Light Cache using 1200 - under environment tabs use the GI and BG colors to white - no skytex obviously (this is where the 'Studio' comes from). Image Sampler to .005 DMC to .007 and then change the output settings for the size you need to render. Here is a quick stab at it in visopt formathttp://www.filedropper.com/mattshighquality-studio

I remember reading something about a 'trick' to get displacement to calc faster on a final rendering. Does anyone remember the process. It had something to do with running the rendering with displacement off and then saving the IR and LC maps and then re-running the rendering? It was supposed to increase render times dramatically.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17332901/VfSU_v1.48_UserGuide.pdf

My understanding is that they are focusing on getting VR for Rhino up to speed and whatever bugs they fix for that release will be in a new release for the SketchUp plug-in. Not sure how long this is going to take. Since the merger, things are fairly quiet over there.

This post is not going the way I wanted it to. I meant for it to become a 'share your best tree model' resource and it's dying rather quickly. Anyone have any great tree models?

I second this. How do you texture these? AMAZING!
@rombout said:

How do you texture all these models?!?!? they look so awesome, especially when SU doesnt have a UVmapping capability

Colored glass with that many curves is always going to render well IMO. A flat metal box is going to need some environment to reflect.

A brushed stainless material needs Fresnel reflection with a high IOR, like 18 or so, a brushed map in the reflection exclusion map and a brushed bump map. Chaos (formerly ASG) has some good ones on their site if your registered. Try this one http://luzindirecta.luxisessentia.com/index.php/categories-menu/metal-menu/176-aluminium-brushed-01

I would make sure to have the latest 1.49.01 installed. Now DR does work with this version, but from experience, and the word on the street is that its buggy and might give you issues.

I have been using SU for 6+ years now and I have yet to really find good 3D tree models. I know that really good hi poly trees kill SU and thats probably why most do not exist, but I would really love access to some nice tree models that balance both size and quality for SU.
I have a couple that I use in renders with Vray, but I would like to start a thread where everyone can share some really nice 3D detailed trees.
I will start the share with this on on 3DW:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=ab308005eb6104139c6bac85bf4b20a6&prevstart=0

The support folks resolved all of this for me really quickly. Just shoot them and email. It was aggrevating at first but imagine migrating all your stuff over to a new system, not easy. A friend of mine has a saying, "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time."

Before I say what I am going to say, I want to start off by saying that I have been using SU for over 6 years now and when V4SU plugin came out, I was elated. I have been using it for about 2 years now and have also started playing around with Vray in MAX. I am a SU guy, not a MAX guy, but I have seen both sides. Here is my opinion.

SketchUp and Max are 2 very different programs. Each with their advantages and disadvantages. MAX is a 64 bit application, so my opinion is that VR is a lot faster in MAX. I have worked on a few complex interiors in SU with Vray and the rendering times are not great. I couldn't imagine running an animation in V4SU because it just isn't a great animation program. Hopefully one day it will get there.

Is V4SU worth the pricetag? Absolutely. To be able to model something quickly and just get a HQ Vray render directly out of SU without exporting / importing (disaster), yes, that alone is worth it. Would I bag MAX with the hopes that I can replace it with SU and VR? I really don't think you can, espeically if you are doing high end interior animations. Go to Youtube and search Vray for SketchUp Interior Animation. There isn't a whole lot great stuff.

Yep, it looks like your aspect ratio is off a little bit. You need to unlock and reset it to match. Sometimes if you move a toolbar or add toolbars it changes your AR and you need to reset it to the correct ratio. Also, there is a current discussion on the V4S forums discussing the resolution your are talking about. 9000 pixels seems like overkill for anything that's not going to be published.

Doesnt the DR Spawner have the option of sharing the textures to a networked location? Is this not working in the current build?

How about the IFC format?
http://www.ohyeahcad.com/ifc2skp/index.php

How would you make the parts of the imported model into Revit components? Is it just a matter of 'tracing' over the object, or can you literally take a roof plane from your SU model and turn it into a Revit roof object?

Can any tell me their experiences with using SU models for conceptual design and then sending them to Revit? Also, has anyone take a Revit model exported to DWG and work in SU with it?

I know this topic has probably been discuss a few thousand times, but I want to start this thread regarding specifically importing SKP into MAX and using Vray for rendering. There is a lot of chatter on other rendering forum sites that pro viz guys say that SU bascially sucks and shouldn't be used at all for modeling. I disagree, very much, and I wanted to know what people thought about the workflow from SU to 3D Studio.

I am currently using Vray for SketchUp and it's a fantastic toolset, but I feel like I am missing out on a lot of resources (64 bit environment, proxies, faster rendering times) by not heading into 3D Studio to perform the rendering. Can you guys share your experiences, good and bad, so that I can pull the trigger on this?

Thanks Brody. I think I accomplished what I needed. I saved out the site as a component, so I could open alone and focus on it. I made the ground plane a single texure and used a few Photoshop tricks to get areas of grass, gravel, and dry leaves. Then I made several tree face me components and used a few plants, shrubs, and grasses from FormFonts in combo with the compo sprayer. The site file is about 50MB - so she is a beast, but it looks pretty darn good. I'll post a pic in a few.