@pbacot said:

Yes. I love the style with the black fills and washes. How do you do that? Is any of it involved with setting colors to define areas in SketchUp image that you send to PS?

I'm glad you like them!

The images that are shaded-only (black and white) are created by combining two layers. The first is the exported linework from Sketchup, which has been edited in Photoshop to look more like hand-drawn lines. This is what it looks like on its own:

The second layer is a rendering from Blender's EEVEE renderer, which uses a material with Shader to RGB node and a Color Ramp node, which makes it show up as only black or white. This is what it looks like on its own:

The whole process is a bit more complicated and time-consuming than I'm making it sound, but that's the basic explanation.

The colored images have an extra third layer added which comes from a simple Enscape rendering.

@rv1974 said:

xayzer you've got very distictive touch, very talented!
Day and night difference in comparison to 90% of stuff posted here.

Thank you, rv1974! You're very kind.

@pbacot said:

Really wonderful. Thanks for sharing! I'd love to see a film about the process from story line to concept art to comic art, even print.

Thank you, pbacot! That's an awesome idea, but I don't know if it could ever come to fruition. And I personally am only involved in the making of the 3D models and renders. Though with the new rendering technique I've been working on (examples above) that emulates a comic book style, that might change.

@mike amos said:

Marvelous mate, blindin'.

Thank you, Mike!

@pilou said:

Worlds maker!

That's, like, the best compliment ever
Thank you!

@hornoxx said:

I can't count how many times I've clicked on this page already - no matter what aspect it's viewed from: simply magnificent!

Thank you, Horn0xx! Your words make me want to post more often, so here's two more reasons to visit the page:

I've been experimenting with a new rendering technique that is supposed to emulate a comic book style. Here are a few of the results, some of them only with shading, some of them colored:

@pbacot said:

These came out really nice. Wow. Thanks for sharing.Great details!

Thank you, pbacot!

Time for another update with another model from the upcoming issue. This is an upscale Mexican restaurant in SoCal with an outdoor area.

Here's one I finished just now. It's also for the upcoming issue of the book. Not a particularly exciting project, just a building (The Stanford Bioengineering Building), but I think it came out nicely.

I don't think I've ever described a 3d model of an inanimate object as sexy, but that's what comes to mind looking at all those soft and smooth models. Beautiful work!

Oooh, nice, looks like a set for a horror movie!

An impressive result for such a short period of learning time, and a very professional-looking video! And professional-sounding as well, you could do voice work for a living

@pixero said:

Thanks, with all the photoreal images being produced I was experimenting a bit to create a more unique look for these images.

Definitely worth it, great look.

Love the idea of using self-made 3d scans for reference. Beautiful work as always.

Looking at that kind of smooth, beautiful, detailed work always makes me slightly giddy.

It's a great pleasure to see a 3d model being recreated in the real world. Great work!

@jo-ke said:

Wow! Photorealism is insane!

Thank you, jo-ke! Though I don't think I'm achieving photorealism just yet

@glenn at home said:

Could someone ban this guy? I mean posting photos as renders is NOT cool!
D@mn good stuff sir, d@mn good!

That first sentence nearly gave me a heart attack, I was like, "holy crap, what unknown rule of the forum have I broken?"

Thank you

Here's another update with a model I completed recently. I can't post this elsewhere yet because it spoils a location for the next issue of the book, but I suppose I'm fine posting it here. It's a model of an apartment that serves as a "clubhouse" of sorts for a special task force of soldiers called Daggers.

The portraits arranged around the Daggers emblem on the wall are of soldiers who have died in the line of duty:

In one corner of the room there's supposed to be a half-serious "shrine" to the leader of the Daggers, Commander Carlyle. A simplified and somewhat enlarged version of this made it into the final model, but I haven't made renders of it yet:

I genuinely thought the first image was the reference photo you used for modeling the clock! Beautiful work! I also didn't know Kerkythea was still around, I haven't used it since I first started working with Sketchup some ten years ago.

@mike lucey said:

Inspirational work Xayzer. It's a pleasure to view it

@mike amos said:

Hugely impressive skill, you are indeed, an inspiration.

Thank you guys, you are too kind!

@pilou said:

a core I7 is yet a cool Processor! (even seven year old!
They have not that for go to the moon!

True, but the same could be said about a pocket calculator!

Here's one more, a VTOL aircraft: