Posts made by Zoom123

I am referring to tutorials and info specifically for the standalone sketchup plugin. I know about your 8 video tutorials but I couldn't find much else.

I appreciate the help that other users can offer here but I continue to believe that a section in the Maxwell forums would be appropriate. Maxwell could explicitly state that there will be no official support in this section so it really wouldn't cost them anything.

I am sure that if paying clients of Maxwell don't mind that a free version of Maxwell was made available they will not mind a sub-section in the forum. Non paying users can be restricted to that section only (something which is very easy to do with forum software).

I continue to compare Twilight Render and Maxwell for SU and I think they are both great. Since I upgraded my PC (i7 2600K overclocked to 4.5GHz) I don't have any speed issues with Maxwell anymore. And now they added IES lights my other major concern was eliminated. My only issues with Maxwell now is the inability to test the production engine and the inability of non-licensed users to post in the forums - which results in low forum activity in general ("Maxwell for Sketchup (Standalone)" section has just 3 topics). In comparison Twilight Render has a ton of great info in their forums. A lot of the content is available to all, while they also have a section for licensed users. I think this is a better approach.

Jason,

Since members without a license can not use the Maxwell forum, where can I ask questions and get answers about Maxwell for SU? I couldn't find some contact email address for non licensed users.

Since now there is a free version of Maxwell wouldn't it be appropriate to have at least one section of your forum open for the users of the free version (who are also potential clients for the paid version)? I could use Skethucation, but it would seem more appropriate to ask Maxwell specific question in a Maxwell forum.

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

@dtrarch said:

Kerkythea 32 bit under 20 min to finish.

Twilight same as Kerky.

Try Kerkythea Echo Boost, it will go even faster than Twilight! And if you run on 64bit, you will get much more speed. Make a test and come with the results !

The Intel Embree kernel is faster than all of them and runs only on the CPU. It renders the Imperial Crown in about 20 secs.

Is this what Raylectron is using?

I had a quick look and it looks interesting:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/embree-photo-realistic-ray-tracing-kernels/

@unknownuser said:

Or better yet, why not make a new topic with a complex model that we can all download and post our rendered result along with the settings we used, so that everyone else can try it, to make sure no one cheated. This way, it will not be only a Raylectron thing, but a true comparison of all renders, at least those willing to participate. What do you think?

I like the idea! Maybe a standard interior scene, rendered day time with light coming from a window and night time with artificial lights. Then each one can post the steps taken to achieve the result so we can not only see the end result but also how easy or complicated was to achieve it. This could also serve as a way to measure render times.

I made a quick search at 3D Warehouse and I came up with this: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=7e192f09383ff157eb01393c3387d97d which are highly rated and maybe one of those rooms with some modifications could serve as the test scene.

@unknownuser said:

Yes there are many other advantages.

What are the other major advantages when compared to the other programs in the same price range?

@unknownuser said:

No limit, just a watermark. Unlike others, not network limit either.

Sounds good!

Interesting. The price is good but for the same price you can get Twilight Render and Maxwell for SU which are using known and mature render engines. Apart from the network abilities are there any other significant advantages of Raylectron over the other render plugins of the same price?

When was Raylectron V1 released? Your website seems new and your forum is mostly empty (and this was your first post here )

@unknownuser said:

Limitation: Full working copy, embedded watermarks.

No time limit?

I made a quick test of Shaderlight 2.0 and Maxwell for SU along with a few other apps a while ago:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=41848

I found a few issues with Shaderlight and the results were not as realistic but it is faster than Maxwell.

OK, I found a way that seems to work fine (sampling the texture from one group and then applying it to the next)

Hello,

I modeled a house and each floor is a separate group. Now I want to add a stone wall texture on a wall, but since the wall spans 3 different groups I can't get the textures to align perfectly and I get visible seams (this is not due to the texture as the texture itself is seamless)

When I try to position a texture on one group the textures of the other groups are not visible so I can't eyeball the position either.

Which is the best way around this issue? I thought of using projected textures but I am not sure if they would work and maybe there is a better solution.

I own a forum which is running the same forum software as Sketchucation (phpbb) and I installed a mod where the choice of each member in a poll can be publicly shown(if this option was chosen when the poll was created). I also have the forum setup in a way that newly registered members can not vote in polls.

This way the results have more substance. You don't only get a vague number as a result but you can also see who exactly voted for what option and judge the results accordingly.

I got a space navigator and I love it.

What mode are you using it with? It seems that I am using the "Helicopter mode" although I can't remember why I choose this instead of one of the camera modes.

Thanks Brodie. I will hold the upgrade of the video card until I have more evidence that it is causing issues.

Regarding ATI and issues with SU, are those issues over now? And what sort of issues were/are they? Could the problem I am having be such an issue between an ATI card and SU?

IS Kerkythea actively developed? Last version seems to be from 2008.

From the ones I tried so far I like Twilight most, which uses the Kerkythea engine, but it also has not been updated for more than a year.

Hello,

I recently upgraded my computer to a an i7 2600k with 8GB RAM, but I kept my previous video card (Radeon HD 5670 512MB).

Rendering is really fast now, but rotating the model around inside sketchup can cause momentary freezes under some circumstances* even though CPU usage doesn't go above 5-6%. Do I need a new video card? If yes, which video card in the price range of Radeon HD 6870 and GeForce GTX 560 Ti?

• This doesn't happen in all models and in the one that does, if I turn on "hidden geometry" or "back edges" those momentary freezes stop happening. Any idea why this would happen? Logically displaying "hidden geometry" and "back edges" should make the model harder to display, not easier!

@jason_maranto said:

@zoom123 said:

Jason, is there a new version of Maxwell for SU?
I understand that the Free version is not a demo version, but this basically means that the paid version of Maxwell for SU can not be tested. Before I pay the $100 for the paid version of the plugin I would like to test it, and the free version does not allow me to fully test it because of the luck of the production engine and the inability to properly render artificial lighting. How about a time/resolution limited trial of the paid version? Even 1-2 weeks would be enough.

Yes, there is a pre-release version being tested now... IES lights are included as well as a few other nice new aspects to the plugin.

I am just a user like you so I have no influence over how they decide to limit the plugins -- I would think buying the production engine sight unseen is a bit of a stretch and currently the only way to test it is to download the demo version for the full Maxwell Render Suite. Perhaps this will change in the future -- everything is still so new that I'm sure there will be lots of adjustments made over the next few months as they get a better handle on how best to do something like this.

Best,
Jason.

Thanks! Can you give us a link to this pre-release version?

@ledisnomad said:

I understand about the price, completely. On the topic of price, you say that you hired an architect. How much time are you putting into this on your own? Why not have the architect you've already hired help you with the material and lighting selections through renderings, samples, etc.? You should have just hired a contractor if all you wanted was plans because you aren't getting the true value added for an architect without the rest of the design services IMHandbiasedO. If the architect you already hired can't do it, find another one that can.

That said, if you are doing it because you are really enjoying it and have the time, for my 2 cents--and I have used V-Ray, Maxwell, Twilight, Podium, and many other render engines--don't sweat the $100. I really think Maxwell ($100) or Twilight will do what you need it to do. Personally, I'd choose Maxwell because I like the interface. You're not going to get the quality you want with the free version, you've seen that. And as suggested, you could try out the demo of the full version of the Maxwell Suite to get a feel.

Good luck with your house! Post some renderings and pictures, too, so we can all see how it's going.

The architect can and did some 3D, but I like to test several different ideas and the easier way to do that is if I do it myself. It would take a lot of time (and possibly a lot of money) if I was asking the architect "try it like this, lets change it like that, what if we do this" etc. How do you work with your "picky" clients?

I will definitely buy one of the $100 apps and when I have something decent ready I will post it here. Since many of you are architects maybe you could even give me some input on the architecture and the design, since I care more about these than the quality of the rendering

@ledisnomad said:

Which render plugin to use is a constant debate around here. I tried to start a spreadsheet for collaboration here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=3220&start=45. We could keep updating it and anybody is interested...

There is one really big thing I see missing from this conversation, though:
zoom123, what do you want to render and for what purpose?!
Even if you are only doing this for fun, it can make a big difference in your choice.

For example, I'm an architect and 99% of my renderings are for quick design studies. Somebody said that Maxwell allowed for quicker scene setup and that they didn't care how long it took, because they could run the rendering overnight. That may be true for some types of presentation images, but for me, I often need it ASAP, setup and all, exterior or interior. I don't have time to let a rendering bake long enough to remove noise in Maxwell or any unbiased engine (that said, Maxwell would probably be OK for many of my exterior renderings, but since I need it for both exterior or interior, I don't want to deal with two renderers). So for me it's biased all the way, V-Ray specifically. Now with V-Ray RT like Maxwell Fire, I have even faster setup times.

So, zoom123, what are you rendering and why?

What I am rendering is my future home. I started with sketchup to test out different ideas before even going to an architect. The architect took my initial general ideas and developed them into a plan. Using those plans I created another model which was used to fine tune the plans.

Now we are at the stage where we have to decide about materials, lighting etc, and I need a render engine to be able to test those. Like you I need something that can render fast so I can test many different ideas quickly. A bit of noise doesn't bother me, what I care most is that the lighting and the rendering in general would be as natural as possible. My aim is not to create pretty pictures but renderings that can help me make decisions.

Unlike you I am not a professional so I wouldn't want to invest in something expensive and difficult to learn. This is why I excluded V-Ray.

Jason, is there a new version of Maxwell for SU?
I understand that the Free version is not a demo version, but this basically means that the paid version of Maxwell for SU can not be tested. Before I pay the $100 for the paid version of the plugin I would like to test it, and the free version does not allow me to fully test it because of the luck of the production engine and the inability to properly render artificial lighting. How about a time/resolution limited trial of the paid version? Even 1-2 weeks would be enough.

I got the Teigha File Converter and it worked OK, but the DXF import plugin I tried (the first one listed) didn't work well with the files I had (it was slow and gave many errors)

I think I will just install both versions of SU (7 & and continue working as I did so far.

Thanks, but I think that might be a bit too complicated for me. I am not really a CAD user. I just tried AutoCAD WS and it seems to give you the option to save as DFX. Anybody tried that?