I am currently using DWG Viewer to view the plans send to me, I don't create the plans myself. I don't think DWG Viewer would allow me to save as DXF (since it is just a viewer).
Is there any other free and easy to use application that would allow me to view the DWG files and also save as DXF?
And when importing DXF using the plug-in, is the result the same as when importing DWG directly in Sketchup? (scale, layers preserved etc)
Hello,
On my previous computer I had both Sketchup 7.1 Free and Sketchup 8 Free and I used SU 7.1 to import DWG files.
Is there a better (and still free) way to do this that would not require the installation of 2 SU programs?
Thanks!
@jd hill said:
There will be an IES material character in the next build.
Great news! Any estimate about when the next build will be out? Are we talking about days, weeks or months?
After about a week of trying different applications (Twilight, Maxwell for SU, Shaderlight, V-Ray for SU and Podium) I finally decided to settle on one of them.
Obviously it would be be impossible to fully learn all applications within such a limited time but a decision had to be made eventually even with the limited info I could have during such short period.
I made a model of my home office in Sketchup and then I tested each of the above applications based on the following factors (in no particular order):
Shaderlight had the easiest to use interface, had several tutorials and webinars and it was relatively fast. Unfortunately the rendering engine itself didn't seem to be up to par with some of the other applications, while the cost was higher than most of the other options.
Podium was also very easy to use although the interface didn't seem as refined and it had fewer features. Some presets were very fast to render, but unfortunately the rendering engine again didn't seem to be at the level of some other applications (even with the best quality presets which took much longer to render). The cost is not high, but still higher than some of the competition.
I tried V-Ray to have a taste of what seems to be the favorite application for many here, even thought the cost was way higher than the rest. I got good results rendered quickly without messing too much with the zillion options available. There are also plenty of tutorials online about Vray. But ultimately the cost was too high for me and so was the learning curve (no point in paying $800 and then using just the defaults). Since I am not a pro I decided that I was not really willing to give up the amount of money and time required by V-Ray.
Maxwell for SU (standalone) has a nice and quite intuitive interface, although not as easy to use as Shaderlight or Podium. There are some nice tutorials online, but not that many yet (this app is new). The price is great and there is a free version with no time limits. Unfortunately for the time being it lacks a feature to easily create spotlights and it renders relatively slow. But if you don't mind to wait longer then the results seem to be very good.
I got very good results from Twilight, which if not equal are very close to those by V-Ray and Maxwell. Twilight has presets that give good results fast and other presets that give better results slower. It is not as easy to use as Shaderlight and Podium but it is almost as easy and with more features and at a better price. On the minus side the interface is not as polished as some of the other apps and I couldn't find any good video tutorials. My main issue with Twilight is that light strength is entered as some vague number (Podium does this also), not as Watts/Efficacy, Lumen or any real world unit as is the case with the other applications.
My choice in the end of this week was Twilight because none of its issues was a "deal breaker". I also liked Maxwell for SU and I will try it again if/when they include MXED, or some other way to include spotlights or IES lights. Shaderlight also showed potential, but I would consider it only if they make the improvements they promised in their rendering engine and also drop the price.
Speed might not be such a big issue once I upgrade my computer (i7 overclocked to about 4.5GHz) but not being able to add spotlights easily is an important issue. Do you know when they are planning to change this?
Yes, I did notice that the Standalone app was new. If they add a few missing features then I think it will be really competitive. If they could also figure out a way for quick preliminary renders, then it would have everything I need and I would certainly buy it!
I am not a pro in 3D (neither I am planning to be - I am a Web Developer). I have one project and that is my own house which I am currently designing. I have an architect, interior designer etc, and I could also hire somebody to do the 3D for me. But I am a bit of a perfectionist and I like to evaluate many different possibilities until I find the "perfect" one. So I learned Sketchup and I used the plans to make the house in 3D. Now we moved into the phase when we have to decide about specific materials and do the lighting plans, and Sketchup by itself is not very good for this. So basically I am looking for an app that will allow me to evaluate several different possibilities for materials, lighting and other aspects of the interior design.
No problem Brodie. Maybe Maxwell will revise their policy on this. I understand not including IES, but the ability to create spotlights shouldn't be considered an advanced feature reserved only for the Suite. If they don't include MXED then they should at least create some other feature that would allow the creation of spotlights.
Brodie, on the download page it says that there is a 30 day limit. Is there a legitimate way around that?
http://www.maxwellrender.com/index.php/maxwell_render_suite/download
I guess that would work good when you know exactly what you are doing and you know what results you will get. So you set everything up the way it should be and then let it run overnight. But when I am learning I like to experiment. I would change something, e.g. lighting or a material, and then render to see what effect my changes had. Then change it some more and render again, and so on and so forth.
It would be nice to have some sort of "lower quality" setting that you can use while learning or experimenting, and then when you are satisfied with the results let it run overnight for the best quality.
Isn't the demo of the suite a limited time trial? Is there a way to have unlimited access to MXED without buying the full product?
Thanks for the tips Brodie. So basically to create a spotlight I need IES but as Jason wrote in his post earlier Maxwell for SU doesn't support IES, only Maxwell Render Suite does.
My issue with Maxwell so far is rendering speed. Would the Render Suite be significantly faster?
I understand that unbiased renderers are slower by nature but that in the end they can produce more realistic results. The problem is that trial and error is part of the learning process for me, and with a slower renderer I would learn slower as well.
@unknownuser said:
If you're rendering at 1080 directly from SU you'd have to try really hard to get to 8gb. Even then you'd probably have to be running other software in the background to get that high. If I wanted to save a few bucks and was in that situation I might even start with 6gb with the option of buying a little more later if the need arose.
-Brodie
Thanks Brodie. I think I will go for 8GB then.
Thanks. So say an interior scene of a room with several artificial lights and everything that is needed to produce a photorealistic result at a resolution of 1920x1080, could it need more than 8GB? I am not planning to print anything so 1920x1080 is probably the max I will ever need.
@jason_maranto said:
Vray doesn't fit the "easy to learn and free" criteria you had established in the beginning... are you considering buying something now?
Best,
Jason.
Yes, although I still don't think I want to spend $800, especially if I can get something adequate for me for $100 or $0. Vray has a 30 day trial, if within this time I manage to learn it good enough to be able to produce results much better and/or much faster than any other renderer then I will consider it.
I am also planning to test Kerkythea and Indigo RT. How do these compare in terms of learning curve?
Thanks for the suggestions.
I wanted to use a sphere because I assumed that this would be closer to how a real light bulb would emit light. I even thought of modeling a light bulb and having its surface being an emitter.
How can you do a spotlight with emitters?
@unknownuser said:
your normals are flipped so the backside is facing out and the emitter side is facing in
That was it! Thanks 
Can emitters be applied to a sphere? I am talking about the standard emitters, not IES.
Applying emitter on a plane seems to work fine, but I tried applying it to a sphere (even with turning the "Spherical" UV on) but all I got was black.
I downloaded the trials of Shaderlight and VRay for SU to try them out in addition to Maxwell for SU and Twilight.
Shaderlight is really simple to use, has a nice interface and several video tutorials and webinars which all combine to make it a good choice for new users that don't want to spend a lot of time to learn a program. Unfortunately it didn't take me long to notice some quite significant issues with the rendering engine. In their forums they said that they are working on these issues to be solved in the next version, but personally I will have to eliminate Shaderlight from the options I am evaluating.
Vray gave me some good results with mostly default options on exterior scenes. The only question is if I will be patient enough to learn how to use it!
Hello,
I am new to rendering. I started testing various programs recently and today I downloaded the 30 day trial of VRay. My first attempts with Vray (leaving most things on defaults) produced quite good results really fast, and from what I hear many people consider it as the best renderer.
Of course I also noticed the vast amount of options and I realize that the learning curve for Vray must be quite steep. I watched a few tutorials and it seems that at least some of the options are for achieving an "enhanced" kind of reality and nice looking results. If all I care is to get a result that will be as close to reality as possible (e.g. if I have a room with bad lighting that looks bad, I want the rendered image to reflect this), and I don't care to make the rendered image look any better than what a snapshot of a real scene would be, are there some option categories I can totally ignore and never need to learn about?