Chapter 5 – Rendering in SketchUp

This chapter introduces methods to create photorealistic renderings of SketchUp models and use them for highly polished presentation images. It covers setting up a rendering work flow, giving an overview of rendering methods, and present techniques for setting up the rendering environment, lights, and materials.

Links in this chapter:

http://www.sketchupartists.org/presentations/sketchup-styles/ - SketchUp Artist’s style collection
http://www.imsidesign.com/Products/Renditioner/tabid/1756/Default.aspx - Renditioner (UPDATED)
http://www.indigorenderer.com - Indigo
http://www.renderplus.com - Render Plus Systems’ IRender nXt
http://www.light-up.co.uk - LightUp
http://www.suplugins.com - Podium
http://www.renderin.com - Render[in]
http://www.artvps.com - Shaderlight
http://www.twilightrender.com - Twilight
http://www.vray.com - VRay
http://www.3dpaintbrush.com - 3DPaintBrush
http://www.artlantis.com - Artlantis
http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/ - Kerkythea (UPDATED)
http://www.lumenrt.com - Lumen RT
http://www.maxwellrender.com - Maxwell
http://www.thearender.com - Thea
https://www.lightwave3d.com/ - LightWave 3D (UPDATED)
http://www.e-onsoftware.com - Vue
http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/index.php/downloads/software - Kerkythea application (UPDATED)
http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/index.php/downloads/software - Kerkythea SketchUp plugin (UPDATED)
http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/index.php/downloads/resources - Kerkythea materials and models (UPDATED)
http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/index.php/downloads/documentation - Kerkythea tutorials (UPDATED)
http://www.cgtextures.com/ - CG Textures
http://www.kerkythea.net/cms/index.php/downloads/resources - Kerkythea studios (UPDATED)
http://ict.debevec.org/~debevec/Probes/ - Light probe collection
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?24038-Free-high-res-skymaps - Sky map collection
http://www.mcmaster.com - McMaster-Carr
http://www.rip3d.net/web/en.html#/free/downloads - IES Generator 4
http://www.lightolier.com/home/file-finder.jsp?ftype=ies - Lightolier IES file collection
http://3dexport.com/cg-textures - Texture collection (UPDATED)
http://www.bricksntiles.com - Bricks ‘n’ Tiles
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ - Trimble’s 3D Warehouse
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?uq=0209659327533626787604282&styp=c&scoring=m - GE appliances on 3D Warehouse
http://www.sketchupartists.org/ - SketchUp Artists

SketchUp models in this chapter:

(The model viewer requires a WebGL-capable browser like Chrome, Firefox or Safari)

The sample room model - You can also download the SketchUp file

The backdrop room model - You can also download the SketchUp file

More SketchUp models are on the 3DWarehouse page.

Talk about your work:

You can discuss rendering with SketchUp on this site in the following group:

Rendering group

Next steps:

I have a video-overview of many rendering programs on my blog. This gives you some guidance when you are choosing between these.
Here are some tutorial sites (and YouTube channels) for the various rendering programs:
- Indigo renderer - YouTube
- iRender nXt - YouTube
- Kerkythea
- LightUp - YouTube
- Maxwell - YouTube
- Podium - YouTube
- Raylectron – YouTube
- Render[in] - YouTube
- Renditioner - YouTube
- Shaderlight - YouTube
- Thea - YouTube
- Twilight - YouTube
- VRay - YouTube
Don’t forget my Freebies page for materials and 360-degree environments.
Need more IES light files? Try these sites:
Need more HDR environments? Try these sites:
Another forum for rendering topics is at http://forums.cgarchitect.com/
If you don’t own Photoshop, then try out these free image editors:
- http://www.gimp.org/ - The Gimp is a very capable freely downloadable image editor
- http://pixlr.com - An online editor (by Autodesk) with similar features and layout as Photoshop
Some inspiring renderings (not necessarily done with SketchUp):
- http://www.planktongroup.com/
Blogs on rendering and presentation:
- http://www.alexhogrefe.com/