SU Rendering--A Very Mini Tutorial

[SketchUp Guru]

I just thought I'd post this image to show how I set up the lighting for the model of the house I posted the other day. In this view you can see the"lights". The large rectangles are placed above the model and are adjusted to face the model. It is very important the their front faces are oriented correctly. I painted them white so they would project the right color. Then they are made into light emitters by selecting the front faces and setting the Lights slider in podium. Presto! Lights.

Note: this view was done at a lower quality setting than the other view.

Here's the image I posted the other day just for reference.

Stay tuned. In the next rendering tutorial we'll be making lard from beef fat.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Oops. Had an incorrect link. Fixed now. Sorry.

 

[garywayne]

Dave. I like the idea of the tutorial. I have no idea what to do.

I don't understand where the lights came from.

 

[Neil]

Thats a great tip, Dave - I was wondering how to deal with lights in Podium. Thanks (again!)

Cheers,
Neil

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Gary, did it make sense from the first picture? The lights are the large black things in the first view. Their other sides (front sides) are set up as light emitters in Podium. Select the face and run the light slider up.

 

[garywayne]

Thanks Dave.

I'm just starting to get the gist. I understand your light reflectors. :wink:

I am in the process of studying the Podium help page.

It will take me a while. I am still banging my head with some of the basic SU techniques.

Looking forward to any tutorials by anyone. I love to learn, just not very good at it. :-({|=

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Gary, it's not that you're not very good at learning. It's that I haven't discovered the proper way to teach you. I was thinking we should try a one-on-one session or two. Perhaps you could fly me to the UK and we could sit down in front of your computer and get it worked out.

Once you've wiped the tears or laughter from your eyes and can breathe again, take a look at this image. You can see the front faces of the light panels. This is done at the fastest rendering time so the quality isn't as good but it should give you an idea.

I'll try to get something done that shows how I did the Morris chair and table. It's only slightly different because it has a room built round it and the lights are in the ceiling and a couple of walls.

 

[garywayne]

You never know Dave, I just might win the lottery.

Who knows.

I am looking forward to your demo. In the meantime I shall have a little play with SU.

(hammer)

 

[Scrums]

errrmmmm..... finally I think I'm starting to get to grips with SU. However - Dave - is Podium a separate programme?....I'm b**** if I can find anything to do with it in SU5 or lights for that matter.

......still missing somethig - Chris.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Chris, go to this site: http://www.suplugins.com/ and read all about it. Basically Podium is a plugin for SketchUp. It lives in the SketchUp\Plugins folder and is run directly in SU. There is currently a freebeta version which is somewhat limited but very capable. Once the beta test period is over, there will be an official release of the not free version. It will be priced at $199USD with a short introductory period when it will be $149USD. Even at $199 this program will be an inexpensive way to easily make renders of your SU models.

 

[Nick W]

So, now that Podium has to be paid for, has anyone bought it yet? Dave?

Does it have any more funtionality than the last release (e.g. higher resolution as was promised)?
Do you get upgrades/point releases in the price?

I must say I'm feeling a little cooler about it as no one (including the developer) on the Podium forum has answered the question I posted there - sure they've done the politician thang of answering the question they wish they had been asked - but answer my question? No.

The lack of detail on what you get for your money makes me a little wary too.

Its a shame really, 'cos I want to want to buy it. :?

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Nick, I haven't bought it yet. Waiting for Santa to leave me a little pot of gold under the tree.

I think the only thing you'll gain in buying the full version is that you'll have access to high resolution output. I didn't know when I started this--and only found out late yesterday--that the beta and evaluation versions of Podium actually expire and become non functional.

For folks who want to generate nice looking renders with a minimal amount of work, Podium looks like the best option. You do have to pay to get ease of use. It's a compromise I guess. Otherwise you can go free with more work involved.