First Exterior Rendering


This First Exterior Rendering Video explains how to use IRender nXt to create a high-quality, photo-realistic rendering from your SketchUp model.
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First Exterior Rendering Video

First Exterior Rendering

First Exterior Rendering.jpg

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This Video Tutorial explains how to use IRender nXt to create a high-quality, photo-realistic rendering from your SketchUp model, with out making any changes to the model, or adjusting any rendering settings.

Tutorial

Step 1 - Download and Install IRender nXt

  1. Download IRender nXt from our Downloads Page
  2. Install it

Step 2 - Download model from the 3D Warehouse

Download Ranch House

You can download it directly from the 3D Warehouse, before starting SketchUp, or download it directly into SketchUp from the File/3D Warehouse menu.

Ranch House.jpg
Ranch House in 3D Warehouse

This is just a model from the Warehouse which we found. It has no special settings in for rendering.

We chose it because it has a porch which will show some of the subtle shadow effects of IRender nXt.

Step 3 - Start SketchUp and load the model

Rotate and Zoom to a view similar to this, so we can see the shading in the porch.

Porch view.jpg
Porch View

Click the Green Rendering Button to start the rendering.

For your first rendering, a dialog will come up with some rendering parameters.

Set Render Parameters.jpg
Rendering Parameters

Select Studio - High Dynamic Lighting.
This produces a subtle shadow effect of sunlight filtering through a forest which is good for a lot of exterior scenes.

Select a rendering size - small or medium is good when first working with a model.

And, click the Start Rendering button.

Step 4 - Examine your first rendering

It will take a short time to extract your geometry from the SketchUp model.

Extract Progress.jpg

Rendering Passes

Your first model will render for the default number of 20 passes. The more passes you use, the better the rendering will get.

During those passes, random light is brought in from the Sun and Sky.

After just 5 passes, the rendering is rough - because you can see individual shadows from random points in the sky.

Render 5 passes.jpg
Rendering after 5 passes

After 20 passes you get a pretty good image as the lighting converges.

Render 20 passes.jpg
Rendering after 20 passes

After 100 or 200 passes the lighting will smooth out and you will get an even better rendering.

Render 200 passes.jpg
Rendering after 200 passes

This 200 pass took only about 6 minutes, with a fairly simple model.

You should just use about 5 passes for exterior models until you are happy with your model and your rendering settings. Then you may want to let them render longer - even overnight - for really great results.


See also