Use Self Glow for glowing objects
Self Glow illuminates a surface as if it had light shining on it, without actually making it a light.
- Balance illumination in scene without adding additional lights.
- More realistic signs, monitors and projection devices.
- Faster rendering times.
- Read more
Use special Water Effects
if your renderer has special procedural bump effects they can be used to make realistic water which will reflect buildings, sky and other background objects realistically.
- Distorted reflections to represent water ripples.
- More Realistic highlights from reflection of light.
- Realistic transparency caused by ripples and reflection of light.
Use Camera Lights for easier illumination
- Add illumination which moves with the camera.
- Make it easy to render several views of a model without having to add additional lights for each view.
- Insure that the objects you are focusing on are well illuminated.
These can be multiple lights attached to the camera - but they can be offset as far as desired - left and right, up and down.
Use 2 Pt Perspective for elevation changes
When looking up or down at vertical surfaces, normal perspective will distort the vertical lines and cause them to be non-vertical.
SketchUp offers a 2-pt perspective option which will keep these lines vertical.
Use the same perspective settings in your renderings.
Use reflective surfaces for a more realistic image
When making your first renderings you will probably think of adding mirrors and lights, but you may ignore the value of adding reflective properties to other surfaces.
A reflective floor can make the difference between a flat image and a realistic look image. The same is true of metal, wood, plastic and other surfaces.
Use Section Planes for interior renderings
When rendering the inside of a room it is sometimes a challenge to place the camera properly.
If your renderer supports section planes, you can create realistic renderings of the room itself with a camera position outside of the room.
Use Edge lines for better detail
SketchUp users are used to using edge lines for detail, but many Photorealistic renderers do not render edge lines.
If your renderer does not use edge lines, you can add them by saving a hidden-line image of the SketchUp model, and then merging it with the rendering in "multiply mode".
If your renderer does support edge lines, then you will have the added advantage that the edge lines will appear in reflections, as well as the rendering.
Use HDRi Skies to improve exterior renderings
HDRi skies are a great way to improve any scene you are rendering. It is a quick and accurate way to give the user a high quality background image and illuminate the scene using the HDRi light intensity and colors.
One of the benefits of HDRi skies is the fact that the background image is in the shape of a dome, providing a full 360 degree background. This means that no matter what angle you are viewing your model from, there will always be a high quality background image. This also makes them valuable for scenes which contain reflection - reflective surfaces like this Camper, or windows.
Future Tips under construction
Use layers and scenes to isolate geometry
(not completed yet)
From a user:
"I currently use SU's layers, and scenes so that I can recall a specific setup. Scene one has part of the model on a layer that is off. Scene 2 has all of the models layers on. This way I can work on the whole model in scene two, then return to scene 1 and render.
Hmm... Guess I don't use SU layers to isolate design elements much, mostly scenes, components, and groups. But in my CAD app, I use blocks (components), layers, and occasionally scenes. Wounder why that is....."
Use images and textures for faster rendering
(Not completed yet)
SketchUp, and most renderers, do an excellent job rendering images and texture materials.
For background objects, and other objects for which 3D detail is not important, use images instead.
Use Panoramic Views to reveal entire model
(not completed yet)
Create a full 360 degree panoramic image which can be turned into a movie and embedded in a web page.
A Panoramic image is created by rotation the camera while rendering to create a full 360 x 360 degree image.