SketchUp + Podium...

[sinmu]

in fact, the 3d output from Sketchup (obj) can be import into any 3D package easily and with just one click on rendering, you can achieve fantastic result - it is not an hassle to open such a file at all.

Once it has been in any 3D application - the output can be control and
create excellent render images (toon shade, GI, Ambient Occlusion, normal raytrace etc).

Many 3D applications Render engines are now very mature in today's market.
What we are talking here is we want fast rendering and excellent output quality 3D images.

hope that helps

sinmu

[Ross Macintosh]

Sinmu -- I agree that 3d output from SketchUp can easily be imported into many different 3d software packages for rendering. I'm less in agreement about the one-click part. Sure you could do that but unless you do lots of sometimes very fussy tweaks (setting up lights and material tweaks for instance) the results are likely quite poor.

I certainly have nothing against more fully featured renderers as they offer, the user who is willing & able to learn them, so much more flexibility than Podium. I just believe Podium is a great option for those who want a easy rendering solution.

I attach another test scene I put together in SketchUp and rendered with Podium. For lights I just edited some white rectangles on the ceiling to be light emitting. (You can see them reflected in one of the monitors). Some other materials in the model were assigned reflectivity. Then I hit the render button and you see the result. I didn't do multiple renders to tweak anything. Now of course somethings could be better -- lots of room for improvement. That said, I do think the results are quite good for such a simple process.

Regards, Ross

[Mike Bailey]

This Podium program has some very nice features, I think it is an excellent alternative to using an external rendering engine for the following not so simple reason. When I first started using Sketchup I found that exported SU's models did not have the required geometry to render correctly in my other 3D programs. To correct this additional lines had to be drawn on my model to add missing required polygons that make the model work (for instance holes cut into the geometry to add a window), If not the windows, holes, cutouts, etc... were not export as I expected. I have upgraded SU a couple of times since I discovered this, I'm not sure if they corrected the problem or not, out of habit I just add the missing geometry because I always export my models for use in another 3D program. I don't plan on purchasing the program but for those folks who want to do it all in Sketchup this is a goody.

[jamesmc]

Nice office scene Ross for a 1 pass,no muss no fuss render.

I usually end up wasting half of my life tweaking lights, adjusting specular, reflective values, transparent shadows and other gobbledy gook associated with getting that good render. heh

[suunto]

I attach another test scene I put together in SketchUp and rendered with Podium. For lights I just edited some white rectangles on the ceiling to be light emitting. (You can see them reflected in one of the monitors). Some other materials in the model were assigned reflectivity. Then I hit the render button and you see the result. I didn't do multiple renders to tweak anything. Now of course somethings could be better -- lots of room for improvement. That said, I do think the results are quite good for such a simple process.

Regards, Ross

wow, that looks great, thanks for the info, i've just downloaded google sketch up, it works really well
how did you go about creating that office, i've been through the tutorials and it seems a user friendly interface but to be able to draw a office like that is a big jump to where i'm at, any chance of a mini tut?