Sketchup Render Software
These days, there’s plenty to like about the little 3D modelingprogram that could. SketchUp has transformed in the past decade - from bastardbrain-child of a couple hippie University of Colorado ‘graduates’ tofull-fledged visualization powerhouse. The journey was not an easy one, it itsrise to competent modeling program has been aided by its compatibility withsome of the most powerful plugins and pieces of rendering software the marketoffers.SketchUp is here to stay, and might be just what you need toget your feet wet in the 3D modeling, rendering, and visualization industry.Master these plugins, and be on your way to producing images and animations theRhino bullies on your block only dream of.And no matter where you stand in your skill level as acomputer-savvy rendering artist, SketchUp has something to offer. It’s fast,nimble, and.er.sketchy.
It’s as easy a way to put ideas on paper as it is atool to design and produce. The user-friendly nature of its parts and pieceslend themselves to be easily approached by beginners, and fun to master forprofessionals. Get to know SketchUp, so when you open up this war chest ofauxiliary plugins, you’ll be ready to make full use of their potential.Here are the best plugins for Google Sketchup. 1 VRAYEveryone who’s set foot inside a design studio knows whatVRAY is. What many of us design nerds don’t know, however, is that VRAY isfully compatible with SketchUp via an equally as user-friendly plugin. Ifyou’re looking to get photo-realistic renderings out of SketchUp, VRAY isprobably where you’ll want to look first. It comes complete with a materialeditor (thank God because SketchUp’s is AWFUL), and all the other useful toolsyou’ll need to produce pro quality images and animations.Better yet?
You can get VRAY up and running in SketchUp forno charge to yourself (unless you consider signing up for an email newsletter a‘charge’ - which you might). VRAY serves up a base set of tools and materialsto you for free, with the option to put a bit of skin in the game for theirfull bevy of options and setting. It’s not a bad deal, and should give youenough to see if your SketchUp chops translate to the world of 3D visualizationas well. 2 JointPushPullHi there SketchUp user.
Ever get tired of that regular oldpush/pull tool and its rather stunted ability to.push and pull? Well, you’rein luck! JointPushPull is a modeling plugin that features 6 specific tools forturning your model into a digital gumby. The tools are joint, round, vector,normal, extrude, and follow. I won’t deep dive into what each tool does from atechnical standpoint, but rest assured: mastering this plugin will shave hoursoff modeling time. Hours you can spend learning VRAY for SketchUp because ifyou didn’t hear me before IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
3 CurviLoftSo, you thought SketchUp was a child’s tool used for makingrectilinear garbage cubes? With CurviLoft, you’ll have all the power youneed to start building curvilinear models that you thought were reserved forprograms like Maya and Rhino. Curviloft consists of 3 tools: loft by spline,loft along path, and skinning. In practice, the tool works similarly to the‘follow me’ tool, only rather than a simple extrusion along a path, CurviLoftis able to connect two different shapes along a path.
That’s right. This isnext level.Tools like CurviLoft should really be packaged in with thebase software. But since Google is too busy trying to map the entire world(universe?) in images and 3D models, I guess a simple download will have tosuffice. 4 PodiumPodium is another rendering plugin a la VRAY, with areputation that’s slowly building towards James Bond proportions. I’m notreally sure what I mean by that, but trust me, it’s good. Podium offers a vastmaterial library off the bat, and like VRAY, offers a free trial that gets youstarted without ponying up any cash.
Every renderer has a specifictaste and tolerance for their software, so taking the Porsche out for a testride before forking over a second mortgage is probably your best course ofaction. Take it from me: Podium is great. It’s an incredibly powerfulalternative to VRAY, and fits into SketchUp like a tailored Italian glove. 5 Purge AllKeeping your model clean and organized in SketchUp can be anarduous and infuriating task. It’s also a completely necessary one, as yourlayers and model components can spread like the plague if your model gets largeenough. Purge All is a simple, yet essential plugin that pretty much doesexactly what you think.
It purges all. This plugin is more robust and precisethan SketchUp’s default purging tools, and even gives you a full report of whatgot tossed in case that component of your silhouetted ex-girlfriend wavinggoodbye to you was something you were saving for a rainy day. 6 Twilight RenderI’ll be honest. Twilight Render isn’t quite there yet. It’sa free rendering plugin that will give you decent image output and arespectable library of materials But be clear, VRAY this is not. I’ve includedit because software like TR are incredibly important to the growth of thevisualization industry. It’s a capable bit of software that works well withSketchup and allows people to - for free - become completely familiar with arendering tool.
In fact, it’s a lot like SketchUp itself in that way.If you’re a professional rendering artists working forShumaker Shumaker and Chu in Brooklyn, this isn’t the program for you. But ifyou’re Joe Everyman looking to breakthrough in a fun and rewarding industry,Twilight Render is your huckleberry. 7 MirrorIt seems silly that a modeling tool as ubiquitous andcommonly used as ‘mirror’ has to be added onto a base modeling software, butsuch is the case. Mirror was created by Frank Wiesner then perfected by TIG inversion 3.1, and is probably the first piece of software you shouldFrankenstein onto SketchUp once you boot it up. It’s simple: select object tobe mirrored, select surface or line for which to be mirrored, mirror.
I get it,SketchUp, you’re trying to be lean and mean, but could we splurge for a propermirror tool? All praise Frank Wiesner. 8 Brighter3DI love Brighter3D. It’s quickly becoming one of my favoriterendering engines for use with SketchUp.
Sketchup Render Plugin
It advertises an easy-to-use interfacewith a simplified toolset but plenty of rendering power under the hood.Brighter delivers, offering seamless SketchUp integration and a snappy previewtool that give you an accurate sample image in a matter of seconds. It usesunbiased rendering technology to produce lightning fast results. The future isbrighter, indeed.