New 3D PDF Plugin for SketchUp – LastRay PDF Tools for SketchUp

LastRay PDF Tools for SketchUp allows the user to create 2D or 3D PDF files from the Google SketchUp environment. The plugin comes with a simple PDF designer and a merge tool

Fully functional free trial is available at this link

Export render from Revit and quickly put background on a different layer

The Revit Kid demonstrated today that PNG files exported from a Revit render have no background.

In the spirit of one-up-man-ship, I recommend that you use TIF if you want to keep the background, but quickly separate it from the model elements.  When you export as TIF, you get a bonus Alpha channel that you can use to create a selection area and move the background to a new layer.

In simple terms:

1. Export Revit render as TIF
2. Open in Photoshop
3. Isolate the Alpha channel
4. Use Magic Wand to pick everything that is 'white'
5. Turn the color channels back on
6. Invert the Selection
7. Convert the background to a true layer
8. Edit - Cut
9. New Layer
10. Edit - Paste
11. Done!

Now you can manipulate the model elements and the background separately.

Here is a video:

Of course, you can also do this easily by:

1. Doing two separate renders, 
2. one of them with Model Elements turned off (which will just show the background) - Export this to any format except PNG
3. and one of them with Model Elements on (export this to PNG)
4. Copy and paste these two images to separate layers in Photoshop

 The TIF method is probably quicker and easier in most instances.

Here is a link to the aforementioned PNG post:
The Revit Kid.com!: Revit Tip - Export Rendered Images Without a Background

Via What Revit Wants

Rendering Stereoscopic 3D Image with 3dsMax 2012

This tutorial by Arnab Bhadra, will go through making 3D stereoscopic renders using Max 2012. Click HERE to watch the video tutorial.

Tutorials: Maxwell for Google Sketchup

Maxwell Render just recently announced the new renderer for Sketchup which works inside Sketchup and comes with a FREE version which can be downloaded HERE.

Here are series of tutorials showing how to use this renderer for sketchup:

 

Tutorials are provided by Maxwell Render and You can watch them on there youtube chanel HERE. I Also recommend you download these video tutorials for future references. You can use keepvid to download these videos online.

Comparison between four SketchUp renderers

In this blog four popular rendering solution for SketchUp will be compared. You need to download & install SketchUp keeping in mind that renderers are accessible from within SketchUp that needs to include an actual plugin. Here we have picked out four renderers, Indigo Renderer, SU Podium, Maxwell and V-ray.

Google offers most common 3D warehouse model is “A house next to water with a boat”. You need to download the model & these plugin, install it and then start doing test renders of the scene.  It’s a simple test and doesn’t include any depth tweaking of materials.

Indigo Renderer

You have to download two components for it to work- IndigoRenderer standalone software and then SketchUp plugin. Once both are installed, you fire up SketchUp & select render from plugin menu.

You make a render of 1374 X 804 pixels resolution and save the image at any location you desire. To start tweaking the result, you can go into the plugin menu and change the setting. You will also find some built in material editor that allows you to modify the SketchUp material. The time you start tweaking, you can gain much better result and you get advance setting depending upon the version you buy. The full software costs €145 or €595.

SU Podium

The next render we used is SU Podium is very old option available for SketchUp. It’s just one plugin and download is even simpler. Once you install it, you can start SketchUp and render right away.

The result of the product is not very impressive and seems to be less option available although it carry its own material. The full version is available for $198.

Maxwell

Maxwell is very famous and standalone render product and now in the recent version it come with plugin. The installation procedure is worse comparing to two older versions. You need to read the “read me” text file to install it. Once it installed go to Plugin menu and select Maxwell Fire to start rendering.

The result seems fairly good from SU Podium. The price of the product is $95.

V-Ray

V-ray is the professional rendering solution and used by many of the SketchUp user around the world. The manufacturer offer trial version for 30 days. Installation is simple but it will slow down SketchUp’s loading time.

With default setting it yields average quality result. V-ray offer most of the options and material features of the four reviewed products allowing very fine modifications. But the price is very high- $800.       

Via Google

Setting Up 3D Views For Levels in Revit

When starting a new project in Revit, I typically create 3D views for each level in the project. To do this I use the View Cube to assist me in creating the views. I typically do not care for the View Cube for orbiting or adjusting my views. I usually use my wheel on my mouse with the shift key to orbit, but I have found the View Cube to be very helpful for this particular task.

To set up a 3D view for each level, you could manually achieve this by turning on the Section Box in the Properties of the view and use the grips to drag the Section Box to display just the desired level. This is very cumbersome and sometimes hard to get the grips to be where you want them to be.

An easier, quicker way to create a 3D view for each level is to use the Orient to View option in the View Cube right click menu. This can be done by opening a 3D view and hovering over the House icon on the View Cube, and right clicking to open the right-click menu.

In the right-click menu, select Orient to a View, Floor Plans, and then select the desired floor plan to orient to.

The view will automatically crop the view using the Section Box to match the View Range for the view that was selected. It will also rotate the view to view it from the Top direction. You can orbit the view any direction you want but the view is now cropped to match the floor plan's View Range.

I typically create a 3D view for each level in my project. These are very useful, especially once the building is totally closed in and it is hard to see inside of it.

Via appliedsoftware blog

How to Render a Section Cut from Sketchup

I've been trying to find a way to render a sectional perspective from Sketchup using Vray for Sketchup rendering engine and finally I have found a way. Here's how to prepare a section cut of your sketchup model for rendering. Unfortunately, this has only worked for me using Google Sketchup 7 rather than the newer version 8. But this may work for you using version 8.

Firstly, Make a backup of your model before you start and save it with a new
name and work on that copy.

Second: Download the two plugins listed below and save the downloaded .rb files in the plugins folder:
C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\Plugins

Zorro 2 plugin HERE (You Can also download this plugin from Sketchucation HERE, however you may need to register first)

Section Cut Face 2 HERE ( You Can also download this plugin from Sketchucation HERE, however you may need to register first)

Restart SketchUp, and, if you haven't already, create your section plane.
Select the section plane, right click on it, and select the option Add Section-
Cut Face. As shown below:



Press OK on the following window. Don't worry about settings, just click OK.



With the section plane still selected, right click on it again and this time select
the option Slice Model at Section.



Delete the section plane, making sure your model has been indeed cut. I
hope you made that backup.