Saturday, February 28, 2009

Rendering Contest

New Rendering Contest

Postby Al Hart on Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:23 pm

Render Plus is launching a new IRender nXt rendering contest. It starts now and will run until April 2nd.

There will be 3 main prizes:

Image

You can create new models for the renderings, or use existing models (even 3D Warehouse models), and use IRender nXt to improve them. A special trial version of IRender nXt is being provided for contest participants.

See this page for more information: Rendering Contest

You can send any questions and comments to contest@renderplus.com

Sunday, February 22, 2009

First Videos

Dennis has complete our first two video tutorials - take a look:



First Exterior



Interior Object




Saturday, February 21, 2009

New RPS Website

We recently completed a web site design project with crowdSPRING.

crowdSPRING pits a number of energetic creatives against each other to design items like logos or web sites. I felt that this was somewhat unfair to the creatives, and I felt there were a number of minor problems with the overall process.

However, I am glad to have a new web site look. You can see thenew site here: Website.

People had complained that our old web site was not professional enough, and that many parts of it looked like a wiki.

If you have any comments on the new site, let me know.

What are your thoughts about sites like crowdSPRING?

If you want to know more about the process or experience, just ask.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Welcome to Dennis


Dennis Bostwick has joined Render Plus team.

Dennis comes to us from as a recent graduate in Industrial Design from the Art Institute of Colorado, and after completion of a 1 year with Google and SketchUp in Boulder, Co.


Dennis will be helping with our documentation, tutorials (he has just completed our first Video Tutorial (take a look), support and training. Watch for him on on forums, and in response to your support questions.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

RpWallMaker - free add-on for SketchUp

RpWallMaker

RpWallMaker is a free add-on for Google SketchUp (Windows only for now - we should have the Mac version tested in a week or so) to create wide walls (3D walls with thickness), edit them and cut holes in them.

The custom walls are generated by drawing the center line of the wall in SketchUp.

Download and Installation

  1. Proceed to Downloads to download a copy of RpWallMaker.
  2. After downloading the ZIP file, click Click to install to install it.
  3. After Starting SketchUp, Select 'RpWallMaker from the Plugins menu.


Toolbar


Define and Place Wall

  1. Click the first - Define and Place Wall - icon on the toolbar.
  2. Set width and heights as desired.
  3. Using the cursor select points for the center line of the wall.
    (You may use the VCB - Value Control Box) to enter exact lengths after starting the wall in the proper direction.


Cut an Opening

Cut Opening Component

  1. Place an opening on the wall
    (SketchUp will glue it properly to the outside face of the wall.
  2. Right click on the opening and select Cut Opening in Wall
  3. The opening is cut through both faces of the wide wall.


Empty Opening

  1. Click the second - Cut an Opening - icon on the toolbar.
  2. Set width and height of the opening as desired.
  3. Click Place and place the opening cursor on the wall.
  4. The opening is cut through both faces of the wide wall.


Edit a Wall

  1. To edit a wall, right click on the wall and select 'Edit Wall. You can change the height or width of the wall.
  2. If you wand to change the end conditions (how the wall intersects with other walls), you will have to erase the wall and place it again.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Backgrounds in IRender nXt

Backgrounds

Rendering with a sky background.
Rendering with a sky background.

Place a Background image behind your model.

See: Background Image.

Also, you can save the rendering with a transparent background, and paste it over a background with a paint program.

See: IRender Alpha Images.