Use Lighting Channels to Fine Tune Your Rendered Image

Getting your rendering just right is what every designer wants. Getting your lighting right, is a big part of a great rendering. But it can be hard to get every light in your design set just the way you want it before you render your image. IRender nXt solves this challenge with its powerful Lighting Channels feature.

Lighting Channels allows you to adjust the intensity individual lights (or groups of lights) after the rendering process is complete. These adjustments and other changes are made to the post-rendered image using the Lighting Channels icon on the IRender Toolbar.

• Create Nighttime scene by switching off the sun, and lowering the intensity of the sky
• Adjust intensity of lights assigned to lighting channels
• Set intensity of "self-glow" LCD panels and monitors
• Quickly fine tune lighting effects without having to re-render your model

Watch our Lighting Channels video tutorial to learn how to get the most out of this powerful feature.

 

 

Which Renderer Should you use with SketchUp

Choosing the right tool for the job always makes doing the job easier. The same is true for SketchUp rendering plugins. Render Plus has two rendering packages for SketchUp. Here is some information to help you decide which one is the right tool for you.

Features and Costs

When deciding which Renderer to purchase, product features and cost are often the most important factors. If you are a professional, such as an architect, selling rendering services to your clients then a full-featured renderer is what you'll want. If you use SketchUp to simply visualize your designs, as a space planner might, then a streamlined renderer, with just the essentials, will be the right tool for you.

Cost is also determined by the number of features. Both types of renderers will produce a beautiful image, but you will pay more for the control that come from a full-featured, professional rendering plugin.

How should I decide which Renderer to try and purchase?

Features:
If you want to have all the high-end features available – even if you don’t use them right away, then you should choose IRender nXt.

If you want to create better hi-res images from your SketchUp model, but don’t want to have to learn how to use advanced rendering features – like Depth-of-Field, Special Reflection Settings, Special Transparency Settings, etc. then ArielVision is the right choice for you.

Cost
If you are using SketchUp and Rendering as part of your professional offering, and are using it to increase or support your business, then IRender nXt should fit within your budget.

If cost is your primary concern, then ArielVision may be the right choice for you.

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Enhance your Furniture Layout business with SketchUp

Most people use SketchUp primarily for Architectural Design and Visualization, Interior Design, Renderings and Presentations. However SketchUp can be a great asset in the Furniture Layout Industry. By using predefined furniture Symbols or Components, you can make your own design work easier and more efficient.

SketchUp 8 from Trimble

SketchUp makes it easy to:

• Create Components to visualize furniture in 2D or 3D models.
• Spin, Place and edit your components as you layout the furniture.
• Create 3D renderings to make it easy to visualize furniture.

Taking things even further, in SketchUp you can create special Components with attributes, use special placement and editing routines, customize attributes and reports, and create parts lists and presentations for clients.

• Create Parts Lists and custom Reports - using attributes - such as Manufacturer, Part Number and Cost – for costing and client presentations.

SpaceDesign

All of these things can be performed with SketchUp, but it can take quite a bit of time and some essential elements are missing. SpaceDesign, from Render Plus, is a SketchUp add-on the makes this process easier to set-up.

SpaceDesign reports can give you valuable information like total material quantities and costs for your entire model. So, for instance, if your office furniture layout includes fluorescent task lighting, your SpaceDesign report can tell you how many fixtures and bulbs are used and their total line-item cost.

SpaceDesign makes SketchUp a more powerful tool for furniture layout.

• Easier to select and place components
• Easier to define attributes
• Easier to create detailed reports

 Check out SketchUp and SpaceDesign and see how you can use the power of these two tools to make your layout work easier and make better client presentations. To learn more about how to use SketchUp in your industry, visit How to work with Components in SketchUp

See also: SpaceDesign