• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Render programs and plug-ins for Sketchup

I've looked at SU Podium some in the past, and I'm still playing with SU2POV to use POV-Ray as a rendering software.

scott s.
.
 
I've opted for Twilight for now...... cheapest and seems to do what I need for the time being. There are some more sophisticated ones around, but $ 500 and up is too steep for me in this economic climate.
 
Hi Francois:

Twilight Render plugin for Google SketchUp looks like a great option for FS scenery builders ! :twocents:

It seems to have a well-vetted codebase arising from years of prior work on Kerkythea (aka "KT").


Apparently one can use both Twilight Render and Kerkythea together to do things each may not be able to do as a standalone. :scratchch


FYI: An interesting thread in the Twilight Render Support Forum: :idea:


"Twilight was originally created to be a way to have access for Kerkythea into SketchUp. You can use this to your advantage because Twilight and Kerkythea work powerfully together.

Twilight makes it easy to do many things that are difficult in Kerkythea. But, Kerkythea allows you to have some advanced features that are not in Twilight. (mainly: net rendering, advanced material editor, advanced render settings editor)"

http://twilightrender.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2666


[EDITED]
"Kerkythea – take a deeper look at materials

...if you are a Google SketchUp user, the renderer ‘TwilightRender‘, which is based on Kerkythea, will automate lots of your jobs. You can easily change your lights, camera etc…so you may find this easier to use and it also works directly within SketchUp. If you are a licensed ‘TwilightRender’ user, you also have an option to send your model (with all its materials, lights and cameras) to Kerkythea for more control and advanced material making, instancing brush tool, etc…"

http://www.sketchupartists.org/tuto...ea/kerkythea-take-a-deeper-look-at-materials/


"Remember that is normally better to apply all your textures correctly mapped in SU before exporting the model, so KT will "recognize" the correct UV mapping and scale for the materials"

NOTE: It appears one can apply materials to a basic <un-textured ?> SketchUp model (outside Sketchup !) in KT and achieve some usable UVW mapping prior to exporting the textured model back to SketchUp (subject to a caveat for verifying ones material scaling first) via:

KT Menu > Tools > Bitmap Coordinates > press the "Cubic" button

...Reportedly, that will allow KT to change all the UV coordinates of the textures used in the material (diffuse, bump, specular etc.) at once

http://www.kerkythea.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10677

[END_EDIT]



BTW: A thread with some caveats on Ruby scripts that need to be updated for compatibility with Twilight Render:

http://twilightrender.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=415



Although Twilight Render is less expensive, it looks to be quite capable... and may actually have a more mature code base than certain other (more expensive !) renderers intended for use "inside" Sketchup.

Whereas 'other' renderers may state that materials cannot be edited, using Twilight Render in tandem with Kerkythea may allow editing of default materials, and/or to create one's own from freeware textures on the web.

...And of course we know, Francois you already have a wealth of digital images you have acquired during your own extensive travels. :cool:

http://www.twilightrender.com/

http://www.twilightrender.com/downloads



Also, it would seem that Twilight Render and Kerkythea have many enthusiastic and helpful followers (including a number of more experienced Sketchup users often seem posting in the Sketchucation Forum system). ;)


Looks like a good choice for many to consider... thanks for sharing the results of your inquiries on this ! :)

GaryGB
 
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I see that there is a V-Ray for SketchUp. I use V-Ray for 3ds Max and find that it can produce superlative renders.

Regards, Mike Mann
 
I already had downloaded Kerkythea, but it looked like a lot of work installing all the bits and pieces. Will do that either in my vacation or after. It DOES seem to be the most versatile of them all... and hence the most difficult to master :-)
 
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