Installing SU Podium V2 Plus

1. Introduction, Download/ Upgrade and Why V2 Plus

Where do I download V2 Plus? You must use V2 Plus if you have SketchUp 2014 or SketchUp 2015

Go to the Free Trial page and download the free evaluation version of V2 Plus and activate the trial version with your license code. Alternatively, click on this link to go to the Version 2 Plus web page and download from here.

    Free Trial version users - You will not receive a license code. Instead, ignore the License Manager dialog box that comes up, requesting you to enter a license.

SU Podium V2 Plus install files are not Extension Warehouse .rbz files

The SU Podium V2 Plus install files for Windows and Mac will launch standard installation programs. They are not Extension Warehouse .rbz files. Please do not try to install SU Podium V2 Plus using the SketchUp Preference Extension menu.

What's the difference between V2Plus and V2?

Please read here for a feature-by-feature comparison chart. If you are using SketchUp 2015 or 2014, you must use V2 Plus.

SU Podium V2 Plus SketchUp and Operating System Requirements

Windows. SU Podium V2Plus requires SketchUp 8 , 2014 or SketchUp 2015 for Windows. It does not support SketchUp 2013. Supported Windows versions are Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you have SketchUp 8 , 2014 or 2015, please us SU Podium V2 Plus.

Mac. SU Podium V2 Plus for the Mac requires SketchUp 8, 2013, 2014 or 2015. It will require OS-X 10.7.x or above although for SketchUp 2015, you must have Mt. Lion, Maverick or Yosemite.

Hardware specifications

    The SU Podium V2 Plus rendering engine is multi-threaded, meaning it will take advantage of all your CPU core's. The more cores you have the better. You also need a reasonable amount of RAM to hold 3d scene data. The more RAM you have, the more complex models you can render. We highly recommend 64 bit Windows operating system. SketchUp 2015 also supports 64 bit operating systems now.

How can you tell what SU Podium version I am using?

Once SU Podium V2 Plus is installed, you can tell if you are using V2 Plus by looking at the SketchUp Plugins menu. Podium is now named SU Podium V2 Plus.

You can also tell what version you are running by going to the Plugins pull down menu in SketchUp. Then go to SU Podium V2 and select About. Version 2 Plus has a version number that is 2.18.xx or greater.

2. Installing or Upgrading to V2 Plus

    The install process is straightforward and in most cases will require no input from the user. You must match the correct SU Podium V2 Plus install program with the correct SketchUp version. For example, if you are installing for SketchUp 2015, make sure you download and install SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2015.

    When you purchase SU Podium V2 Plus, you will receive a web page link that has the SU Podium versions to download. You will also receive a 16 character alpha-numeric license code. If you need to reinstall SU Podium V2 Plus for some reason, go to the Free Trial page, download the free evaluation version of V2 Plus and activate the trial version with your license code. Alternatively, click on this link to go to the Version 2 Plus web page and download from there.

    Note: Free Trial version users. You will not receive a license code. Instead, close the License Manager dialog box that comes up, requesting you to enter a license. In the License Manager dialog, you should see the amount of time left in your evaluation period.

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Install for SketchUp 8 Windows and Mac

    Windows Install for SketchUp 8

    Uninstall V2 first and don't forget to save your license code

    If you are using SU Podium V2, have a previous trial version of SU Podium V2, or were using the beta version of V2 Plus, you will need to uninstall before installing SU Podium V2 Plus. For SketchUp 8, you must uninstall V2 or V2 Plus beta before installing the official release version of V2 Plus. Please read this Windows uninstall page carefully.

    Install for SketchUp 8, Windows 7 or 8 (64 bit only)

    You must have a Windows Administrator User Account to install SU Podium V2 Plus. You can run the program without being an administrator but to install it you must be have administrative privileges. Close SketchUp before starting the install. Double click on the install file you have downloaded. An installation program will start. The default install location for SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 8 is \program files (x86)\google\google sketchup 8\plugins\. The installation will create a sub-folder in the \google sketchup 8 \plugins\ folder called SU_Podium_V2. There will also be a ruby load file in the plugins folder called SU_Podium_V2.rbs. If you need to uninstall SU Podium V2 Plus, use the Uninstall option from the All Programs ----> SU Podium V2 location.
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    Mac install for SketchUp 8

    Uninstall V2 first and don't forget to save your license code

    Install for SketchUp 8 Mac OS-X

    • Make sure you download the SU Podium V2 Plus file for SketchUp 8. This install file only works on SketchUp 8.
    • Completely quit SketchUp before starting the install program.
    • Double click on the .zip file that you downloaded and unzip using the Archive tool. This will unzip the install file into a .pkg file. Make sure you unzip or unpack using the MacIntosh Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP.
    • Double click on the install package file to start the installation.
    • Make sure you choose Install for All Users of this computer, if prompted.
    • SU Podium V2 Plus is installed in the Macintosh HD\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\Plugins\.
    • After installation is completed, Open SketchUp. SU Podium V2 Plus will be in the SketchUp Plugins pull down menu.

    Trouble Shoot Mac install

    In some cases, the Mac package installer, forces you to select Install for Me. This can create problems described below. Use the Install for All User of this computer option. You may have click Go Back but eventually the Install for All User will become available.

    • Can not open the SU Podium V2 Plus pkg because you see a" ..Unidentified Developer" message? Click here.
    • The mac-uninstall programs that Cadalog has created for Mac users will not work if you have installed using Install for Me because SU Podium will be installed in a different location. Please read here how to uninstall in this case.
    • Rare case - Mac Install Failed! Click here for the solution.
    • SketchUp 8, Mac Yosemite users. If you were using V2.18.940, you will need reinstall using V2.18.930. Please read here.
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SketchUp 2013 Install - Mac Only

    Uninstall V2 first and don't forget to save your license code

    If you are using SU Podium V2 for SketchUp 2013 and are continuing to use SketchUp 2013 or have a previous trial version of SU Podium V2 for SketchUp 2013, you will need to uninstall V2 before installing V2 Plus for SketchUp 2013. You must uninstall V2 before installing V2 Plus. Please read this Mac uninstall page carefully.

    Install for SketchUp 2013 Mac 10.7.x and above

  • Make sure you download the SU Podium V2 Plus file for SketchUp 2013. This install file only works on SketchUp 2013.
  • Completely quit SketchUp before starting the install program.
  • Double click on the .zip file that you downloaded. This will unzip the install file into a .pkg file.
  • Double click on the .zip file that you downloaded and unzip using the Archive tool. This will unzip the install file into a .pkg file. Make sure you unzip or unpack using the MacIntosh Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP.
  • Make sure you choose Install for All Users of this computer, if prompted.
      • SU Podium V2 Plus is installed in the Macintosh HD\Library\Application Support\SketchUp 2013\SketchUp\Plugins\ folder.
      • Open SketchUp 2013. SU Podium V2 Plus will be in the SketchUp Plugins pull down menu.

        Trouble Shoot Mac install

        In some cases, the Mac package installer, forces you to select Install for Me. This can create problems described below. Use the Install for all user of this computer option. You may have click Go Back but eventually the Install for all user will become available.

        • Can not open the SU Podium V2 Plus pkg because you see a" ..Unidentified Developer" message? Click here.
        • The mac-uninstall programs that Cadalog has created for Mac users will not work if you have installed using Install for Me because SU Podium will be installed in a different location. Please read here how to uninstall in this case.
        • Mac Install Failed! Click here for the solution.
        • SketchUp 8, Mac Yosemite users. If you were using V2.18.940, you will need reinstall using V2.18.930.
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        SU Podium V2 Plus Install for SketchUp 2014 Windows

          First time Install or Ugrade for SketchUp 2014, Windows 7 or 8 (32 bit or 64 bit)

          If you are upgrading: The location where SketchUp plug-ins get installed for SketchUp 2014 is a very different from previous versions or SketchUp. So if you are an existing SU Podium customer, make sure you download SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2014 and install in the default destination folder.

          Please do not try to install a previous SU Podium V2 for SketchUp 2014. It must be SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2014.

          If you did mistakenly install a previous version of SU Podium V2 and not V2 Plus for SketchUp 2014, please read here.

          If you are a new users or a trial verison users, Please download the SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2014 installation file. Double click on it and proceed with the installation.

          You must have a Windows Administrator User Account to install SU Podium V2 Plus. You can run the program without being an administrator but to install it you must be have administrative privileges. Close SketchUp before starting the install. Double click on the install file you have downloaded. An installation program will start. The default install location for SU Podium V2 Plus for Windows SketchUp 2014 is in this location:

          C:\Users\YourComputerName\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins\

          The installation will create a sub-folder in the AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\plugins\ folder called SU_Podium_V2. There will also be a ruby load file in the plugins folder called SU_Podium_V2.rbs.

          If you need to uninstall SU Podium V2 Plus, use the Uninstall option from the All Programs ---->SU Podium V2 location or read the Windows uninstall section.

        SU Podium V2 Plus Install for SketchUp 2014 Mac

          First time Install or Upgrading for SketchUp 2014, Mac OS 10.7.x or above

        • Completely quit SketchUp before starting the install program.
        • If you have a previous version of SU Podium for SU 2014, uninstall it. Use the uninstall programs for this task.
        • Make sure you download the SU Podium V2 Plus file for SketchUp 2014 to your Mac. This install file only works on SketchUp 2014.
        • Double click on the .zip file that you downloaded and unzip using the Archive tool. This will unzip the install file into a .pkg file. Make sure you unzip or unpack using the MacIntosh Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP.
        • Double click on the install package file to start the installation.
        • Make sure you choose Install for All Users of this computer, if prompted. You may have to click the Go Back button once to make the All Users available.

        • When the installation is complete, SU Podium V2 Plus is installed in the Macintosh HD\Library\Application Support\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins\ folder.
        • Open SketchUp 2014. SU Podium V2 Plus will be in the SketchUp Plugins pull down menu. There will also be Podium V2 tool bar.

        Trouble Shoot Mac install

          1. No Plugin menu in SketchUp. Click here for the solution.
          2. Do not use WinZip to unpack. Make sure you unpack the downloaded installation file with the Mac Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP. If you unpack the install file with WinZIP, you may find the installation program will not correctly install SU Podium V2 and V2 Plus.
          3. Unidentified Developer. Can not open the SU Podium V2 Plus pkg because I see a" ..Unidentified Developer" message? Click here for the solution.
          4. Mac Install Failed! Click here for the solution.
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        SU Podium V2 Install/ Upgrade for SketchUp 2015 Win / Mac

        SketchUp 2015 Windows (click here for Mac)

          First time Install or Upgrade for SketchUp 2015, Windows 7 or 8 (64/ 32 bit)

          If you are upgrading: The location where SketchUp plug-ins get installed for SketchUp 2015 is a very different from previous versions or SketchUp. So if you are an existing SU Podium customer, make sure you download SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2015 and install in the default destination folder.

          Please do not try to install a previous SU Podium V2 for SketchUp 2015. It must be SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2015.

          If you did mistakenly install a previous version of SU Podium V2 and not V2 Plus for SketchUp 2015, please read here.

          If you are a new users or a trial verison users, Please download the SU Podium V2 Plus for SketchUp 2015 installation file. Double click on it and proceed with the installation.
          The first install choice for SU Podium V2 for SketchUp 2015 Windows will be what language to choose. Currently there are only English and Japanese to choose from, although Cadalog, Inc. plans to add several languages. Choose English.

          You must have a Windows Administrator User Account to install SU Podium V2 Plus. You can run the program without being an administrator but to install it you must be have administrative privileges. Close SketchUp before starting the install. Double click on the install file you have downloaded. An installation program will start. The default install location for SU Podium V2 Plus for Windows SketchUp 2014 is in this location:

          C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 2015\SketchUp\Plugins

          The installation will create a sub-folder in the C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 2015\SketchUp\Plugins folder called SU_Podium_V2. There will also be a ruby load file in the plugins folder called SU_Podium_V2.rbs.

          If you need to uninstall SU Podium V2 Plus, use the Uninstall option from the All Programs ---->SU Podium V2 location or read the Windows uninstall section.

        SU Podium V2 Plus Install/ Upgrade for SketchUp 2015 Mac

          First time Install or Upgrade for SketchUp 2015, Mac Maverick or Yosemite

        • Completely quit SketchUp before starting the install program.
        • Make sure you download the SU Podium V2 Plus file for SketchUp 2015 to your Mac. This install file only works on SketchUp 2015.
        • Double click on the .zip file that you downloaded and unzip using the Archive tool. This will unzip the install file into a .pkg file. Make sure you unzip or unpack using the MacIntosh Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP.
        • Double click on the install package file to start the installation. If you encounter a "unsigned developer" problem when installing SU Podium V2, please read here.
        • Make sure you choose Install for All Users of this computer, if prompted. You may have to click the Go Back button once to make the All Users available.

        • When the installation is complete, SU Podium V2 Plus is installed in the Macintosh HD\Library\Application Support\SketchUp 2015\SketchUp\Plugins\ folder.
        • Open SketchUp 2015. SU Podium V2 Plus will be in the SketchUp Plugins pull down menu. There will also be Podium V2 tool bar.

        Trouble Shoot Mac install

          1. No Plugin menu in SketchUp. Click here for the solution.
          2. Do not use WinZip to unpack. Make sure you unpack the downloaded installation file with the Mac Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP. If you unpack the install file with WinZIP, you may find the installation program will not correctly install SU Podium V2 and V2 Plus.
          3. Unidentified Developer. Can not open the SU Podium V2 Plus pkg because I see a" ..Unidentified Developer" message? Click here for the solution.
          4. Mac Install Failed! Click here for the solution.
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        Troubleshooting your Windows and Mac install of SU Podium V2 Plus

          Mac V2 Plus install trouble shoot

          1. No Plugin menu in SketchUp. Click here for the solution.
          2. Do not use WinZip to unpack. Make sure you unpack the downloaded installation file with the Mac Archive tool. Do not use WinZIP. If you unpack the install file with WinZIP, you may find the installation program will not correctly install SU Podium V2 and V2 Plus.
          3. Unidentified Developer. Can not open the SU Podium V2 Plus pkg because I see a" ..Unidentified Developer" message? Click here for the solution.
          4. Mac Install Failed! Click here for the solution.
          5. SketchUp 8, Mac Yosemite users. If you were using V2.18.940, you will need reinstall using V2.18.930. Please read here.
          6. Crashes. Installation was fine but Podium crashes when rendering. Please read here.

        Uninstall SU Podium V2 or V2 Plus for SketchUp

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        3. Activate your License

          Activate your sixteen character alpha numeric license code. If you are using the commercial version of SU Podium, you will need to activate your 16 character license code to get the full version working. You can register the license in two ways. First, you can pick License from the SU Podium V2 pull down menu and activate your license. Second, when you click render, you will be prompted to activate your license.

          (If you are using the evaluation version, ignore this dialog box and wait for the process scene to finish to continue to evaluate.)

          Once the license is registered, please restart SketchUp. This action will turn off the trial mode of SU Podium V2.

          Troubleshooting your install. One common problem reported is that after you install SU Podium V2, the Podium pull-down and tool bar does not show up in SketchUp. Make sure you restart SketchUp, if SketchUp was open during the install. There's usually one reason why SU Podium V2 menus do not appear in SketchUp and that is to do with the installation. Please click here to read about how to solve this issue.
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        4. Render process and getting started


          V2 Plus menu

          After installing SU Podium V2 for SketchUp, you can access SU Podium V2 from the SketchUp plug-ins pull down menu or from the SU Podium V2 tool bar.

          Before you render your first SketchUp model, get familiar with the Options dialog box and the various settings that are controlled there. We also recommend that you render a sample model from the SU Podium V2 models pageas a way to test Podium.

          To introduce yourself to V2's rendering process, do a quick render of your model. First click on the Options menu from the pull down or the tool bar. In the preset pull down list, pick Default.pps. This preset is not the best but is the easiest to start with. In the Output tab, under Dimensions, pick a Fixed size or the default Viewport size for the rendered image size. Click the OK button. Then pick the Render menu from the pull-down or tool bar. A series of sequences will happen after clicking on the Render icon or menu. If this is your first render, you will be prompted to Activate your license.

        • Processing Scene - This first step is where SketchUp geometry and textures (materials) are exported to Podium's raytracing engine. If your SketchUp model is very big, this process can take several minutes. The speed of processing scenes is determined primarily by the number of faces or polygons that the model has. Other determining factors are the number materials and point lights. For example, if you have several hundred thousand faces in your model, processing scene can take several minutes to complete. Processing scene's speed has changed drastically with the introduction of V2.5. If you have not upgraded to V2.5, we strongly recommend that you do.

          • Please read here if you find that Processing Scenes is taking a very long time.
        • UV Mapping - UV Maps are laid out for your textures. This step is usually fast.
        • Prerendering in progress - After UV Mapping, you will see an OOPR message telling you that Prerendering is in progress and indicating the percentage of completion.
        • Raytracing - Podium V2's raytracing uses a high quality raytracing program and is one of the fastest on the market. This will occur after Prerendering. From this point you can Preview your render.
        • Resampling Edges - This is the final step and often takes longer than Raytracing. Most of resampling is the anti-aliasing process which smooths out the edges of your rendered image. The preset you choose from the Options menu controls the level of anti-aliasing.

          Once Raytracing starts you can click on the Show button in the Podium Render Manager (OORP) to view the render progress dynamically. The preview image displayed by the Podium Render Manager will be smaller than the final rendered image. The final rendered image will be saved to the folder containing your SketchUp model unless you manually choose an alternate save location. Please read about this in the Options section.

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        5. Download and test some ready made SketchUp models.

          Click on this link to go to the SU Podium V2 models page. You can do download several render-ready SketchUp models to test results.

        6. Where to get Support

          The following Help pages will guide you through Installation and using and applying SU Podium. Please take a moment and read through the Installation chapter if you are having difficulty with the install. If you are having trouble finding your serial number, please take a look at the FAQ section of this web site. There is a detailed description of how to find your serial number. In addition, you can get support from the following areas:

          • The SU Podium Forum - An active Forum with two or three experts online almost any time.
          • E-mail support - support@cadalog-inc.com Please e-mail us with any question, any time. You should get a reply within 24 hours. Usually, much faster. If you are experiencing crashes please look at this check list before contacting support.
          • Upload your models. If you are having problems rendering your models, feel free to upload your .skp file to Cadalog's box.com account.

          • After uploading, please send an e-mail separately to Cadalog, Inc. to let us know you have uploaded an .skp file and why. Please do not upload anything but .skp files. If we do not receive an email about your uploaded model, the file will be deleted due to security precautions. Anything other than .skp will also be deleted.

          • FAQ section
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        7. What version am I running?

          Click on the About menu item in the SU Podium V2 pull down menu. This will link to a web page which will display the version number.

          Another option is to use the Information Bar that gets attached to a rendered image. You will need to turn on the information bar and render something to see the version number you are running.

        8. Support Check list

          Please look at this check list of items that will help in supporting your SU Podium installation.