|
|
| |||||
A. IntroductionSU Podium V2 is a photo-realistic rendering plug-in to Google SketchUp 7 or 8, Free or Pro, Windows or Mac. SU Podium V2 employs advanced rendering technology but sticks to it's original intention of making photo-realistic rendering for SketchUp an easy and rewarding task. The user interface is simply and does not require advanced knowledge of rendering techniques. SU Podium uses ray tracing and global illumination to create photo-realistic images. Although the user does not have to be aware of what technology is being used, it's important to note that you can obtain high quality images with realistic reflection and lights, quickly. SU Podium uses multi-threading of your CPU so much of the rendering process will use all your processors (Dual/ Quad/ Eight). SU Podium V2 also supports 64 bit as well 32 bit operating systems.
Note - Ray tracing simulates the path of a ray of light as it would be absorbed or reflected by various SketchUp textures or faces. Global Illumination or GI is an algorithm that takes into account not only the light which comes directly from a light source like Sky Light or the Sun, but also subsequent cases in which light rays from the same source are reflected by other faces in the scene (indirect illumination). SU Podium V2's GI is far superior to previous versions of Podium. For more information about Ray tracing and GI, please read about it in Wikipedia.org B. Apply Material PropertiesClick here to watch the material properties video tutorial.
Reflections, refractions, bump maps, LEM lights and other properties are applied to a specific material globally in the model. You can use standard SketchUp materials as well higher resolution textures from a variety of libraries. There is a library of higher resolution (higher than standard SketchUp textures) textures that is free in the SU Podium Browser. How it works Select a SketchUp material or color that you want to apply Podium properties too. You can select the material by selecting the SketchUp face that the material is on or you can select the material directly from the SketchUp Material browser. When you make a selection, the material's name will appear at the top of the Podium Material Property dialog box. Once a selection is made, apply the various Podium properties to the by using the appropriate slider. Other SU Podium material properties Diffuse, Transparency and Reflections are connected to each other. The combined value of the three sliders should equal 100% when applied to a material. The default setting for non-transparent materials is 100% diffuse. However, if you want to see direct reflections, move the Reflection slider to the right. The Diffuse slider will automatically move left. Diffuse is reflection that does not bounce directly back to the camera or light source but reflects at an angle. An example of the difference between Diffuse and direct reflection might be the reflection of a paved road. When it is dry, it has more diffuse reflection. When it is wet, it has more direct reflections. You can not have 100% Reflection (direct) and 100% Diffuse. Otherwise the material will render strangely. Transparency is the SketchUp transparency/ opacity property conveniently located here. Refraction is where light waves "bend" when passing through a material with a refractive index. A good example of this is a straw placed at an angle in a glass of water. The water has a refractive index of 1.33. The straw looks bent at the surface of the water. Although there is no such material as air in Podium, if there was it would have a refractive index of 1. Version 2 has a list of preset refractive indexes for certain materials. Check out a good explanation of refraction here - Wikipedia Both Reflections and Refractions have a blur option. The render speed will slow down if you choose the blur option but the reflections will look very realistic. Bump Depth slider will allow you to apply bump maps to textures.
The Light slider in the material properties will apply LEM (Light Emitting Material) to the material you have selected. LEM lights are one type of artificial light source in SU Podium V2 and will create lights that emit light in one direction away from the face of the material. LEM lights are easy to create and are quick to render. Light slider is the LEM light slider. Pick a texture and apply the light slider. This will turn that texture into a LEM Light. You can pick a value from 1 to 100. The values must be whole numbers. High Intensity check box is applied to the LEM Light. When High Intensity is on, single digit power values should be used. Otherwise the LEM light will be extremely bright. In most cases, you will not need the High Intensity option. Hidden LEM is where the entire LEM material will be hidden in the rendered image. This is a powerful feature that lets you hide the light source but creates an evenly distributed light. See more about artificial and natural lights below in section C. Automatic materials - render right out of the boxAutomatic Materials is an option introduces with SU Podium V2.9. It is available in the SU Podium Options dialog under the Environment Tab. When Automatic Materials is on, SU Podium understand that certain SketchUp standard materials will be assigned pre-defined Podium photo-realistic material properties. Using this option can save you a lot of time in applying the good reflection, blur, refraction or bump properties to materials if you are using SketchUp standard materials.
C. Lights1. Sky Light, Sun Light - Natural LightsClick here to watch the natural light tutorial video.
SU Podium V2 has two types of natural lights. Sky and Sun. These are both "exterior" lights but can have great influence on interior renderings if your models have openings to the exterior such as windows and doors. Sky light is an ambient, exterior and uniform light source being emitted from the "sky". It is analogues to an overcast day where the sunlight is hidden. Sky light is always on. However, if you have interior designs with no openings to the exterior, sky light will be excluded from your rendering. For dark interiors, you will need to apply artificial lighting. Sky light brightness is controlled by a variety of variables. One is the preset you choose from the Preset list in the Options menu. Another is whether you use SketchUp Sky or Podium's Physical Sky, also selected from the Options menu in the Environment section. If you have selected SketchUp Sky, SketchUp's background colors will control the sky light's brightness. If you have selected Podium's Sky or Physical Sky, SketchUp background colors will be ignored. Rather the time of day will be an important factor in sky light color and brightness. Sun light is another source of natural light. Sun light is only on when SketchUp Shadows are on. The sun's brightness and exposure are controlled by a number of variables:
But don't be intimidated by these variables. Simply try rendering with Shadows on and look at the effect. Then make adjustments. 2. Artificial Lights - LEM, Omni's and spot lights.Click here to watch the artificial light tutorial video.
a. LEM LightThe Light slider in the material properties menu will apply LEM (Light Emitting Material) to the specific texture you have selected. LEM lights are one type of artificial light source in SU Podium V2 and will create lights that emit light in one direction away from the face of the texture. LEM lights are easy to create and are quick to render. Light slider is the LEM light slider. Pick a texture and apply the light slider. This will turn that texture into a LEM Light. You can pick a value from 1 to 100. The values must be whole numbers.
High Intensity check box is applied to the LEM Light. When High Intensity is on, single digit power values should be used. Otherwise the LEM light will be extremely bright. In most cases, you will not need the High Intensity option. Hidden LEM is where the entire LEM material will be hidden in the rendered image. This is a powerful feature that lets you hide the light source but creates an evenly distributed light. b. Omni Lights/ Point lightsClick here to watch the artificial light tutorial video. Omni light or Point light (name is used interchangeably in this document) is an artificial light source which emits light uniformly in all directions, similar to a light bulb. To insert an omni light or point light, click on the point light icon in the tool bar and drag an omni light into the model. The omni light/ point light is a SketchUp group called a light group. You can see the light group in SketchUp's outliner. c. Omni light Light power/ color control
It's easy to adjust light power and color now. Just pick the Point Light and use this UI to make changes. For LEMs, select the material with the SketchUp texture i-dropper and adjust the slider in the Podium Material Properties dialog box. For omni lights, click on the Light Properties icon in the tool bar, select the omni light and you can adjust the strength and color from the dialog. d. Soft omni lights optionAs a default, omni lights/ point lights have "hard" shadows meaning the edge of the shadow cast by the omni light is hard. There is a soft shadow option that makes the omni lights look more natural. This option is accessed from the Options menu in the Environment tab. There is a significant render speed cost when using this option.
|
e. Spot Lights 
