Hi everyone, can anyone advise on other sources of textures and 3D models for sketchup that have a good library of landscaping items? Things like trees, flowers (ideally named rather than generic) and textures for paving, gravel etc.
I’ve been using 3D warehouse which is great but limited when it comes to some of the more regularly used modern materials and plants. I also use sketchuptextureclub which is useful but again has some holes when it comes to things like paving types people want these days.
@DeadTomorrow - Are you rendering or just keeping plants in your model? The challenge is that with SketchUp, you have to balance high-quality (ie realistic) plants, textures, and assets with performance. For example, one tree from VizPark will come in at over a million polygons. So 2, 3, 20 trees in your model and it’s going to be a problem.
With rendering extensions such as V-Ray, Thea, Enscape (PC only), etc., the high quality plant geometry and textures are stored outside of SketchUp and call upon only at render time…thus reducing the geometry load on the model and keeping things running fast and of course, with great looking results.
Also, you didn’t mention budget. Do you need free textures or are you willing to invest some money to grow your library? Keep in mind with 3D Warehouse, you get what you pay for most of the time. For me personally, I’ve enjoyed the quality and ease of use of Laubwerk plant kits. They obviously come at a cost but keep in mind that each plant model is actually 36 models since they come with variants for age (x3), season (x4), and form (x3).
Also check out something like Megascans as well. They have photo-scanned PBR textures, atlases, full 3D plants and more. Keep in mind that most high-quality assets you buy or find online are likely to be in a non-SketchUp format…meaning that you’ll need an additional extension to import
Thank you @eric-s that is really helpful - I’d prefer to have them in model but really, on render is all that matters as I produce images for garden design clients. I’m happy to pay for models but can’t afford to spend too much. On the whole I have found 3D warehouse really good, it’s just that the plant models become very limited so it’s hard to produce the exact look I’m going for, instead making sacrifices to get close. It’s fine but it would be great to have lots more to choose from.
In an ideal world it would be great to have a wider selection of low polygon models that still look pretty realistic for a residential garden setting render.
I’ll look into Laubwerk, thank you - perhaps one day I’ll come close to that Star Wars scene! My clients would certainly be blown away by that!
Did you ever find some good plants? I’m a garden designer with exactly the same problem… I’m thinking of investing in Vray in the hope that this will help. I currently render with twilight. But if you’ve found any low polygon, realistic planting I would be very interested
SketchUp Campus We have a great lesson on V-Ray Version 5 which includes a built-in library of high-quality (but low poly proxy) objects, including plants, that can be dropped into your renderings easily. Check it out. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi, thank you so much for the reply. Yes, this looks really interesting. I’m looking for garden plants such as:
Nepeta
Geraniums
Hydrangeas
Veronicastrums
Ornamental grasses
Roses
Acanthus
Etc
I’m ok for trees, it’s realistic garden planting that I struggle with. So if what you suggest helps with this I’d bet very interested in finding out more! Thank you!
Lizzi
Hmm. This is news for sure. Good thing I recently downloaded all of the plant kits I had purchased. Hopefully their SU extension continues to work for awhile longer.
