For a while I’ve wanted to show everybody what I do, but as a free-lance draftsman, I don’t have the authority to publicly display most of my work. Finally at the beginning of this year I did a kitchen design for a family member, so here it is.
I use SketchUp Pro for everything, except rendering of course, for which I use Twilight (pro version). I use hardly any extensions, simply because I don’t take the time to look for the ones that would help me. I use ProfileBuilder occasionally for my kitchen crown mouldings, and I have played with a few exotic ones, like Soap Skin Bubble for example, but I’ve found very little actual use for them in my line.
Compare a two-points perspective render from the same position with this one. Although it might prove to look a bit too static, unlike this nice one with little vertical perspective. Who knows?
Sorry, not sure what you mean @Wo3Dan. If you want comparison of 2-point or normal in the exact same scene, here you go. No significant difference; just makes the vertical lines appear exactly vertical, which, in a photo-realistic render, is not photo-realistic, in my opinion.
ORIGINAL
This was done in SketchUp 8, and it kind of marks a pivotal point in my SketchUp-ing. Around this time I first realized the benefits of using groups/components; also first started using projected textures for realistic turned-wood.
Like you I have tended not to bother with views outside windows relying on the built in sky and ground effect in styles and allowing reflections from the interior lights etc to liven up the windows (perhaps making the outside dusky or night settings). However I have had some success with using the old hoarding trick by projecting a photo onto a large curved back board(s) set someway back from the model making sure the sun hits it fair and square to avoid shadows and adjusting their position above and below the ground plane to get the perspective/view point right.
. Hope you don’t mind (this is your post after all) but I’ve attach a couple of examples to illustrate. Chess board is good only thing I would change is the direction of the wood grain texture on the edges of the board turning it to run longitudinally.
Today I needed a large flower urn for an exterior remodel I’m working on. Couldn’t find what I wanted on the warehouse, so took the time to model myself.
Ever since that large hangar project I mentioned on the forum, I’ve been obsessed with low-poly (for obvious reasons) and this one did pretty well – about half a megabyte. It’s in the 3D warehouse now.
Somehow I managed to miss this topic. Very impressive work @MobelDesign. About the urn, nice work indeed. But isn’t the edge of the bowl a bit too long? Having a perfectionist’s maniacal nature when it comes to profession-related stuff, my eyes locked on those long slanted mouths. I’d probably cut them 50% short to make the whole thing harmoniously proportionate. (Don’t listen to me, it’s the perfectionist speaking, lol! )
That’s a good thought, you might be right.
I did model from a photo, so no physical measuring, but traced the outline. Just curious, did you check out the model in the Warehouse? I think the camera angle on this shot accentuates the size of the lip.
I did, yes. Even downloaded it to check again. Parallel Projection, Front View still makes me cringe a bit. But it might be just purely subjective, so it’s nothing serious of course.
Fun fact! The urn itself reminds me a bit of the Goblet of Fire from Harry Potter.
Serious Question:
Is the SU urn model only for the rendering, or is someone going to create the urn in real life?
Since the client asked for it, I assume they are paying for your SU urn creation.
If it were me, I would have made a representational urn with about four lines rotated into a cylinder, since I wouldn’t be building it, and it wouldn’t be custom made to match my drawing, unless that was the understanding from the beginning. Most likely the client would go on a shopping trip and find something similar (or quite different) in real life.
Not criticizing, just interested .
I suppose the term “client” was used lightly. As a freelance draftsman, technically my client is the designer, and her client is the eventual homeowner. I specialize in very detailed drawings and renderings, and an extra hour adding detail is well worth the trouble. I agree that in many cases, the path you suggest would be more efficient, but for me, this is just a part of the design process. It’s details like this that got me my reputation.
And something like this is always a fun challenge – and diversion.
Finally took time to try out SketchUp Free. Simple kitchen – check out link below.
Read my humble opinion on SketchUp Free…
For an outsider coming to SketchUp for the first time, I expect SU Free would be pretty impressive, even more so when considering and comparing web-based platforms and their limitations. For anyone who was spoiled with the privilege that was – SketchUp Make – I can see Free as a serious disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, not saying we deserved the right to Make, we didn’t, it was a privilege; just saying I can now sympathize with those who feel like Free is a letdown: it is.
(And yes, I know Make 2017 is still available, which is what I would be using if I weren’t a Pro user.)
Most of the restrictions/problems that I noticed on Free are probably intentional – incentives to pay for the use of SketchUp – and as such, are understandable. These include:
- no material editing
- no style editing
- no personalized toolbars
- and of course, no extensions or SpaceMouse support.
Of course everybody knows about all this and it has been discussed elsewhere – like I said, understandable. I also noticed that the “purge unused” functions have to be performed one-at-a-time, which was kind of weird at first.
But the main problem that stood out to me (also something that has been discussed) is the dependence on internet speed. The general lag when your model gets above a certain complexity threshold (which is not very high, just check out how simple my model is) is very annoying, and I never realized how much of a task something like loading In-Model-Components could be if you’re dependent on your internet all the way through. Just the whole idea of depending more on my wifi than on my computer capabilities really tarnished that ease-and-fluidity-of-use that has made SketchUp my choice application in design. I only hope that Pro stays around for those of us who depend on it, at least until the entire globe has access to greased-lightning internet speeds.
Another volunteer project, so I can share here. I’ve always admired the watercolour effect for exterior concepts, but had never really tried it. @Rowaz inspired me with his beautiful work here
and I used pretty much the same process, though I didn’t find a need for Twilight layer, and I spent extra time in Photoshop, actually doing some of the brushing myself by hand.
About the urn, nice work indeed. But isn’t the edge of the bowl a bit too long? Having a perfectionist’s maniacal nature when it comes to profession-related stuff, my eyes locked on those long slanted mouths. I’d probably cut them 50% short to make the whole thing harmoniously proportionate. (Don’t listen to me, it’s the perfectionist speaking, lol! 
)
