I am a graphic designer with 25 years experience creating high resolution 2D printed materials from brochures to billboards. I am tasked with creating a set of high resolution trade show graphics that need to be as much as 10’ wide. They will be viewed at close range so 72dpi or less is totally inadequate.
Can someone recommend a render engine that will do the job?
For these display graphics I need to be able to import 3D models from SolidWorks that are created by our engineers. Is there an easy way to do this with SpetchUp Pro? Is there an extension for that?
I ask these questions because I need to know if I should ask my employer to purchase SketchUp Pro for me or if I should stick with the tedious work of creating everything is SolidWorks.
You could try Maxwell Render; you can render seamless within SolidWorks.
The largest reader I have try was 30000 by 2813 pixels (2540 mm x 238 mm) at 300 dpi. To do this you will need lots of RAM +32GB (maybe +64GB). A options would be to use a Render farm.
What exactly is your current workflow? What do your trade show graphics look like (are you looking for photorealistic renders as NZSnowman guessed)? What kind of output are you creating today from Solidworks?
SketchUp can achieve many different non-photoreal output styles (hidden-line drawings, shaded drawings, textured drawings etc). If these are enough for your objectives, SketchUp’s companion product LayOut (part of the Pro package) might achieve to output your giant posters directly, even if the file sizes created may become quite big.
Bringing in 3D models from Solidworks into SketchUp would need to be done via an intermediate file like DWG.
You might try it. When you download and install it, SketchUp Pro starts with a 30-day no limits trial, IMO quite long enough to learn the program and decide if it is what you need.
Thanks Anssi.
The luster of the illustration I’m creating depends on their use. At present I am working on process diagrams for three different types of aluminium foundry. These are being created in SolidWorks because many of the parts I need have already been created by our engineers. Combining parts (usually large pieces of machinery) that have been created by different engineers around the world has been challenging. They are not always scaled the same as my assembly so I have to go back and edit the original part which itself may actually be an assembly also so that means backtracking even farther so I don’t end up damaging an assembly created by another designer.
I’ve found that I can just as easily redraw the parts (for artistic representation) in SketchUp which I did in my first project - a glass bottle manufacturing plant. The question is, will SketchUp Pro provide sufficient output quality. I think it will, but I have a 1 Feb. deadline for the three illustrations I’m working on now. Logic indicates that I should use SolidWorks and leverage as many of the existing part drawings as possible but in the end I’m afraid it may be a lot more work than starting from scratch in SketchUp. There isn’t an easy solution here. Guess I’m just looking for advice from someone who has had a similar experience. On Friday I’m meeting with the an architect who uses SketchUp to create all of their customer presentations. I’ll learn about his workflow and see some examples of the output quality.