Hi there, I’m an interior design student and really want to learn how to create photo realistic renders. I’ve searched for this topic in the forum and I see that this feature has historically only been available in the desktop version of Sketchup e.g. Pro. Is this still relevant?
I was looking at signing up to Sketchup Shop, as I can purchase a subscription with a student discount, but this is web based, and doesn’t seem to allow extensions for photo realistic rendering?
Have any other students found a way to learn photo realistic rendering using either Sketchup Free or Sketchup Shop?
I didn’t know that there is a student discount for Shop. If you see something that costs $55 per year, that is the student price for Studio ($1199 per year normal price). That would include the desktop version of SketchUp.
There are many rendering solutions that work alongside the desktop version of SketchUp, but some of those also work directly with SketchUp files, that you could download from Shop. I will let other people talk about those (because I don’t know enough about them).
Sketchup offers a modest level of rendering which is best for outdoor views where the sun is the main source of light. For most of what an architect does, that is just fine and has the advantage of being built in and simple to use.
Photorealistic rendering is really a whole new ball game. That is a thing in itself and one that requires third party software. To make an interior look realistic, you need to know the position, type, and power of light sources. So the normal process is to take a model created in SU and import it to the rendering package before starting work (a lot of work in many cases!). Besides the cost and learning curve you also need to be sure your computer can handle the extreme power draw required. If you don’t have enough, it can take many hours processing.
Oh wow, I thought the student discount was only on SU Shop. Yes I was referring to the $55 per year student price. That’s great if it includes SU Pro. Thanks for letting me know.
