Rendering in Vray with lines

Hello Dear friends

So im rendering this image, and i would like to render it with lines… just feels like it would look better…

Is there a way to render it with lines, and do u have any other suggestions to make this render better? Im amateur and this is default settings with no materials, but for now it is good. I would just like to see it with lines

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Not sure if vray has a line option inbuilt ( Thea render will render with lines, as will enscape), but a solution would be to combine the render you have with a sketchup monochrome line output placed on top in photoshop using a “multiply” layer mode.

To improve your render you should use vray textures to replace the sketchup ones.

In every material you should put a Vray edge map in diffuse slot.

https://docs.chaosgroup.com/m/mobile.action#page/47539315

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How do i match size? The aspect ratio is different in vray and in sketchup when i export 2d image… and ratios are fixed…

That’s unfortunate and I’m afraid I don’t have a simple answer for you. The renderer I use by, by default, sets the camera’s aspect ratio to match that of the scene in SketchUp so it’s extremely simple to create and combine an image export from SketchUp and one from the rendering application. I have to think V-ray has some way for you to adjust the aspect ratio of the rendered image.

My preference is to add the lines as a separate image in post because I have better control over the appearance of the lines as well as just which lines are present in the final image.

in vray you should be able to set both the aspect ratio as well as the pixel dimensions for overall resolution. In sketchup when you use image export select “options” and match those of the vray settings.
In photoshop you will probably have to adjust placement to get a proper alignment. Once you have the images aligned you can reduce the opacity of the line work to get the look you’re after, I will often use the eraser set to lower opacity or a layer mask to manually fade parts of the linework to get a specific look. You could also try “depth cue” in styles to see if that gets you a preferred look too.

As an aside, in Thea Render there is a render setting for “sketchup window”, if i use that and then export the 2d linework with the same pixel dimensions they subsequently will line up perfectly in photoshop.

This tutorial may help too.

You can use Eneroth Viewport Resizer extension to do that.

@whiterabbitdesigncompany - That video should have been 2 mins instead 9! Ha. I’ll try to simplify the main take away from it to address @dmhmaestro’s ask:

  1. Firstly, using V-Ray without doing any work on materials, lighting, entourage, etc doesn’t yield a much better result than just exporting the model directly out of SketchUp. Adding lines will just make it look more like a ‘straight-from-SketchUp’ export. As @robertjuch said, you can add edges to materials in V-Ray but you’d have to do it to each material so it’s easier/faster to do the way @whiterabbitdesigncompany and @DaveR have suggested to export lines from SketchUp and overlay on top of your V-Ray render.

  2. Contrary to what the video shows, set your style to hidden line and in styles, make sure profiles are on and set to ‘1’ and your background is white with no sky or ground showing.



  3. To match camera sizes, in V-Ray, choose ‘Match Viewport’ in V-Ray and set your pixel dimensions. Then in SketchUp, when exporting your lines image (JPEG or PNG), choose ‘Use View Size’. Then if you want to match exact pixels as V-Ray, uncheck ‘Use View Size’ and make sure the little chain ‘lock aspect’ icon is set and change viewport pixels - this makes sure that there is no need for re-sizing later in photo editor.


  1. Lastly, combine and adjust in photo-editor as desired.

Let us know how it turns out!

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Thank you for this insight! I will surely practice…

Vray seems so unintuitive… Its hard to learn in it… Lets say i applied this grass and its not sticking out automatically… I would call that bad default setting. There is so much buttons and i cant figure it out. Pimped it out a bit! I will take this as a final export because i dont know render.

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Be patient with rendering. The extensions are getting faster to learn and use but keep in mind as it gets easier, everyone can do it and the bar gets bumped that much higher. If you’re on windows you may want to check out Enscape as an alternative or compliment to V-Ray as it’s designed for more ‘out of the box’ use.

Regarding your ‘straight-from-SketchUp’ view here…you could benefit from turning your shadows on of if you prefer not to show shadows, in the Shadows panel, check the box for ‘use sun for shading’. Also remember that good renderings are more than just software. Consider your composition, materials choices, quality of entourage (trees, people, etc).

See this quick tips I put together for another user not that long ago: 8 simple Steps to better VRAY renderings