I create 3D urban massing models in SketchUp, but then want to render them to look like the image below. All I am really interested in is landscape (trees, grass etc.) and some materials for roads etc. Which rendering programme will enable me to do this that (i) is compatible with SketchUP, (ii) compatible with Mac, (iii) will not cost an arm and a leg, and (iv) will not take me a year to learn. I have been thinking about VRay, but doesn’t sound like it is Mac compatible. Also have been advised to look at Blender but everything I’ve read says you need to spend a lot of time learning the programme.
THEA seems like an affordable and fairly easy to learn option, but before I buy it I just want to make sure that it is the best option for what I want to do?
I have spent a lot of time doing research and am not any wiser, so some advise from people who have built models similar to this will be much appreciated.
Your best bet is to overlap them onto a photo, perhaps. Any software that will “render” the landscape (trees, grass, etc) will probably involve modeling those assets as well, and no matter what package you use, it would be a ton of work and require a steep learning curve.
V-Ray is compatible with macOS, but it is just a rendering engine, so it won’t necessarily handle the design of the landscape itself.
Have you looked at Lumion? I dont know what your budget is or what falls under affordable for you but its got a very easy learning curve and does landscapes well.
Lumion is not Mac compatible.
V-Ray is Mac compatible. So is Enscape - which most people use because it has a slightly lower learning curve. Of course the trade off is quality but based on your example image, enscape+photoshop post-processing could likely acheive that.
If you do choose the V-Ray route, we have a couple of courses on SketchUp Campus as well as several Live Streams on our YouTube channel to help get you up and running.