Rendering SU objects

SketchUp Pro
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There are a lot of factors that affect the realism when a rendered model is superimposed on a real image. It takes both skill and experimentation to get a good match. There isn’t any one setting that handles all cases. There is also a question of when it is “good enough”.

Here are some of the factors:

  • The location and focal length of the SketchUp camera needs to match that of the real photo, else perspective will not match. This can cause a “pasted on” look. The object may look flat whereas the other things in the photo have subtle shape cues. The object may seem to float above the surface beneath it.
  • The direction, strength, type, and color of the lighting must match. A multi-light studio-like lighting of an object will look strange when superimposed on a natural outdoor scene with less “fill”, more ambient light, and the sort of color shift that sunlight exhibits based on the time of day and clarity of the sky. Interestingly, professional photos of models in bright sunlight almost always have used reflectors and artificial lighting to soften shadows on faces. Compare with any snapshot taken on a sunny day outdoors.
  • Shadows need to be consistent with the natural scene, both in direction and in intensity. A object that casts sharp, dark shadows in an image taken on a cloudy day will look strange. Also, attention must be paid both to how the object would cast shadows on things in the image and vice versa.
  • Few real objects have really sharp corners and edges. You may have to soften things a bit to avoid having your modeled object look too crisp compared to the rest of the image.
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Try watching this 3 min video. It covers the whole process. Obviously your render engine will be different and you may need to do some work swapping out materials if you want reflections, metallic, etc to render more realistically. Also note where I went up to Camera/Field of View (FOV), that number you can play with to better match your background scene. 35 is default for SketchUp and stands for 35mm, like a standard (old school) point-and-shoot camera. A more true to life angle is actually wider, between 40 and 50. So if the perspective angle looks off, try adjusting until it looks better.

Another tip is to make sure to orient your model so that its aligned with an axis. In my case, I used the Red axis to line up with the curb face so that generally the vanishing points are the same.

If I go too fast, just pause as needed and try to replicate on your end. Let me know if you get stuck somewhere or have any specific followup questions.
https://vimeo.com/661501860/a49dc6b456

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