Hi, I’m having trouble getting realistic renders in V-Ray 6 for SketchUp Pro 2023. Even after adjusting textures and materials, my renders look pixelated, flat, or unrealistic. I’ve followed multiple tutorials step by step, but the results don’t improve.
My setup:
OS: Windows 10 Pro (22H2)
GPU: Radeon RX 570 Series (8GB VRAM)
SketchUp: Pro 2023
Renderer: V-Ray 6
Issues:
Materials don’t look realistic, even with proper textures.
Lighting appears unnatural, and colors look dull.
Renders sometimes come out pixelated despite high settings.
What I’ve tried:
Increasing render resolution.
Using V-Ray lights instead of SketchUp default lights.
Applying reflection and bump maps to materials.
Adjusting render settings for better quality.
Following tutorials, but results remain the same.
What I need:
Does anyone have a recommended V-Ray preset for realistic renders or key settings I should adjust? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Presets for rendering don’t exist, there are different factors that affect a render, there are also different kinds of renders, setting for indoors and outdoors are not the same, or for product rendering. The lights and textures are the most important parts of a render, there are a lot of websites where you can find materials and assets to improve the quality of your renders.
Assuming you are a real human who needs help - you are going to need to post some screenshots or share the model file.
You’ll probably need to use WeTransfer or DropBox for the the file. Images can be dragged to the reply window. It’s helpful to see your render settings as well as a rendered image that you are unhappy with.
Start by taking the time to learn the key settings and tools that will help with realism. They’re all in this course on Sketch Up Campus - V-Ray for SketchUp Interiors
Here is ta sneak preview of what you need for more realistic renders:
High poly entourage and geometry. Unlike SketchUp itself, V-Ray looooves detail. The more the better. If you’re worried about performance, use Proxies - speaking of which, see point 2 below
Use Chaos Cosmos. Use it for materials, lighting, entourage, etc. At least get as much as you can before adding from elsewhere. Avoid 3D Warehouse.
Use HDRI lighting, even for interiors. It gives off more color, variations and subtle nuance you won’t get with the default sun and sky,
Round corners. Similar to point above about using high quality/poly objects, rounded corners reflect light more realistically. You can actually round the geometry using an extension, or ‘fake it’ using a texture setting in V-Ray.
Render large enough dimensions. The smaller the rendering, the less details will get picked up. Render as high res, ie pixels, as long as you can afford to wait for(depends on your machine speed and patience).
Use high quality, PBR materials…everywhere. Again, start with Comos which will should meet most of your needs.
Post-processing. There are a few things you can do with exposure, highlight burn, noise reduction, camera glare, etc that will help bring it home.
You need to do ALL of the things above for a great render. You can do SOME of the things above for a decent render. Or you can do NONE of the things above and get a mediocre render. V-Ray is both amazing and frustrating as it gives you all the control you need to make whichever decision you want.
