The most straight-forward rendering tool for Sketchup I have found so far is Visualizer. It is only $19.99 and uses camera (iphone) functions that students are familiar with such as focus and exposure. I have been experimenting with the shadows functions in Sketchup along with splitting the focus and exposure functions in Visualizer. I have found that the focus only needs to be 'nudged' slightly to the right in order to get great effects. It works very well with translucent materials as well.
I'd like there to be some post processing such as basic image adjustments e.g. brightness and contrast - but perhaps that could be done in Pixlr or PS later.
This is a bangle made of Plywood and red clear acrylic. Visualizer is set-up with AF and AE locked together (no) AF adjustments.
I'd like there to be some post processing such as basic image adjustments e.g. brightness and contrast - but perhaps that could be done in Pixlr or PS later.
This view is zoomed in on Sketchup and the AF is nudged very slightly to the right. The AE is over the shadow area on the left. The AF is over the edge of the bangle facing us.
In this view I have added a thin sheet of light blue glass in order to create a reflective surface. I have also added some dark walls in the background to give the model some 'omni' light.
What I am really impressed with is the choice of rendering qualities from a quick 3 minute version to a 'well cooked' 17 hours! BTW I am using a 2012 Macbook Pro with 8GB RAM.
Here are some renderings of rings using similar settings.
