Nomeradona teaches how the UV mapping works in Vray SketchUp

 

I want to share my latest tutorial: How to create Pool water in Vray SketchUp. I do hope in this tutorial, you will not only learn about the Vray pool water material, but also how the UV mapping works in Vray SketchUp. I will also touch base about "effected material" in clay rendering.

Here is the model I will be using in this tutorial "Barcelona Pavilion" design of course by Mies Van Der Rohe. This was modelled by Fernando Perez Alvarado.

 

We are using this model in our September 2011 Challenge at Sketchup Vray Artist Facebook Group. If you have Facebook account and want to view some of the entries and join this group, Click HERE. Be mindful, this group was intended originally for the Filipinos who are using SketchUp; therefore from time to time, local dialect is used. But don't worry, the members are accommodating; if they knew you are a non-Filipino, they are more than willing to respond and talk with you in English.

Here is the setup view of the model that I will be using. I will render in clay rendering, only the water and pebble materials will not be effected by the override material function. If you want to do clay render in Vray SketchUp, go to the global switches in the Vray options and tick override materials.

 

Step 1: The Diffuse Layer 

1.1. Here is the displace map that I will be using here. It is a seamless texture I made with Pixplant. You can copy this image and use it personally. 

  

1.2. Here I applied the map in my water material using SketchUp

  

1.3. Once satisfied with the mapping scale, you can turn the opacity to zero (0)- meaning it is full transparent. Vray SketchUp will use the UV map of the top diffuse layer. So if we add displacement height, the displaced map will follow the UV of this layer. There are two ways how to adjust the map's opacity.

a. by SketchUp Material Editor 

 

b. by Vray Material Editor. White color in the transparency slot means 100% transparent. 

 

Step 2: The Reflection Layer

I added Fresnel Map on the reflection layer, with an Index of Refraction (IOR) value of 1.33 

  

Step 3: The Refraction Layer

For me this is one of the most important layer that anyone should focus when dealing with water material. Under refraction, I will share the three main items for this material: Tranparency, IOR and Fog Color. 

  

3.1. IOR Value.. in the IOR value (see the image above), I used 1.33. This is the IOR value of water.

3.2. Fog Color. Fog color controls the color basically of your water material. If you want an effect of pristine water for resort pools, then you might want to use light turquosie or light blue color tints. If you want a bit murky water, then use ochre to brownish shades.

The color multiplier, controls the thickness effect of the color. higher value makes the color more intense. For me my multiplier will vary from .01 to .03. If you want the shadows to pass through then you need to tick, affect shadows. If you want the color to pass through (like in stained glass) then you need to tick affect alpha.

ok let say, I will choose this fog color (RGB 184,174, 124)

 

Here is the render. Note: In this render I have added displacement, and grayish transparency color

 

If I want greenish color, I might choose this color

 

Here is the render using greenish color.

 

3.3. Transparency color.

Usually, it so hard to see what is happening below the surface, especially when using high displacement value and reflective valuer. If you want to see the material below, in this case the pebble rocks, you should learn how to adjust this. I have seen water that looks like metal or sea water, because this one was 100 percent white.

Here is an example. This one looks like seawater. (This render has displacement value of 1.0 and transparency color of white)

 

In the Barcelona Pavilion, the pebble surface is quiet near to the water surface, therefore the pebbles will be surely noticed. TO see the texture at the bottom, first you need to make the displacement lower and second you need to use medium to dark gray color in the transparency rollout. Below, I adjusted the transparency color with an RGB value of 81,81,81.

 

Here is the render (without displacement)

 

Step 4: Displacement

 
To create waves and ripples, all we need to do is to add displacement map. Be sure your face geometry for your water is grouped. If not, no displacement will occur. Here I used the same dmap , I used in the diffuse layer.

 

Examples of displacement settings. Note: Vray uses inches in displacement. 1 means 1 inch.

Displacement amount 0.1

 

Displacement amount 0.5

 

Displacement amount 1.0

 

Bonus: Effected by Override Material

If you want the material not to be effected when overriding material (for clay rendering) all you have to do is untick "effected by Override Material" under option.

 

See some of my WIP renders in this challenge using this tutorial. DAY 1, DAY 2. I have not updated it.

I hope this is useful.

Nomeradona

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Published By

Arka Roy

www.sketchup-ur-space.com

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Introduction to Interior Design and SketchUp

London school of Design will be going to conduct a course on sketchup. The course details are as follows:-

SketchUp (Advanced) : This is a 3 week course/ 1 Day per week, Wednesdays (10.00 – 17.00),1 hour lunch break (13.00 – 14.00).

Course 1: February 12 – March 5, 2014

(there will be no classes on February 19)

Course 2: April 2 – April 30, 2014

(there will be no classes on April 9 and 16)

Course 3: June 4 – June 18, 2014

All the participating students must join before 10 minutes of commencing the classes.

The course is useful for intermediate as well as advanced users. The attendees can learn the following from these classes:-

Day 1: In first day, the sketchup users will gather knowledge on components which involve axes, swapping components, dynamic components, reprocessing accessible geometry, libraries. Special focus will be give on Staircase. Learn to produce a smart staircase by applying dynamic components as well as straight flight, dog-leg stair with landing, spirals.

Day 2: In 2nd day, there will be brief demonstration on Plugins. Learn the basic of plugin and its various applications. Also learn how plugins can save huge time for sketchup users. Get acquainted with the top ten most recognized plugins for sketchup users.

Day 3: In 3rd day, the attendee will gather knowledge on scenes, layers, styles, outliner, texture. Also learn how to categorize SketchUp model for presentation or exports as well as how to maneuver exported images in Photoshop.

• Importing/Exporting JPEG, DXF to be utilized as reference/concepts.
• Moving forward with SketchUp – gadgets, 3D mouse, tablets, 3D scanners, 3D printing.

Go through the following tutorial which will facilitate the attendees to get some useful ideas on what sketch can perform and what one can discover from the Beginners class through to the Advanced tutorials.

What the attendees should fetch with them?

• Bring your personal laptop/powerbook in each day of the SketchUp course. One can also pre-load the free SketchUp software before participating the course. One can also download their copy direct from http://www.sketchup.com/. Also confirm that your laptop is configured for Internet connections.
• A 3-button mouse having left click, right click and central scroll.
• A USB flash drive that contains minimum 4Gb memory.
• An A4 or A5 size notebook and pen/pencil.

Please note - The course is useful for both Windows and Mac users. One can also bring their own Mac or Windows laptop to this skills class.

For more information, send mail to info@londonschoolofdesign.org or give a call at 020-3036-0657

In order to get the perfect specifications recommended by the SketchUp helpdesk, go through the following link - www.help.sketchup.com

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Published by Tuhin Maity

Sketchup Designer

http://www.sketchup4architect.com/

Shaderlight has extended the deadline for the Winter Wonderland Contest

Shaderlight announced that they have extended the deadline of submitting 3D models for Winter Wonderland Contest. They are organizing the contest to celebrate the freezing festive season. You can draw yours own winter wonderland in Google SketchUp and render it with Shaderlight. Then you have to submit the drawing and may win a New Year gift for you.

This is the first render contest organize by Shaderlight. The huge response from the SketchUp users of all over the world compelled them to extend the deadline of submitting drawing. You may draw any thing like Santa with Sledge, you own snowman, houses clad in snow, festive light, Xmas tree or anything. One competitor can submit more than one drawing means as much as he or she wants. Shaderlight gives you the flexibility to interpret your festive theme like architectural, product or just picture post card.

And the best part of this contest is the prizes stored for the winner. As this is the first render contest the prizes are also great.

1stprize: $150 Amazon voucher, a copy of Shaderlight Pro for SketchUp, a copy of SketchUp Pro and a Shaderlight 2GB USB wristband.

2ndprize: $50 Amazon voucher and a copy of Shaderlight Pro for SketchUp and a Shaderlight 2GB USB wristband.

3rdprize: a copy of Shaderlight Pro for SketchUp and a Shaderlight 2GB USB wristband.

The top three images will also take pride of place on the homepage of Shaderlight’s website for the world to see (and for you to show off to your friends!). Send your finished Shaderlight render, original SketchUp scene along with your contact details to shaderlight@artvps.com. You can download the free copy of Shaderlight for 14 days with full features and unlimited resolution.

Entries will be judged by our expert judging panel:

Chris Dizon - Google SketchUp

Mike Lucey - SketchUcation

Steve Jarratt - Editor of 3D World Magzine

Mark Sullivan - 3D artist here at ArtVPS

SketchUp in Landscape Designing

Like any great undertaking, you need to have some idea of what you are doing at any given time. Landscaping plans are no exception. The tricky part is getting around to all the various landscaping plans and options that there could potentially be, and of course, visualizing the whole event in your minds eye can be challenging.

Building Your Blueprints the first and most obvious way to plan for what you need to do is to draw a sketch. Sit down with a pencil, and yes, it must be a pencil and a blank piece of paper. Block your house and any other obstacles that you might not be able to work around, and then - go to town! Draw something, erase it, try again - your landscaping plans are just that - plans and as with any plans you need to do some brainstorming before you can get anywhere with it.

Your landscaping plans should probably go through several drafts before you come up with a pretty solid idea of what you want. That is not to say that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you know exactly what you want your design to look like, although you might. The premise of the exercise is just to help you visualize, brainstorm, and work through some of the potential options for your landscaping plans. But, what about for those of us who are artistically challenged; whose stick figures most closely resemble H.P Lovecraft's nightmares? Worry not - google.com offers a free utility called SketchUp. SketchUp it can create 3D models for Google Earth, another utility. SketchUp lets you put into a 3D visualization exactly how your landscaping plans will look.

This has definite benefits over the pencil and paper method, but at the same it can limit creativity and can be frustrating for those people who are not technology-compatible (get the joke?). However, it is another option for creating those wonderful landscaping plans which will be your first and arguably most important step to having your landscaping dreams come true. Outside of that, landscaping plans involving drawing, calling contractors, finding the best price for exactly what you want, deciding on plants, layout, colors, form, textures - the whole nine yards. That's why making your landscaping plans is so important because the project can quickly become overwhelming and not all that enjoyable, which one would hope it would be if you are trying to do it yourself.

SketchUp 5 Architecture Library 1.0

Sketchup Architecture library contains a huge collection of 3D architectural accessories models which include sofas, windows and doors, laptops, illumination accessories and many more.
By applying this component one can produce and modify 3D models right from the conceptual design stage.
This library is free and can be downloaded from Google Sketchup’s web site. Once the download is completed the user will receive an executable (.exe) file to run on your computer. After that you will be followed by a wizard to complete the installation process. On completion of the installation process the user has to add the Components dialog box of the Google Sketchup. In order to perform this just click the “Details” arrow and choose “Open or Create a library” option on the pop-up menu. A dialog box will guide you to browse through the disk. Proceed with the Components folder on the Program files -> Google -> Google Sketchup 6 path, and select Architecture.