Rendering in SketchUp

Fig. 30.6: 
The process will not work if you set the render 
quality above 60 percent.
Fig. 30.7: 
The SketchUp Animation menu settings

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Part 6: Shaderlight by ArtVPS
3
3
If you are doing final exterior renders, set the quality between 60 and 100 percent.
3
3
For final simulated lighting, set the quality between 70 and 100 percent.
3. 
Use the Shaderlight Animation menu (Fig. 30.8).
a. 
Set the Shaderlight Animation menu for automated batch rendering.
b. 
Click and open the Shaderlight Animation menu.
c. 
Under Settings 
F
Save To, click on the Browse button (Fig. 30.8, no. 1)
d. 
Navigate to where you want the images saved.
e. 
Select a File type. Choose one of three options (PNG, JPEG, or TIFF) (Fig. 30.8, no. 2).
f. 
Go to Frame Rate and select 1 from the pull-down menu (Fig. 30.8, no. 3).
g. 
Check Duration (the number of frames should equal the number of SketchUp scenes).
h. 
Leave all of the other settings as is.
i. 
Click Render. Shaderlight will start to process the model and automate the render-
ings (Fig. 30.8, no. 4).
j. 
The renders will appear in the designated folder.
Fig. 30.8: 
Select the Animation Render Options 
in the Shaderlight menu.

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Chapter 30: Shaderlight Special Features
ReplaceMe
The ReplaceMe feature allows you to perform proxy rendering, which uses the render engine to 
swap a version of a component in the model with an external component file. For example, a 
2D tree, copied and placed in the model, could be linked to a 3D detail tree component located 
on the computer hard drive. When the render is started, Shaderlight will swap the 2D tree and 
render the linked 3D tree in its place. It won’t swap out the objects in the model, only in the 
generated graphic.
This feature is useful for vegetation models. You can populate your model with simple, low-
face-count components that won’t impede SketchUp’s performance when visible. For example, 
you could place a swath of 2D plants in a model with all of them linked to 3D detailed counter-
parts. SketchUp computer performance would be maintained and the rendering would contain 
high-quality vegetation models.
Any type of component can be linked to another. You just need to know the location of com-
ponent models to be linked. Once a component in the model is linked to an external compo-
nent, all versions of that component in the model will be linked and replaced.
The linking process is as follows (Fig. 30.9):