Rendering in SketchUp

Fig. 20.1: 
Step 1 flowchart 

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Fig. 20.2: 
Texture values are added to all of the model textures (Shaderlight Material menu).
Fig. 20.3: 
The SketchUp Shadow menu is used to set up the lighting. The Shaderlight menu is set to Physical Sky so 
that it references the SketchUp Shadow menu to cast light for the rendering.
Fig. 20.4: 
Resolution settings (Shaderlight)

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Quality
Quality determines how refined the image will 
appear once it’s rendered (Fig. 20.6). Low quality 
settings produce grainy and sometimes hazy 
renderings. The higher quality settings produce 
crisp clear images. Like resolution, quality is 
initially set to a low value for the first draft 
rendering, as outlined in step 2.
Draft to Final Render
The underlying principle of the draft-to-final-
render process is to make image creation efficient 
(Fig. 20.7). The initial and subsequent render will 
usually reveal flaws with textures, lighting, camera 
angles, and model detail. These values and details 
will need to be adjusted and another draft will need 
to be run and evaluated. Starting with high quality 
settings with full-model detail visible is inefficient 
due to long render times.
Fig. 20.5: 
Initial draft render at 800 x 600 resolution
Fig. 20.6: 
Quality Settings menus for Shaderlight 
(top), SU Podium v2 (middle), and Twilight Render 
v1 (bottom)

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