SkylineArch

I'm still having this issue. I am logged in at work through firefox, but can not login at home through firefox, chrome or on my phone. I just get an error about incorrect password. I changed the password at work, then remote into my home machine and still can't login. Tried to delete my cookies, didn't help. I suppose as long as I don't lose my login at work I can still be an active member.

I've done Bigfoot in a few renderings, hiding him in the treeline. He was even on the cover of the corporate annual report that went out to investors.

Rats like to nest in OBJ files.

Just Google "house plans" and grab something from one of the many home plan sites out there. It may be worth practicing modeling off of a sales type drawing because sometimes that is all you have to work with for residential archviz (just don't cheat and start with one that already has a rendering). Learning how to scale and trace a .jpg and interpret the design based off of a floor plan and front elevation is key to having added benefit to clients that will set up above cheaper competition.

Based on your experience, probably not unless you're willing to work as an unpaid or very low paid intern to shadow someone and learn from them. You need to build up experience and a portfolio. Start by trying to recreate photographs. Start with something simple and model that, then work on the lighting and materials and work your way through more and more complex scenes. In the end, you don't need a degree to work in this field, but being able to understand architectural drawings and what the designers intent and that the clients want is big, knowing the lingo helps. They both really appreciate when you can model a building or space with very little input, or be able to troubleshoot and design solutions on your own. Try to really study a set of drawings and understand what each line represents and how to navigate the drawings to find the details and finishes. You found a forum that is full of people willing to help, but try to ask specific questions to get a faster and more effective response. Posting an image and asking how I can improve this might not get you to specific answers you need. Ask about modeling, or how to improve a specific material, or lighting, of final composition. Start a scene, or use one you have created and start a WIP thread and ask for input.

I use Advanced Painter script. I'm not sure how new of versions of Max it works in though: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/advanced-painter

I rarely to animations, but besides the obvious Adobe products or windows movie maker , Google found me these options: http://www.andrewnoske.com/wiki/Convert_an_image_sequence_to_a_movie or https://superuser.com/questions/608569/convert-jpg-to-video-for-playback-in-vlc

I use the subdivide modifier... probably the same end results. (assuming we are talking about Max)

I don't know, or I haven't seen, anyone make trees specifically for SketchUp, so you will probably have to do some form of conversion. I have yet to try it, because I haven't done an exterior rendering in some time. Maybe I'll try it today and see how it comes out.

Not to detract from the topic, but SketchUp doesn't produce flipped or double faces, the aritst does, same as a messy modeler would in Max, Maya, etc. If you know what you are doing, SketchUp models can be very clean. Actually, flipped normals are a lot easier to see and clean than in Max, but once you understand the basics, you should never have or create any flipped normals. Double faces are pretty much impossible to create since things autoweld, unless the models you encountered had groups that overlapped and were exploded as it was imported into Max. Not trying to start anything or call you out, just letting you know that SketchUp is a different animal. I think that since it's easy to learn, and there is a free version out there that it attracts rookies who do not know what they are doing. But people who started off modeling in any other program understand what to look for and avoid. Sorry, carry on. For the O.P. Use normal maps if you have good quality ones, bump maps for slight textures that are not that pronounced, and displacement for things like stone or if you are viewing a surface close up at a lower angle, like that brick wall would look better with displacement vs bump. Just use the override to turn displacement off until your final render.

Your trees need better alphas to be cut out better. The image you are comparing to is like apples to oranges. The buildings themselves look similar, I think you're close there, but the environments are different, making the reference look more appealing. The reference has more colors with the pool, facades and patio. The sky is brighter, aligning with the scene lighting and the angle is more appealing as well.

Are you using vray lights or a light material for lighting? Looking at the noise I'm guessing a light material. Use the material with emissive to 1 to light up the bulb or lens, but place a vray light below it to illuminate the scene. Check the glossy samples on the materials, set them to 20 or so and then use normal render settings. You can also try the denoiser render element.

Exactly. Start keeping a log of hours (even break it down to modeling, materials, lighting, post process, etc), and notes or rating on the difficulty of the scene. That will give you a good average over time and then look for trouble areas that will need more time. Furniture or details that you need to model, materials you'll need to make, special landscape elements, etc.

My typical workflow to get 2D CAD into SketchUp is in AutoCAD, isolate/clean up just the layers and lines I need, explode as necessary, then I copy/paste into a new drawing, otherwise some hidden blocks will come along with it. Save that drawing as an older version of DWG, 2012 or whatever, it doesn't matter because you don't need any smart objects. In SketchUp, import the DWG file, it will more than likely come in with some lines in the Z axis (so not completely 2D). I go to top view in SketchUp and turn off perspective. I save that out as a (2D Image) .dwg file. Start a new session of SketchUp and import the newly saved file. Some times the units are messed up, so I measure a door and it will be 36' and not 36", so just type 36" and hit Enter to scale the drawing. I then break up the CAD as necessary, floor plans, elevations, etc. Create new layers like _CAD_Front or whatever, move the lines there and group them. When all done, copy and past them into the main scene and the layers will be created and organized. put them in the correct position and lock them. Doing it this way does weld the lines, but there are also extensions that do that as well.

Don't forget about 60' cantilevers with floor to ceiling glass zero chance of getting anything structural in there. Oh, and an unkempt lawn full or wild flowers and weeds.