mskin Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 I do my modeling in Acad and render (lights materials etc...) with max. I see a lot of excitement both here and in the field surrounding sketch-up. whats the deal? What benifets does sketch up offer; ease of modeling? it doesn't seam to have the rendering capacity of max with mental ray, but then again, i may very easily not know what im talking about. is this software worth persuing if i am already comfortable with acad/max and what will i gain by doing so. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 yeah, sketchup is fun, fast and accurate. do yourself a favor and dowload the 8hr demo. you can output dwgs/3ds etc and bring them into max too. the image output has it's own look, sometimes good, sometimes not so good...depends on how you use it. chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorbu Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Give their demo a try and see for yourself. I find it extermely quickly for modeling and it's great for schematic design. It doesn't have the rendering capacity of the other programs you mentioned, but it's not trying to compete with those applications. Sketchup it's unique in what it does and the way it does it. It depends of what look you're after and using the right tool to achieve that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Sketchup is a modeling program that can texture map and give you basic graphics, but does not render - so if you're looking for a program to render your Acad models, Max is the right tool for the job. If mental ray is causing you frustration, you could try a demo of Vray (chaosgroup.com, register and look in the support area). But do check out the Sketchup demo - for what it does, you can't beat it. I find it much better than Acad for a lot of modeling tasks, and it can output a 3DS file to bring into Max. One thing to watch out for - in Sketchup, the front of a surface is beige and the back is purple. When you bring it into Max, the back is invisible, so make sure you only see beige, then apply materials, and when you bring it into Max the materials and mapping will transfer. You can use your good bitmap textures then assign bump, specular etc. in Max - it's a real time saver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias_marks Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I know this is a little off topic but I after using max for about a couple months now, I'm still having trouble figuring out what the benefit is of having the backsides of models transparent. Does it make more sense the more you use the program? And from what I've heard about SketchUp and from the little experience I've had with it, it's just a speedy program that's great for what it tries to do just like JorBu said. I would consider what work your looking to create and pick the program from there. For an very basic explanation--- SketchUp - More "drafty" 3dStudio - More "photorealistic" I think some very interesting compositions could be made using a combination of the two and playing with in photoshop. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I've used and benefited from the one-sidedness, but it's only helpful in certain cases, mostly it's just pretty annoying. I almost always set materials to be 2-sided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias_marks Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 So, I did some playing around and wasn't able to find out how to make materials double sided this seems like it would be a great advantage when modeling. Anyone able to point me in the right direction? Thanks a bunch Mike Sorry again for the divergence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 In Max different materials have some different options for 2-sided, Standard has it right at the top, in Maxwell all materials are 2-sided whether you wnat that or not, Vray has it in options, Brazil has it at the top, Architectural has it in Physical Properties, mental ray... I don't know, and in Viewport Configuration you can check "Force 2 Sided" if you want for ease of display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias_marks Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Thanks AJLynn, excellent breakdown. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 2 sided geometry takes longer to render. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vizwhiz Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 i Think i remember reading somewhere That The vray people are making (or considering making ) a vray plug-in for Sketchup not sure if it is a stand-alone generic renderer or specific to SU just some general info, a google search might find more out about This randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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