| A. Introduction SU Podium V2 is a photo-realistic rendering plug-in to Google SketchUp 7 or 8. SU Podium V2 employs advanced rendering technology but sticks to it's original intention of making photo-realistic rendering for SketchUp an easy and rewarding task. The user interface is simply and does not require advanced knowledge of rendering techniques. SU Podium uses ray tracing and global illumination to create photo-realistic images. Although the user does not have to be aware of what technology is being used, it's important to note that you can obtain high quality images with realistic reflection and lights, quickly. SU Podium uses multi-threading of your CPU so much of the rendering process will use all your processors (Dual/ Quad/ Eight). [size=+1]Summary of Features | - Works inside Google SketchUp 7 or 8, Free or Pro, Mac or Windows
- Works with SketchUp textures, sky, background colors, shadows, groups and layers
- Material properties applied globally to SketchUp textures
- High quality raytracing
- Advanced Global illumination
- Physical sky for skies with depth and turbidity
- Bump mapping
- 'True' reflection - not fake specularity
- Refraction with presets
- Blurred reflection
- Blurred refraction for true translucency
| - Light emitting materials
- Omni lights
- Sun light
- Sky Light
- Spot lights in PLS
- Caustic reflections
- Unlimited resolution
- Multi-processor support
- Free Light Fixture library of 200 ready made lights
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Note - Ray tracing simulates the path of a ray of light as it would be absorbed or reflected by various SketchUp textures or faces. Global Illumination or GI is an algorithm that takes into account not only the light which comes directly from a light source like Sky Light or the Sun, but also subsequent cases in which light rays from the same source are reflected by other faces in the scene (indirect illumination). SU Podium V2's GI is far superior to previous versions of Podium. For more information about Ray tracing and GI, please read about it in Wikipedia.org B. Apply Material Properties
Don't forget to click on Apply for properties to take effect Reflections, refractions, bump maps, LEM lights and other properties are applied to a specific texture globally in the model. This is one major difference from Podium 1.X where reflections and lights are applied to a SketchUp face. You can use standard SketchUp textures as well higher resolution textures from a variety of libraries. There is a library of higher resolution (higher than standard SketchUp textures) textures in the User area of this web site. How it works Select a SketchUp texture you want to apply Podium properties too. You can select the texture by selecting the face that the texture is on or you can select the texture directly from the SketchUp Material browser. When you make a texture selection, its name will appear at the top of the Podium Material Property dialog box. Once a selection is made, apply the various Podium properties to the texture by using the appropriate slider. This will turn the texture into a Podium material. Other SU Podium material properties Diffuse, Transparency and Reflections are connected to each other. The combined value of the three sliders should equal 100% when applied to a texture. The default setting for non-transparent materials is 100% diffuse. However, if you want to see direct reflections on that texture, move the Reflection slider to the right. The Diffuse slider will automatically move left. Diffuse is reflection that does not bounce directly back to the camera or light source but reflects at an angle. An example of the difference between Diffuse and direct reflection might be the reflection of a paved road. When it is dry, it has more diffuse reflection. When it is wet, it has more direct reflections. You can not have 100% Reflection (direct) and 100% Diffuse. Otherwise the material will render strangely. Transparency is the SketchUp transparency/ opacity property conveniently located here. Refraction is where light waves "bend" when passing through a material with a refractive index. A good example of this is a straw placed at an angle in a glass of water. The water has a refractive index of 1.33. The straw looks bent at the surface of the water. Although there is no such material as air in Podium, if there was it would have a refractive index of 1. Version 2 has a list of preset refractive indexes for certain materials. To use Refraction on a texture, select the texture and enter a refractive index. Check out a good explanation of refraction here - WikipediaBoth Reflections and Refractions have a blur option. The render speed will slow down if you choose the blur option but the reflections will look very realistic. Bump Depth slider will allow you to apply bump maps to textures. Bump values are different to V1.x, and a value of 1 produces an extremely subtle effect suitable for water. The Light slider in the material properties will apply LEM (Light Emitting Material) to the texture you have selected. LEM lights are one type of artificial light source in SU Podium V2 and will create lights that emit light in one direction away from the face of the texture. LEM lights are easy to create and are quick to render. Light slider is the LEM light slider. Pick a texture and apply the light slider. This will turn that texture into a LEM Light. You can pick a value from 1 to 100. The values must be whole numbers. High Intensity check box is applied to the LEM Light. When High Intensity is on, single digit power values should be used. Otherwise the LEM light will be extremely bright. In most cases, you will not need the High Intensity option. See more about artificial and natural lights below in section C. C. Lights1. Sky Light, Sun Light - Natural LightsSU Podium V2 has two types of natural lights. Sky and Sun. These are both "exterior" lights but can have great influence on interior renderings if your models have openings to the exterior such as windows and doors. Sky light is an ambient, exterior and uniform light source being emitted from the "sky". It is analogues to an overcast day where the sunlight is hidden. Sky light is always on. However, if you have interior designs with no openings to the exterior, sky light will appear to be shut out from your rendering. For dark interiors, you will need to apply artificial lighting. Sky light brightness is controlled by a variety of variables. One is the preset you choose from the Preset list in the Options menu. Another is whether you use SketchUp Sky or Podium's Physical Sky, also selected from the Options menu in the Environment section. If you have selected SketchUp Sky, SketchUp's background colors will control the sky light's brightness. If you have selected Podium's Sky or Physical Sky, SketchUp background colors will be ignored. Rather the time of day will be an important factor in sky light color and brightness. Sun light is another source of natural light. Sun light is only on when SketchUp Shadows are on. The sun's brightness and exposure are controlled by a number of variables: - Presets from the Preset list in the Options menu
- Sun intensity and exposure sliders
- Time of day, time of year, location and position relative to North-South-East-West
- SketchUp Sky or Physical Sky
But don't be intimidated by these variables. Simply try rendering with Shadows on and look at the effect. Then make adjustments. 2. Artificial Lights - LEM, Omni's and spot lights.a. LEM LightThe Light slider in the material properties menu will apply LEM (Light Emitting Material) to the specific texture you have selected. LEM lights are one type of artificial light source in SU Podium V2 and will create lights that emit light in one direction away from the face of the texture. LEM lights are easy to create and are quick to render. Light slider is the LEM light slider. Pick a texture and apply the light slider. This will turn that texture into a LEM Light. You can pick a value from 1 to 100. The values must be whole numbers. High Intensity check box is applied to the LEM Light. When High Intensity is on, single digit power values should be used. Otherwise the LEM light will be extremely bright. In most cases, you will not need the High Intensity option. b. Omni Lights/ Point lightsOmni light or Point light (name is used interchangeably in this document) is an artificial light source which emits light uniformly in all directions, similar to a light bulb. To insert an omni light or point light, click on the point light icon in the toolbar and drag an omni light into the model. The omni light/ point light is a SketchUp group called a light group. You can see the light group in SketchUp's outliner. c. Omni light Light power/ color controlIt's easy to adjust light power and color now. Just pick the Point Light and use this UI to make changes. For LEMs, select the material with the SketchUp texture i-dropper and adjust the slider in the Podium Material Properties dialog box. For omni lights, click on the Light Properties icon in the toolbar, select the omni light and you can adjust the strength and color from the dialog. d. Soft omni lights optionAs a default, omni lights/ point lights have "hard" shadows meaning the edge of the shadow cast by the omni light is hard. There is a soft shadow option that makes the omni lights look more natural. This option is accessed from the Options menu in the Environment tab. There is a significant render speed cost when using this option.
soft omni shadows off, 2 min 18 sec at viewport rez |
soft omni shadows on, 4 min at viewport rez |
3. Podium Light System - Spot Lights and different way of inserting omni lightsPodium Light System is both a spot light program and also an alternative way to create and place omni lights (point lights). Spot lights are a type of omni light. However, spot lights have an intuitive user interface and always have soft omni lights on. Please read about Spot Lights and the Podium Light System hereThe Options menu has important settings that allow you to choose presets, resolution size for the rendered image, image file format (JPG/PNG/HDR), transparent, where to save your rendered images and various Environment settings such as Physical Sky vs SketchUp Sky, sun exposure and intensity, caustic, clay and soft omni lights. 1. PresetsThere are several presets that have been crafted for certain rendering environments. Presets were created to control hidden variables that effect things like Physical Sky�s turbidity, sun brightness and contrast, ray trace bounces, amount of ambient light, tone mapping variables, anti-aliasing, etc. By using SU Podium's presets, you can quickly set up a rendering environment that is suited best for either exterior or interior scenes. 2. Resolution size and image formatsThere is unlimited resolution size for the rendered images. However, the trial version has limited resolution sizes. The choice of resolutions sizes include Fixed sizes or custom sizes. Fixed sizes are 230X150, 640X480, 1024X768, 2048X1536, 3076X2304, 4076X3304, Wide screen resolutions of 852X480, 1600X900, 1920X1080. Custom sizes mean that you can enter any pixel height and width such as 8000 X 5000. SU Podium V2 gives you the option to choose PNG/JPG/HDR as saved image formats. You can save your images to a folder of your choice if you choose Custom. 3. TransparentWith the PNG format on, Transparent will create rendered images with alpha transparent backgrounds so that you can easily add your own sky background image to rendered .png file in an image editor program. This feature can save you a tremendous amount of time in post-processing. Click Here for more detail on Transparent backgroundsThe Environment tab gives you access to several global settings. a. Default (set in SketchUp) will use SketchUp background color and/or SketchUp Sky settings (set in your SketchUp Style) for the rendered image's background colors. b. Sky or Physical Sky. Physical Sky is a setting where Podium calculates and displays Sky turbidity (haziness caused by particles suspended in the atmosphere) and depth. Physical Sky will ignore the SketchUp background colors but rather is controlled by the preset variables, time day and year, location. Physical Sky will only be on when SketchUp Shadows are on. Note: When your SketchUp shadows are on, Sun light is on regardless of what background option has been selected. c. Sun Intensity and Exposure sliders in Environment settings Sun intensity and exposure sliders in the Environment settings. Move sliders to the left and the rendered images will have less Sun exposure or intensity. The opposite effect will be true if you move the sliders to the right. Rest will reset the slide values to the original state. d. Clay is where textures are ignored and the entire model is rendered in the default, front face color of SketchUp - like a clay model. e. Caustic will apply a caustic effect to transparent materials, globally. Colored light through colored glass is not implemented yet. f. Soft omni lights is a global setting for omni or point lights. The default setting is for this option to be checked off. However, if you want soft shadows to be applied to omni lights to create a natural lighting effect, turn this on. Soft Omni Lights is discussed in more detail in Section C. E. Render and PreviewBefore rendering, you may want to check the Options menu, to see where the rendered image will be saved and to look at other settings. As a default, the rendered image will be saved to the same folder that your SketchUp model is in. However, the rendered image can be saved in a folder of your choice. There is no browse button to find the folder of your choice. You must key in the address to save the images. To start the rendering process, click on the Render icon from the Tool bar.. Once the rendering process is invoked, you can preview the rendering progress by picking the Preview menu in the Podium Render Manager UI. Once the rendering is complete, SU Podium will save the image at the resolution size you chose, to the folder of your choice. F. Other Features1. SU Podium Browser with Light Fixtures, Plants and Textures
SU Podium Browser is a Google SketchUp plugin that lets you download 3D light fixtures, 2D plants and textures from a web server directly to your SketchUp model. SU Podium Browser works with Google Sketchup versions 7 and 8, Windows and Mac. You can drag-and-drop 3D light fixtures and 2D plants directly into your model, and even drag-and-drop hundreds of textures onto SketchUp faces. The available content includes over 300 light fixtures, a large collection of plants and trees, and hundreds of high-resolution textures. The 3D light fixtures come with SU Podium V2 point lights and are render-ready. The 2D face me plants can be used for Podium renderings as well as for modeling in SketchUp. The high resolution texture library was included to enhance photo-realistic renderings but can be used SketchUp non-photo-realistic models as well. 2. Render All BetaRender All Scenes is a feature that allows you to render all the SketchUp scenes in a model in sequence. When invoked, Render All, renders each scene and saves the image in the SU Podium image save folder. This enables you to batch render several scenes in sequence or even create photo-realistic animation especially if you have created the SketchUp scenes using SU Animate. Render All is still in beta for SU Podium V2. It is a Ruby Script that needs to be saved to your plugins folder. Please download RenderAll from the Download page.
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