Online Rendering Software For Sketchup

Best SketchUp Renderers IRender nXt. IRender nXt is the only SketchUp renderer you'll ever need! If you can draw it in SketchUp, you can easily. ArielVision is an easy to use SketchUp plugin that creates photorealistic renderings of your models, from. This fully featured.

• Thea for SketchUp allows you to run interactive rendering either inside Thea window or directly inside the SketchUp view, a feature that we call interactive render overlay. Additionally, with the.
• Lumion is architectural rendering software that makes it easy to convey how your projects will translate into real-life experiences and emotions.

Sketchup rendering has become more and more popular in interior design. There's now multiple options for Sketchup rendering packages that can make photorealistic CGIs from your model. However, each different software has its strong points and its drawbacks.

So which software is the best option for you to get amazing renders from your Sketchup models? Additionally, which is the fastest, easiest and highest quality?

I've used 5 of the biggest rendering packages for Sketchup and given my thoughts here.

I'll explain which one is my favourite, what you should use, and hidden problems to avoid with sketchup rendering.

I've judged each rendering software on five points. To put it simply, I believe that these are the key qualities we should look for in Sketchup render software.

1. Ease-of-use
2. User control
   for textures, environment and output
3. Integration
   With Sketchup
4. Performance
   How fast we can render and system requirements
5. Cost
   Is it worth the price for Interior Designers and is it good value?

In my years of rendering with Sketchup I've wished for a programme that perfectly ticks these five boxes. Read on and we'll see if I've found one.

Chaos Group develops V-Ray software for many 3D programmes. I've been using Sketchup V-Ray for 4 years now and can tell that they put a lot of effort into the plugin.

Performance-wise, V-Ray can run on all levels of PC setup. Importantly, it works on the average laptop. However, Chaos Group has included support for GPUs and Nvidia RTX. As a result, advanced users with powerful PCs can take advantage of all the power in their system.

VRay for Sketchup – from Chaos Group
£270 12-month subscription
£45 1-month subscription
£610 purchase

VRay remains the best all-round rendering plugin for Sketchup. Additionally, it is fairly easy to learn for interior rendering while providing plenty of capabilities.

Best for
Designers who are ready to use powerful rendering software that is versatile and relatively affordable.

Ease-of-use: 3/5
User control: 4/5
Integration: 5/5
Performance: 4/5
Cost: 3/5

My first attempt at rendering in Sketchup was with SU Podium v1. This was in 2012 – since then this plugin has come a long way. In fact, I have been impressed with the renders produced without any tweaking.

Like other render plugins, SU Podium has an interface window and different render quality presets. One downside is that the Podium environment and materials settings do not offer the level of control that V-Ray does.

However, Podium includes presets for both exterior and interior scenes. These mean producing a decent render is very easy. Like other features, this is an example of SU Podium being a great option for beginners.

In short, SU Podium is a good render plugin for interior renders. However, it also has another reason that Interior Designers should try it out: the Podium Browser.

What is Podium Browser? It may just be my favourite feature of SU Podium.

Essentially, Podium Browser is a 3D content library. Basically, it is a huge collection of photorealistic items and textures. Importantly, they are all already set up for rendering. What's more, many of the items are furniture items, light fixtures and accessories used in interior design renders.

Because of this, Podium Browser can save us a heap of time and effort. As an example, with V-Ray I once spent 2 hours modelling a console table and applying textures. As part of this I had to find and then map textures before rendering it. By contrast, had I used SU Podium I would have looked for a console table on Podium Browser. Once I found one that was similar to my needs, I could simply drop it into the model and render.

SU Podium – from Cadalog Software
$249 (£200) purchase

SU Podium is a great rendering plugin for Sketchup users not familiar with using rendering software. It balances easy setup, speed and quality. Surprisingly, SU Podium's content library could be its biggest appeal. However there is limited control for advanced users wishing to produce photorealistc interior renders.

Best for
Designers who are new to rendering and CGIs.

Ease-of-use: 4/5
User control: 3/5
Integration: 4/5
Performance: 3/5
Cost: 4/5

First and foremost, Blender is a standalone programme rather than a plugin for Skechup. Blender has become popular because it is a professional 3D modelling and render prograame that is totally free. Many industries such as architecture, design and film-making use Blender for modelling and animation.

So why did I include Blender in here? Well, Blender can import Sketchup's .skp files. As a result, we can model an interior in Sketchup, then take it to Blender to render it.

Essentially, this gives us two big advantages. Firstly is the cost. As I've mentioned, Blender is totally free. Secondly, Blender can offer professional control and render results. On the point of user control, Blender is without a doubt comprehensive. Once we import a Sketchup model we can tweak material properties such as reflections and mapping with precision. We can also conrol Blender's environment and lighting system to get exactly the type of scene we want.

In short, we have every option and control we want in Blender for our model. It is possible that many Interior Designers can find Blender too complex for their needs. However, this is a professional 3D programme that is available for free whilst comparable software can cost thousands.

Blender also has an active online user community, sharing help and tips. If you're an expert at Skechup and want to learn an advanced 3D modelling and render programme, try out Blender.

It should be noted that Blender does require a good PC or Mac system to run well.

Designers who want to learn an advanced 3D modelling software. Anyone who wants to try 3D without a financial commitment.

Ease-of-use: 2/5
User control: 5/5
Integration: 2/5
Performance: 4/5
Cost: 5/5

Online Rendering Software For Sketchup 2017

Lumion was made as an intuitive but powerful real-time render programme. In short, it aimed to take the mystery out of rendering by showing users their renders as they create them.

Users who have no experience with rendering can also use Lumion without too much difficulty. This is a result of Lumion being highly straightforward. What's more, Lumion is similar to Sketchup in that most of the editing and control is done visually rather than with complicated settings and menus. Pesonally, I'd say this is a big advantage for interior designers who work visually and get hands-on with their designs.

Whats more, I love Lumion's new feature 'Livesync' for Sketchup. This is the latest example of Lumion's real-time rendering capabilities. With Livesync, Lumion shows a realistic, rendered view that is in sync with the Sketchup view. As a result, we can tweak views, camera angles, lights and materials and instantly see the result. By contrast, other programmes without real-time rendering would then require us to wait while it re-renders the view.

Like SU Podium, Lumion's developers have also made their own 3D content library. This contains many items for interiors such as furniture, fabrics and accessories.

Lumion therefore sounds great, so what are the downsides?

Firstly, Lumion isn't cheap. A single license is 1499 Euros, which is the most expensive Sketchup render option in this comparison.

Additionally, Lumion requires a powerful PC to run well. This is quite understandable as real-time rendering usually needs a fast CPU and graphics card. With this in mind, be sure to consider the cost of a high-end PC as well as the cost of Lumion itself.

Best for:
Interior Designers with powerful computer setups who want to tweak their render models and see results in real-time.

Firstly, be sure to check out Lumion's system requirements here.

Ease-of-use: 4/5
User control: 3/5
Integration: 4/5
Performance: 2/5
Cost: 2/5

Keyshot is a relative newcomer to rendering software. It offers Sketchup model renders by importing skp files, then working with them in its software. As a result it means that, similar to Blender, Keyshot is not an integrated plugin to Sketchup. By contrast, it is a standalone programme.

Keyshot is made to be easy to understand and real-time. Personally, I find its biggest features for interior design to be similar to Lumion. It should be noted that a big difference compared to Lumion is that Keyshot does not offer integration with Sketchup.

When I've used Keyshot with Sketchup I saw this lack of integration. All things considered it is not a huge issue. However, I often found myself struggling to select elements of my model. This is because Sketchup models are converted to Keyshot's geometry which can mean grouped objects become ungrouped.

You should also be aware that should you edit or change a Sketchup model, you will need to re-import it to Keyshot.

Free Rendering Software For Sketchup

Keyshot 9 HD (includes 3D content library)
$999 license

Keyshot 9 Pro (adds animation)
$1995

Free Rendering For Sketchup

Keyshot provides real-time rendering similar to Lumion, with less integration to Sketchup.

Best for:
Interior Designers who are new to rendering and want an easy way to set up Sketchup model renders.

Ease-of-use: 4/5
User control: 3/5
Integration: 1/5
Performance: 4/5
Cost: 3/5