Rendering in SketchUp: From Modeling to Presentation for Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Design

Rendering is not an easy subject to learn. It has taken me years of practice and intensive learning mostly by trial and error. As a newbie to rendering all the lingo was completely foreign to me. What were Gamma rays?, seemles and tillable textures? Ray tracing?, depth of field?, Anti aliasing (Didn't have a clue)& what the hell were bumps? The only "bumbs" I knew, was my forehead , constantly banging against a wall of almost "rumsfeldian" unknown, unknown's. Not understanding things: is never fun, it goes against our better human nature. If you are new to rendering, this book will enable you to fast track your learning curve and make the entire learning process a much more enjoyable experience. Daniel Tal is a formidable sketchup teacher and this book is surely a labor of love. His writing style and explanations are easy to understand, follow and most importantly replicate. I truly wish this book had been available years ago. Like his last book (Sketchup for site design) the books is set up in a linear fashion with each chapter building on the last. Yes, you can skip from one part to another, but the book is designed to provide a continuous learning curve that is easy to achieve with just a bit of effort and some necessary repetition. Practice makes perfect after all. Learning new things in Sketchup ,even after all these years is still always fun. Daniel didn't disappoint there is still tons under the hood of sketchup. I am still in awe of its subtlety and the depth of the program. Textures quite rightly takes up a major part and focus of the book. Having great textures and knowing how to use them is the secret of every ArchViz rendering Star, It separates the men from the boys, so to speak. Daniel takes you through the necessary resources you will need, he even shows you how to manipulate these texture with Image editing software that again adds greater variety and quality to ones renders. Organization is something that Sketchup enables and Daniel Tal methods if they are followed carefully will allow one to create sophisticated articulate and expressive models and subsequent renders. His Layers regimen is absolutely crucial to master: with the use of scenes and layers, you can leverage the model to provide exactly what you need. It is not hard to get organized. Sketchup is built to do all the hard work for you - if you set it up right. Daniel Tal provides the necessary guidelines, he doesn't just show you HOW to do things, but also provides the more subtle reasons of WHY to do things in a certain way. Rendering software has changed in leaps and bounds. It is becoming easier and easier every year for everyone to raise their rendering game. As such, it would seem a book like this could easily grow out of date. Not so- the future online chapters will go a long way in keeping its readers informed and updated with all things new in the rendering world. More importantly, however much easier it gets in the future what you will learn here will always help you and provide a better and richer understanding of all that is involved in the rich tapestry of rendering work. I remain unconvinced of the notion that Karma exists, Let alone "sketchup Karma", but if it does, then surly Daniel Tal has a healthy Karma count with all that is divine in life. Thank you Daniel for enriching all of our sketchup lives. We all owe you a big thank you Rashad.

I am regarded as a rendering idiot when it comes to using Sketchup, so I was very interested in this book when it came out. I have a mastery of Sketchup, plug-in, Photoshop and have a very very very basic understanding of how rendering programs work and are utilized with Sketchup. I have looked all over the internet, through various websites and YouTube to try to get a good grasp rendering programs with not to much information. More importantly finding any information on how to actually use rendering programs effectivly is near impossible to find until now. Daniel Tal has great Sketchup skills in teaching rendering, and after reading through all 600+ pages (keeping me up late at night because I couldn't put this book down), he has shared every secret and work flow he know with no hold back in this book. All books on Sketchup out there are good, they give tips, information, examples, but Daniel Tal's book goes way beyond what is normally provided by an author. He shows workflows with great examples (in full color including screen shots), and as a Sketchup user workflows are everything in Sketchup. Tal shows how to prepare, organize, implement, process and post process your models to achieve the maximum output from your model. In short summary (but not a complete overview these are just what jumped out to me) the book does an incredible job of conveying: * An overview of his process and his objectives and goals in teaching you how to use rendering programs (he gives examples to all the major players out there and gives step by step instructions with accompanying photos on a few) * Thoroughly explains computer hardware requirements for the budget minded and for the deep pocketed renderer * Explains the foundations for a good effective workflow with textures, what they are, how they work, how to manipulate them, and where to find them. * Gives excellent examples of how to tweak textures - I definitely learned some things here! I have always struggled with manipulating textures on and above the normal before reading this chapter. * Shows how to utilize Photoshop for post processing and adjust your final output for a final tweak that pushes it over the edge to make it a professional looking render. * Explains and gives great examples of layering strategies in organizing your model to keep the speed and efficiency of Sketchup to a maximum. (this took me a couple years to learn on my own - wish I had this chapter some time ago) * The most important chapter of all, how to set your rendering apart from all the others, by creating details. Every master does this, but they never share it. How to bring randomness and staging to a model to breathe life into it. Simply put, here you learn how to play God. * Provides excellent and very lengthy insight into lighting, placement, natural light artificial light and how the it affects the final output of the rendering. This has been hard for me to find anywhere else, and there are oodles of examples with cause and affects. * Lastly giving step by step examples with screen shots in full color. This is like having someone grab your hand and walk you through the process. In all honesty I hardly write reviews. However this book caught my attention, and it gave me more than I expected. I think the only mistake in the book is it is to cheap. I have paid over $100 for some architectural books, and I get half as much as I did from this one. This book gives you the tools to become productive, proficient in a vast variety of rendering programs. It gives you the "secret recipe" to succeed, simplistically and straight forward. You will be able to increase your skills to a level of artist if you are a casual user, or if you are a designer for hire like me, charge much more for your end product. I enthusiastically recommend this book for any person wanting to learn rendering like myself if you are a rendering novice, or learn a tweak or two or three or four etc. etc. if you are an advanced user.

As an technology publication, it is a danger to buy especially since Google sold Sketchup in 2013. This is why buying the version that reads on the kindle is key so it will update with the links for plug-ins. The author writes in a very approachable manner which is useful, no need for jargon when it's not needed, thank you. The techniques I believe will hold up to the test of time or at least for a good run in the tech world. Good read.

Rendering in SketchUp provides the reader with a comprehensive, yet easy to read and understand compendium of information. The book can be used by both students who aspire and are training to become professionals as well as anyone currently employed in a design firm. Learning a new software program, regardless of what it is, always presents a huge challenge. Yes, there may be random manuals, guides, websites and videos, but so much of it is scattered and incomplete. I have always wanted to learn and master the art of rendering with photorealistic qualities in SketchUp, but the difficulty of finding and/or obtaining all of the necessary information had proved to be daunting- until now. With Daniel's book, practically everything- repeat everything- you will need to know on the subject is right here. While the focus is on rendering, it also includes information on advanced modeling techniques and builds upon what was presented in his previous book, Google SketchUp for Site Design. The chapter on what is referred to as "detail modeling" includes what you absolutely must know if you use SketchUp daily in a professional setting. I have been using SketchUp on a regular basis since the release of Version 4, and I consider myself to be "very proficient"; however, I have found in this book useful modeling tips and workflow shortcuts that I never knew existed. In my opinion, the most important part of Rendering in SketchUp is the section on the post-production process in Adobe Photoshop- a topic which, surprisingly enough there exists very little published information on. If you have ever wondered why your work lacks the "punch" or verve that the work of the award winning, professional design firm, it is probably because you do not have this knowledge. If you are a practicing landscape archtitect/designer/technician and use SketchUp in the office, then you must own this book. It will probably be the single most important book purchase you will make this year.

Being an architect myself with 5 years of intensive use of SketchUp, I thought I knew everything about it. This book proved me wrong! I used to create 2 kinds of renderings. The first one is just direct export of JPEG from SketchUp, while the other one is using V-Ray. The former is quick and dirty while the latter is extremely time consuming. This book fills the gap in-between! Daniel shows your how to create realistic renderings with the least amount of time. My comments for this book can be summarized as follow: Comprehensive: First of all, this book does not only cover things specific for creating renderings, but also topics like how to create your SketchUp model in a more organized way to facilitate your rendering process. Clarity: Daniel provides step by step diagrams and renderings which I found it very easy to follow. The text is also very easy to read and free of technical terms and jargons. Organized: To gain the most from this book, you should read from cover to cover and not skipping any chapters. The structure of the book is organized is such a way that each chapter is built upon the previous one. You will find yourself like reading a story book and hard to let go once you pick it up. In conclusion, I will highly recommend any SketchUp users to buy this book, no matter whether you consider yourself a beginner or an expert.

Yes of course this book is having good content of knowledge about rendering, i like it for good examples in it, but i also dislike it for a reason that there is no V-Ray rendering detailed inside this book, only other old rendering plugins are described in this book, anyhow its good for beginners

I am a woodworker who has been using SketchUp for the last 3 years. For the last 2 years I have attempted to take my drawings a step further by providing renderings to clients . It has been quite a learning curve to get up to speed on the rendering process. I have spent countless hours and more money than I expected experimenting with different rendering software. I wish this book had been published earlier, as it would have saved me those countless hours and dollars. There are a number of tutorial videos available on the Internet for 3D rendering. However, I always felt that something was lacking. I never felt that I had a complete understanding of the rendering process. Thankfully, "Rendering In SketchUp" has vastly improved my level of understanding. Not only is it a thorough how-to book on the subject, but it is also an excellent reference for future situations. I would highly recommend this book to all those who are trying to improve their 3D rendering skills.

For some reason I had put-off learning a rendering program, other than the one that comes with SketchUp. But this is the book that put an end to that. I had worked through Tal's book "SketchUp for Site Design" so I knew he could write good technical instructions and combined them with examples and practice exercises. I immediately recognized his basic work flow processes from the earlier book and by this new book's end I felt they were as relevant as ever. The book is systematic, giving an introduction to the basics that I could blast through easily with my SketchUp experience. And then moving on with easy to understand explanations and illustrations that helped me quickly overcome any hesitancy I had for learning yet another piece of software. Tal says this book isn't so much a reference book that you can flip around in, skipping sections and coming back to them later. But I feel that having worked through the book from start to finish; I could easily use it as a reference for the three rendering systems it covers. The explanation of how rendering programs work goes a long way in understanding how to use them. The image editing processes described in the book are exceedingly helpful. This, post production information fills a conspicuous gap in the Adobe how-to literature. Textures, textures, textures, get your red-hot textures, get them in varying sizes, organize them and systematically put them to use to produce photo quality renderings; textures are given their due in the texture chapter and lots of fine tuning tips are provided. I've always loved casting just the right shadows on my SketchUp models, and the book's chapter on shadows covers the subject thoroughly. Supplemental chapters are already out on the publisher's website indicating to me that Wiley knows what they have with this book, and they are going to fully support it. I looked forward to this for a long time, and I was not disappointed. As a landscape designer and civic planner I highly recommend this book to you.

Very good book. It covers anything you need to know about rendering in sketchUp. I have also contacted the author for some files i wanted to work on and he responded very soon. I highly recommend it!

Not a book for beginners, it's aimed at intermediate to savvy Sketch Up users. Makes excellent reference how to integrate a couple lighting plug-in extensions and what are ideal computer configurations to optimize running Sketch Up. Daniel Tal shows off many tricks of the trade to incorporate backgrounds, depth of field and detail associated with higher end software packages. My go to book for years to come. Good tips on work flow management.

it's Very Good Book for sketchup Beginner and Rending works thanks' veeresh wali

Prodotto arrivato secondo i tempi e con le caratteristiche descritte, servizio puntuale senza sgradite sorprese; ottimo. Si consiglia il venditore ed il prodotto.

Very informative Thank You Daniel Dave Wood