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Electronic Workflow for Interior Designers and Architects

Chapter 14 Photorealistic Images with IRender nXt



Learning goals:

Apply materials directly to various types of objects
Understand of different rendering settings
Understand of lighting controls
Create custom rendering objects
Understand capture options





Wouldnt it be great if you could just turn on all those light fixtures you put into
your SketchUp model? Well, you can, thanks to a handy plug-in called IRender
nXt, from Render Plus Systems (RPS). This plug-in takes the materials and
geometry of your model and, using a rendering engine, to generate
photorealistic images of your project. Besides lighting, IRender nXt will map
SketchUp materials to a much more realistic looking sample, and all without any
changes to the model. You can even create custom lamps, luminaires, and
mirror components.

Big Picture: Models need minimal preparation to use IRender nXtjust
apply materials and be sure to have a light source. Options, controls and
exporting should look very familiar if youve rendered with Revit-the two
programs use the same engine from AccuRender. Sometimes its easier
to make a balky Revit model look good by bringing it into SketchUp,
painting, adding lighting and mirrors, and rendering it with IRender nXt.

Rendering is started from inside any SketchUp view, but will open up a new
window to preview and complete the final rendering operation. Once it starts,
you basically have to abandon the model for a while, and probably count on
leaving your machine alone, too.


IRender nXt Setup

The first step is to load IRender nXt onto your machine. Download the software
(the link is in the Online Resources), and run the executable file. If you dont
have a license it will run in trial mode, but it will leave a watermark on your
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renderings. Once loaded, go the Plug-ins pull-down menu, and activate ityoull
see the following toolbar show up:


Figure 14.1 The IRender nXt toolbar with tool descriptions, courtesy Render Plus Systems

Click on the Options tool to peek see the rendering settings. I usually check the
radio button next to Automatically load IRender nXt toolbars and functions
and Use single toolbar for convenience. On the lighting tab, be sure youve
checked the box next to Interior, as this will optimize for electric light sources.
SketchUp models can often be in the 20-30mb file size range, and this
really taxes IRender nXt. There are a few things you can do to avoid slowing
down your computer to a complete crawl, or worse, crashing it. The first step is
to save a copy of your project, just in case you get a bad bug splat. Then, you
can remove all the detritus from downloaded components and other junk, using
the Purge command.

Purging a SketchUp Model
1. From the Window pull-down menu, choose Model Info.
2. Click on Statistics in the left frame.
3. Click on the Purge buttonthis will help IRender nXt work faster.
4. If youre model was already in the 30mb range, click Purge again.
5. Click OK, and then save your drawing again (it should be a much smaller
file size now).

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This usually gets rid of the biggest impediments, and will speed up your
model, too. A more drastic step is to delete all components and other drawing
elements that dont show in your current view. IRender nXt has no way of culling
those objects otherwise, and will waste time running calculations.

Look out! Its easy to forget that object behind the station point may still
be visible in a particular viewin a mirror. Check all the angles before
deleting absolutely everything. Also, if you delete an exterior wall or
roof/ceiling, it will in fact let the light in, which will also mess up your
rendering.


Rendering a View

Lets take our file from the Chocolate Caf and see how well it renders, without
any modification or enhancement. Just click the green Go button on the
IRender nXt toolbar. A render window should show up shortly, and youll see the
image slowly develop from a rough view to a more refined rendering. This wont
be a high resolution image by any extent, but should give you some idea if your
lighting and materials are workingwasnt that easy? Once the rendering is
done, you can click the Save button, and specify a file name and locationbut
youll probably want to spruce things up a little before a producing a
presentation-quality image.


Advanced Rendering Settings

It can be so easy to get that basic rendering from your model, but so hard to
get a perfect photo-realistic image. The first step is upping the size and quality
level of the render window. Of course theres a relationship between image size,
quality level, and file size, just as in Revit: the more of the first two you have, the
bigger the last one will be.

Big Picture: Consider how you plan to display the imageprinting will
always take more pixels per inch than web-, screen-, or projector-based
images. Use BMP format rather than JPEG, as this preserves more of the
rendering.

Configuring IRender nXt for High-Quality Images
1. Open your model and choose Save As from the pull-down menu. Name
the new one Copy for Rendering or something clever like that, so you
dont accidentally mess up the original.
2. Choose the scene or view youd like to render.
3. Click on the Options button to configure for a test rendering.
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Figure 14.2 IRender nXt Setup options

4. Choose settings based partly on how confident you are of the model
settings, and how much time you have.
5. Check on the Lighting tab to make sure youre set up for an interior
rendering.

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Figure 14.3 The Lights tab

6. The AccuRender settings are under the Special tab, and look the same as
in Revit.
7. Set options for edge lines, blurriness, and number of bounces, and click
OK when youre feeling composed.
8. Click the green Render button.
9. A preview window will pop up with a quick, sloppy rendering. Click the
green Render button again to continue.
10. IRender nXt will trace up the screen over and over again until the
rendering is complete, just like in Revit.

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Figure 14.4 The render window after completion

11. Once the image has rendered, click the Tone Operatorit looks the same
as the Adjust dialog box for a Revit rendering. Adjust brightness, contrast,
and indirect lighting to taste.
12. Save the rendered image to your diskJPEG and PNG are the only formats
available.

These rendered views are not connected with the original model, and once
you close the IRender nXt window, youll lose an unsaved rendering. IRender nXt
can also perform a batch render, where all of your scenes can be rendered
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and saved at once. This will certainly take a while, but it will run automatically, so
start it on a Friday.

Look out! So it didnt work for you, did it? If you got an error message like,
out of memory, try this: make sure youre working on a COPY of your
project. In that copy, delete everything that doesnt show up in your view
(leave things that show up in the mirror, though). Purge the drawing
again. You could even try restarting your computer at this pointa good
idea if youve been running Revit and SketchUp and Photoshop Elements
and AIM and watching videos on YouTube all at the same time. Anyway,
try rendering again, and it should work.


Lamp Components

Custom lamps components can create some very sophisticated lighting designs
because they give such realistic optical control. Each lamp (a light bulb, in
common parlance) is assigned an intensity in Watts or Lumens and a color. Spots
can have specific beam spreads and can be aimed at geometric locations in
the model.

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Figure 14.5 The create Light Fixtures dialog box

These lamps are useful in a variety of ways, such as if youre trying some tricky
casework or museum type lighting. Insert a lamp inside the component you
need to have lighting, and all instances will be functional. This is a good way to
fix a luminaire thats not rendering as a light fixture within IRender nXt. Good
lighting design in general requires a sophisticated knowledge of lighting
technology, and so does modeling it in SketchUp.
Traditional light fixtures (luminaires) can be created also, using a standard
kit of parts. The light source in each can be customized, just like the lamps
above.
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Figure 14.6 Creating a table lamp

You can really have some fun here; although anything custom will be easier to
just model on your own. Ok, so its not high design, but its fun. And the lamps do
work nicely in the rendered view.
Once inserted into your model, a lamp component can be modified and
aimed in place. Right-click on the lamp and choose IRender:Aim Lamp. Your
cursor rubber-bands from the center of the lamp to the center of beamclick on
the location youd like the lamp to focus on. To change the properties of the
lamp, choose IRender: Edit IRender Lamp... All the original settings can be
modified. Luminaire intensity can also be overridden from this menu.


Mirror Components

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Well it couldnt be simpler to create a mirror component, complete with a frame
and everything. Click the Create Mirror tool, and then fill out the dimensions and
other features youd like.
There are some tools for creating special objects that take advantage of
the powerful rendering features. The simplest is the Create Mirror Component
toolthis makes a mirror with a frame of the size you specify.


Figure 14.7 The Create Mirrordialog box

This creates a component, just like any other in SketchUp. It will render as fully
reflective, so be sure you check what parts of your model will be reflected.
Mirrors can add a great sense of depth to a project, and can create some
interesting relationships with elements in different parts of your design.


Reflective and Glowing Materials

To create custom materials of any sort, IRender nXt has some special tools for
editing the materials in the model. Apply pre-set material characteristics such as
plastic or mirror to any texture already in the drawing. Right-click on a materials
youd like to change and choose IRender nXt: Edit material

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Figure 14.8 The Edit Material dialog box

Ive taken one of the brick textures that comes standard with SketchUp and
clicked the Reflective default material. The intensity and sharpness of the
reflections can be controlled with sliders, and the preview image reflects all
changes immediately. The material can be made transparent or even to glow,
although it wont be very bright. For a solid color, or when creating a new
material, click on the Advanced button to access controls for adding a map to
a image file of your choice.
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Figure 14.9 The Textures tab of the Material Editor

Bumps can make for a particularly realistic effect on materials with a
pronounced texture, like concrete or travertine marble. You could also use this
dialog box to create materials of your own invention, so experiment.

Magic Trick: To see how your materials are working, select a bunch of
objects (individual faces or whole components), right-click on them and
choose IRender nXt: Render Selected from the context-sensitive menu. This
will render just those objects based on the current settings.

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Rendering an Exported Revit Model with IRender nXt

If youre having trouble with rendering in Revit, many people turn to SketchUp
for the greater view controls, style filters, and the ability to render materials if
needed. Youll definitely want to save any files youre working on first. Then, to
export your model from Revit, you must be in a 3D viewperspective or
axonometric. Choose File>Export>CAD Formats...
This will save an AutoCAD version of your project, which you can import
into SketchUp and explode to edit. Be sure choose a version of AutoCAD the
SketchUp can handle from the Save as Type drop-down list.

Look out! So your computer crashed, didnt it? Dont panicbut you may
need to simplify the project first to make Revits job easier. Choose
File>Purge Unused Click Check All, and then OK. Depending on how
much junk was in your drawing, this could really speed up export.


Animations

Exporting animations is also a simple operation, although it will tie up your
computer for many hours. Click the Animation tool.

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Figure 14.10 Animation options

These are similar options to the basic SketchUp animation export, although you
can now choose to use Simple, Photometric, or Radiosity calculation methods.
One nice advance is that you can choose which scenes to start and finish on.
You can also set resolution and other goodies to produce a pretty impressive
walkthrough.

Look out! Its critical to evaluate every part of a space that will be in a
movie, to make sure there are no weird corners, random toilet fixtures in
the middle of the floor, or walking through walls. Play the slideshow from
within SketchUp first to checkitll look much jumpier than the final version.
Once you commit to the export, a movie can take overnight, or longer.

IRender nXt can automate exporting multiple rendered still scenes, through the
Export Animation dialog box. Youll have to disable Page Transitions, and be sure
to up the image size as needed. Click on the Browse button to choose a file
name, location and type. This will automate the process, if you need four or five
high-quality images. Be sure to check the Image tab in the Settings dialog box
to define where everything will be saved.
Youll want to test each of the scenes before doing the final renderings,
and its really a bummer when theyre not working properly. Also, this would be
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a good candidate for a lab computer or other machine, as it leaves the
machine unusable for quite a long time.



Online Resources
File used in this chapter, Chocolate cafe rendering.SKP
Examples of students work, IRender nXt.PDF

Term Project Assignments
Render main space of chocolate caf

Exercises and Further Study
View a scale figure through a mirror
Create a custom light fixture, and insert an appropriate light source,
and render
Create and aim angled colored lights for a night-club effect
Render a view from a past project
Export a model from Revit, apply materials, fix lighting, and render a
view

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