IRender For Sketchup

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

Wouldn’t 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 nXt–just apply materials and be sure to have a light source. Options, controls and exporting should look very familiar if you’ve rendered with Revit-the two programs use the same “engine” from AccuRender. Sometimes it’s 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.