newbie alert!!

[bonzo65]

ok...new kid in town (please take it easy!)

I make a living (just!) out of designing/visualising interiors and trade show stands and have been using FormZ for nearly 10 years now. I've been getting increasingly frustrated with the 'average' rendering capabilities of 'Z' when compared to many of the other rendering programs out there. I've recently begun to learn SketchUp and have been blown away by some of the work I have seen here - is everything in the gallery really produced using SU and V-Ray? (and post Photoshop). If it is then I feel this may well be the most cost effective route to get the quality of image I'd like.

I know they're awkward questions to answer (like how long's a piece of string?!) but how does the learning curve of SU and V-Ray compare to other apps? what are the rendering times like? I have a G5 dual 2GHz at the moment - would I struggle?

any advice would be massively appreciated ;D

thanks

steve

[dcauldwell_cg]

Re: newbie alert!!

Hi steve

My experience is that sketchup is very quick to learn, and a joy to use.
Vray is powerful and adaptable and therefore can be tricky to get into, and still a bit buggy.
We are anticipating that some, if not all, of the bugs will be fixed in the latest update due out about now.
To start with, if you stick with 'standard' settings for your scenes, then you won't find it too difficult - but there is a lot to learn - just read the posts!
Your machine sounds just fine.
Render times are a function of the model, texture and lighting complexity. Personnally if it takes more than a couple of hours to render something, then I consider it a failure!
(and yes, we are all using sketchup+vray)

Hope this helps.

David

[jond_cg]

Re: newbie alert!!

I must say it has been a delight learning sketchup this year- i have used Cinema 4D previously - top-end-market rendering software, but for speed and flexibility sketchup/vray have been very effective with its results and well worth the purchase!
I am working in an architects in central B'ham, since using Sketchup and vray, the development and presentation material has been very effective and impressed many colleages.
i still have so much to learn but what i have learnt over 5 months has got me far in terms of project development. Once you read thoroughly through the manual- setting your self agood sized project - maybe 3 days worth of work you could easily pickup the basics!!
good luck!

[stefanq]

Re: newbie alert!!

Steve, first of all I should tell you that I'm just a newbie, not only with v-ray, but with all that 3d "universe" , and all I can say is that before sketchup and v-ray marriage, I was a sad man! SketchUp it's simple, easy to learn, and very accurate (I work in millimeters),and v-ray ... it's v-ray , and your work should be limited just by your creativity. I'm not a PS user :-[ so, I try to achieve " the well done job" only with this two great tools. At this moment, I am focus about illumination in v-ray, witch is responsible with all the good and bad things in that rendering program. What I understand and I want to tell you, is that v-ray it's a "ray-tracer" so the lightning it's very important. After you get familiar with v-ray, you should be able to get some good reference about lightning techniques, if I may, I recommend to you "V-RAY LIGHTING TECHNIQUES WITH CHRISTOPHER NICHOLS"
I hope I make you at least curious, and if I did, I wish you GOOD LUCK! And don't worry, David will be here for you, for all your questions ;D ....Hello David Sir!!...
Sorry for my English, I'm from Romania.

Stefan

[bonzo65]

Re: newbie alert!!

cheers guys - thanks for the encouragement

this is definitely one I'll be trying to get to grips with. With all the different choices/combinations out there it can be difficult to decide which option to invest time and money into. Based on the fact I already have SU pro, can get V-Ray on a free trial and the impressive quality/detail/range of styles available from within one app, this certainly seems the way to go.

just one question - does anyone know if V-Ray is compatible with pre-intel macs? (but using Leopard)

thanks again