Stand alone Vray for Sketchup

[waldob]

Hi Team - I think it would be really good if there is a standalone(maybe there is?) Vray render engine where you can sunc your skecthup files too or import/update files. I have been using Sketchup since 2007 and when I started using Vray 6 years ago my experience has been that Sk struggles to handle complex models and when you want to benefit from interactive rendering start to run into issues and crashes. Sk is a great program but it has limitations. Where Maya, 3DMax ect has a smooth workflow beacaue the are really robust under the hood.

Similar to D5 Render and Lumion where you import Sk models I find the work flow is much faster and smooth. Because I'm not rendering within SK. Where many of my issues happen.

If it is a small basic project - it works well. But generally this is not my experience.

Hope this makes sense. A stand alone Vray render engine that can synchronize Sk files with the software.

Thanks!

[Peter.Chaushev]

There are numerous tips you can apply to lower the load on the SketchUp viewport, such as using Layers/Tags, disabling Shadows, etc.
In this regard, V-Ray Proxies are the main tool we can offer to help you reduce viewport load. Proxy Scenes and Meshes allow substituting extremely heavy components with significantly lighter preview objects while retaining the full detail at render time.

Aside from that, the upcoming Lavina may partially suit your needs. It can be fed any project that is exported as a .vrscene file.
For more info, please visit https://www.chaosgroup.com/lavina
If you are interested, be sure to give it a try! The product is currently in public beta.

Kind regards,
Peter

[waldob]

Hi Peter - thank you for your reply. I do use layers/Tags, disabling shadows and delete any geometry that is not showing in die scenes for rendering. Usually I get Revit export files that are between 100 -600mb in size when working in SK. I do try to clean-up the file as much as I can but normally it is a large model/buildings. Also when I start to add furniture and fittings/ decorating the file easily grow with another 200mb.

I will have to look at using more proxies...

I'm aware of Lavina and I have been following its progress. It has some limitations but I agree this is a very good tool to use outside of Skecthup!

I will install the beta when I get my new PC soon. I do not have a RTX GPU card. I only have a GeForce 1080 Ti. Lavina does not work on this??

Still like the idea of standalone Vray app. But hopefully Lavina will become this platform to render in

Thank you.
Waldo

[Peter.Chaushev]

You could run Lavina with an 1080Ti as it has DXR real-time RT support, however, performance will be sub-optimal compared to an RTX graphics card.