Simple questions about rendering and Skindigo

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gorgon
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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:37 pm

Simple questions about rendering and Skindigo

Post by gorgon » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:37 pm

Hi.
Thanks for making the Skindigo exporter (cool name too) and of course Indigo.

I have some probably overly simple questions (some as much about rendering in general as about indigo)

I'm using versions 6 of Indigo and Skindigo on xp and SU 5.

1. Why when setting up the render does the camera change: it doesn't follow the sketchup "page" but 'pops' out to a much less acute angle? Is there a way around this? I've treid playing with the settings iwthout any luck.

2. sizing the render image - is there a way to get indigo to lock to the screen size (without the grey on the sides) I'm trying to match a SU output' with an Indigo render so these need to be the same. I tried sizing it as 0 (read somewhere) but this failed.

3. How do you render an **alpha** layer (not sure of the terminology here) and separate RGB

4. What are good settings to get glass looking good, mine looks dull and flat at the moment.

5. Is there a way to assign an object no shadow? I need to give some of the glass something to reflect (trees) but don't want the trees casting shadows

I also have questions about lights but that can wait...
Thanks in advance
Last edited by gorgon on Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Richard
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:50 am

Post by Richard » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:50 pm

Mate the camera issue is covered in another thread. I have to agree with both Maxwell and Indigo the inability at present to match SU output is a shame.

By the way in ref to your question 3 the terms you might be suggesting are I would suggest Alpha (not Gamma) meaning an B/W image to separate your background. And Material ID image to allow photo editing of your individual materials? This is where the shame is that SU and Indigo cameras don't match - SU could then be used to create images which could easily be used to mask in PS. Here your tree reflection issue could well be solved via an image overlay in the windows.

gorgon
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:37 pm

Post by gorgon » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:23 pm

Hi Richard (sorry about the delay in replying to your mail)

I am a dofus, alpha chanel not gamma! :oops: :lol:

So you can't match the cameras? Really? There must be a workaround?
Here your tree reflection issue could well be solved via an image overlay in the windows.
What do you mean, do this in photoshop? The glass renders flat grey at the moment as there is nothing to reflect...

I've just realised a way of making an masking layer (alpha chanel-like) which is to render using the view//rendering//monochrome setting and asign that material a colour, say black then you would get a solid render for all the materials, right?

EDIT
just read the Tutorial - How to set up your camera for rendering
http://www2.indigorenderer.com/joomla/f ... p+tutorial
which claims that "your render output should match exactly what you see in Sketchup". But also explains that "For some reason (possibly a bug) Sketchup may zoom in or out after setting the aspect ratio."

gorgon
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:37 pm

Post by gorgon » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:41 pm

I found an answer to this quetion
"For some reason (possibly a bug) Sketchup may zoom in or out after setting the aspect ratio."

Go to file//export//2dgraphic then click options, size the image to the size you want the indigo render, for me 3000pixels wide. Then note the other dimension for me 1209. Then click cancel.
Now go to skindigo and set up the render to exactly this size, my image was 3000x1209. I found that doing it like this meant the camera didn't zoom in and also didn't leave grey marks behind later.

still looking for good glass settings... anyone...?

crc
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:30 am
Location: Portland, Oregon

Post by crc » Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:31 am

Hi Gorgon,
as far as glass goes, there are numerous threads about it, and Whaat has some really nice presets built into the exporter, so maybe you should use the one marked "glass", just a thought :wink:

gorgon
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:37 pm

Post by gorgon » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:52 pm

Hi crc thanks for the reply
can you point me in the direction of these other threads I can't find them.

I have been using Whaat's presets but was wondering if there was any "special" technique. Someone on another forum sugested switching off "bidirectional" (whatever that means) for example...

crc
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:30 am
Location: Portland, Oregon

Post by crc » Fri Apr 27, 2007 4:29 am

I learn the most from reading the other forums, mostly the General Indigo Stuff forum. This forum is mostly for the sketchup plugin. To learn more about rendering in general, those other forums are the place to be, and just load up some simple shapes and experiment! :D

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Whaat
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Post by Whaat » Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:19 am

gorgon wrote: I've just realised a way of making an masking layer (alpha chanel-like) which is to render using the view//rendering//monochrome setting and asign that material a colour, say black then you would get a solid render for all the materials, right?
That's a cool idea! Have you tried that yet? If you use a white background color to render and set your render settings to "Background", then use monochrome mode to render with all black materials, you should get a perfect alpha mask.

gorgon
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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:37 pm

Post by gorgon » Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:42 am

Well yes by mistake. I was trying a wood finish but it went all black, I stopped after a few seconds but could see the potential...

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