Rendering in SketchUp: From Modeling to Presentation for Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design

General Considerations

When you’re working with materials, keep the following considerations in mind. They are discussed further in the next several chapters and are the foremost factors affecting materials.

Textures and the Iterative Process

A big part of the draft iterative process is assessing how materials will appear once rendered. You will end up adjusting assigned IRP texture values or swapping out materials when you’re running drafts. It’s important to keep the editing process dynamic and ensure that you do not keep textures that do not achieve good results.

Consider Scale

When first applied to surfaces, most textures will require scaling, usually adjusted to appear larger (Fig. 6.15). SketchUp’s initial settings for a texture’s size in the Paint Bucket menu are set to a low value. This causes them look small and inaccurate.

Fig. 6.15: The image on the left shows the initial textures applied to surfaces. They appear small or out of scale. On the right, the textures are scaled upward, providing a more appropriate appearance.

Obtain Multiple Textures

When you’re researching and downloading textures, obtain multiple versions of the same texture when possible. This will allow you to swap out a texture when it looks off, without limiting your results (Fig. 6.16).

Fig. 6.16: Multiple versions of the same texture

You will need to swap an applied texture with another version ...