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

General Simulated Light Strategies

This section reviews some general strategies for rendering with simulated lighting. The goal is to achieve faster and more efficient renderings.

Exposure

The Light Exposure settings found in all of the IRP lighting menus are very important when you’re working with simulated lighting. You will need to increase or decrease the exposure during the iterative rendering process to achieve the best results from the placed simulated lightings. There is no set value that can define the best settings. Each scene will contain a differing number of lights and light types, and will have lights placed in different positions.

Before adding or removing lights, try to adjust the exposure settings first to see if this improves the lighting in the scene. If the scene appears overlay bright, decrease the exposure. Conversely, if a scene appears too dark, increase the exposure to bring out more of the model detail. These settings are reviewed in the IRP chapters.

Placing Lights Realistically

Add the light sources as you would in the real world (Fig. 24.29, Fig. 24.30). Place a light emitter wherever a light might be needed in a room, interior scene, or exterior scene (Fig. 24.31, Fig. 24.32). These light sources will usually be associated with some sort of fixture: ceiling light, wall lights, lamps, bulbs, florescent lights, etc. For most models, these fixtures are part of the design, so placing the light sources will depend on the amount and locations of model features ...