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

Lighting Settings

The following section details settings for different light types. It focuses on Candela strengths and Exposure settings. These settings work in tandem to achieve the desired output image.

Exposure

In order to achieve good rendering results for simulated lighting, you’ll need to adjust the Exposure setting (under Lighting). For most simulated lighting renderings, Exposure will range from +1 to +7. Determining the value is one of your most important tasks during the draft-to-final iterative process.

Fig. 29.16: Exposure setting in the Shaderlight Render Settings menu

However, the Exposure setting is easy to work with: you can adjust it up or down and it will update the image automatically without restarting the rendering process. You can do this even after the render is complete. This makes it easy to assess the amount of exposure needed for an image prior to setting the final render.

The exposure dynamic update works only if Update is set to Auto. Once Quality is set between 70 and 100 percent (typical for final renderings), Update will change to Tile mode and prevent all dynamic rendering/updating, including exposure.

As with Physical Sky renderings, do not use Auto Exposure. You will need to set the exposure manually (Fig. 29.16).

Candela Strength and Exposure

You’ll need to perform a balancing act with the values between Candela and Exposure. Each light type ...