Creating Virtual Concept Models in SketchUp - Google SketchUp Workshop: Modeling, Visualizing, and Illustrating - page 16

Stage 4: Finishing Touches
Objectives : Work on the render to produce the final image.
Data : Images from Artlantis and SketchUp.
Tools : SketchUp and Photoshop.
To be efficient at this stage, you need to appreciate the contribution that each
program makes to the final render and to use that program only within its
field of application.
After several minutes of setting up and a very short render time, the “raw”
render produced by Artlantis was somewhat lifeless, but contained enough
definition in the material and lighting effects to enable us to produce our
final image.
It would have been possible to rework the lighting intensity or the color
of the Sun directly within Artlantis and then to render again to produce an
image more in line with what we wanted. However, this process can take
time, since you are not always certain of the results that you will obtain
from any given render. Luckily, we were able to use Photoshop to achieve
the desired results within a relatively short space of time, all the while
conserving flexibility, mainly by using the Levels, Curves, and Color Balance
commands.
Similarly, the silhouettes of people that give life and a sense of scale to
the scene can also be added in Photoshop, using classic 2D cutouts.
However, it is sometimes difficult to judge the scale of each individual
silhouette within a perspective, and so, in order to save time, these
cutouts can be placed in the SketchUp file itself, simply by dragging and
dropping them from the Component library, but placing them on their
own layer. This allows the figures to be exported independently and
later composited in Photoshop. This was the route that we chose,
since we wanted an “abstract” silhouette effect, without shadows or
reflections.
Tip
You need to analyze all the constituent elements of the model in the same
way as the 2D silhouettes. For instance, you can place vegetation into the
model as 3D objects. With trees and shrubs especially, this will allow you
to obtain very precise shadows. Unfortunately, the geometric complexity
entailed by such models brings with it a considerable hike in render
time and file size in SketchUp. Therefore, it is often preferable to quickly
composite masked photos of trees directly within your image-editing
software.