Introduction:One of the common mistake in learning VRAY SketchUp is adjusting all the dials at the same time without knowing what the dials are for. If you do this then you are in jeopardy to frustrate yourself. I did! I was overwhelmed with many dials and parameters.. By the way, my name is Nomer Adona, I have been using this software since its beta phase with SketchUp, I believe I am one of the guys who started using it when it was announced. If you want to see how I began with, check thisBlog Entry. Five years ago I ran at many pitfalls, learning was rather slow due to the fact the VRAY SketchUp Manual was not even made, there were no tutorials, and we only rely on asking ASGVIS guys and coppying notes on every experimentation we made. I have written my first tutorial with VRAY Sketchup and posted it at www.cgpinoy. but I felt it's already outdated now and need to be reworked. So in the course of writing this tutorial, I am very mindful with the fears of the new users, the new UI of SketchUp VRAY 1.49.01 and how to easily learn it by tweaking the most important dials.

So to all newbies with Rendering and with VRAY SketchUp this is for you. May God bless this simple series and hopefully it will help you to start rendering.Resources:Download the Free trial of Vray SketchUp 1.49.01HEREDownload the Manual, Installation GuideHEREDownload the Scene we will be usingHERE.This scene is very simple and feel free to use and test it.All textures that I used in this scene are courtesy ofSketchUp Texture. Rosanna Mataloni and yours truly are very committed in giving the best resources when it comes to SketchUp and Vray SketchUp.

Note: I am using Google Sketchup 8 and Vray SketchUp 1.49.01. If you want to follow this step by step, be sure that you have the same software.

Ok let us start!

1. SketchUp File

Here is the old SketchUp file I have use in my previous tutorial. One of the things I dont like with this model are the sharp corners.

2. Rounded Corners

Based on my experience, rounded corners look much better. I usedRound Cornersby Fredo. Be aware that if you opt to use this script, you need to also hae the latestLibfredo.

3. SketchUp Texture

Here is the SketchUp screen grab. Notice that the corners are now rounded and I also applied new materials courtesy ofSketchUp Texture.

4. Effected Override Materials

For the glass, you can load the VRAY clear glass material. This material is one of the materials you can find in the standard VRAY SU installation.

If you want the material not to be effected by the Override material, you need to UNTICK the box "Effected by Override material. By doing this, all the materials will be affected by the override except our clear_glass material.

Note: If the material has been highlighted in the Vray material editor, the selected material will be the same material selected in the SKetchup Material tab. If you want to apply quickly, refrain from applying the material in VRAY Material Editor (it's very slow), rather apply the material using paint bucket tool of SketchUp. It is faster.

5. Now go to the VRAY Options and be sure the Default setting is loaded. If not just click the Load Defaults icon.

6. Clay Render...

For me, I always start my rendering using clay render. Vray will render the scene using the assigned override material color. There are several benefits in using clay render; faster and you can see the blotches easily. I also use this in detecting possible VRAY crashes. (This matter won't be tackled here.)

To do clay render, open the VRAY Options and click the Global Switches tab. Tick Override materials. You can also change the Override material color if you want.

Note: A while ago we assigned the clear-glass material not to b effected by override material. It means that Vray will override all the materials with the chosen material color except the "clear-glass" material.

Here is the render. The override color was applied except the clear glass applied to the glazing of our window. If we did not untick the box "Effected by Override material", the whole thing will be black because the glazing is not transparent.

You may realize that the sun is not coming inside the room. Let us address this in the next step.

7. Affect Shadows:

In order for the shadow to showed and pass the glazed material, we need to tick "Affect shadow", If you want the fog color to affect the light cast, then tick "Affect Alpha".

Here is the render, the shadow is now showing. Notice the edges of the shadow they are really sharp.

8. Soft Shadows

Soft shadows appear more realistic than sharp shadows. In order to do that let us go to the Environment Tab. Click the "M" on the left of GI color.

Once the "M" was clicked, another tab will appear. Notice in default setting, "Text sky" is loaded. In order to achieve soft shadow, we need to increase the size of the Sun.. Change the Sun size from 1.0 (default) to 6.0. I always use between 2.5-3.5. But in this tutorial let us use 6.0 to see the effect. To achieve much smoother shadow, you need to increased the Subdiision multiplier. I put 16 in this tutorial.

Here is the render, notice the shadow is softer, but take note, the rendering time also increased.

9. Additional Vray Rectangular light

Ifeel the light entering the room is not enough, some increased the sun intensity. But I wont suggest that because increasing it usually causes some burn highlights. Instead, I recommend adding additional "invisible" Vray Rectangular light outside the window.

Click the Vray Rectangular light icon.

Create a rectangular face, same size as the window, then move this face around 10-15 cm from the window. If you are using one sided, be sure the positive side is facing the interior. Now let put the intensity at 30 and tick invisible. The light will have an effect into the interior but hidden in the camera.

Here is the render Vray rectangular light + sunlight. Notice that more light penetrated the scene, less blotches specially in the ceiling and walls. But notice once, we introduce the Vray rectangular lights we can see some grains and noises. We will address this in the next step.

Note: To avoid blotches, use the technique of adding invisible Vray rectangular lights.

9. Correcting Noise.

Now go to the Image Sampler tab, the default IS is "Adaptive DMC". Now look at the Color Treshold parameter. Change the default 0.01 to 0.005.

Here is the render. Be mindful that the noise was lessen, but the downside was the rendering time.

Here is a much better setting (Color Threshold of 0.001) but again the rendering time is much much longer.

Let us see the render without overriding the material. That's it for this segment.Basic Vray Sketchup Tutorial Series 2Hello! Here is Nomeradona again. I want to welcome you with my second segment of this Basic VRAY SketchUp Tutorial Series. In case you missed the first part you can access itHERE

Introduction:

In years of visualization, there are many workflow that helped me in managing my scenes and saving rendering time. Once I am satisfied with lighting, I don't immediately jump with material settings. I normally do this next important part; "Saving my Irradiance and Light Cache maps.

Step 1: Low settings for other settings except for my primary and secondary engines.

The first step is bringing down all the other settings except for the primary and secondary engines. First I enable (ticked) the "Override Materials" in the Global Switches except the glass material. (see the first segment of this series how I do this.)

The image sampler.

This is the single parameter that can make your render quick and absolutely days if you want. In this tab, I either use Adaptive Subdivision (when less blurry materials, DOF and soft shadows). I maintain the Min-rate at -1 and further bring down the Max Rate to -2 or even -3. Then the anti-aliasing filter is not enable (unticked).

I also use Adaptive DMC for my image sampler (if the scene has many soft shadow, blurry reflections and DOF). I maintain the Min Subdivision to 1 while the Max subdivision is 2. This is the one I will use in this tutorial since I have soft shadow (sun).

The outputI usually use even lower than 640 x 480, but for this tutorial I will make it 640x480px

Now for the Indirect Illumination I make my setting high with Ambient Occlusion on. Primary engine is IR, while the Secondary engine is LC.

Irradiance Map setting is shown below.

Light Cache setting has shown below. Subdivision is 1500 ( you can even use 2000). The rest is default.

Here is the render. Actually I don't have to wait for the rendering stage. I normally stop once the LC and IR passes were done.

Step 2: Saving the IR and LC Maps.

In order to save the IR and LC Maps, all you have to do is to scroll down the current map section of IR and LC engines. Click "Save".

Save the current Irradiance Map in the desired folder. Name the map.

Likewise, scroll down the LC engine and look at the current map. Save it. You will also notice that the samples were written together with the size of the map. It is advisable that once you don't need them anymore, erase them to free space to your hard drive.

Save the current Light Cache in the desired folder. Name the map.

Step 3: Reloading the IR and LC saved maps.

This time scroll down again the mode. Go to the Mode section and use the down arrow. This time select "From File". Click the small box on the File and browse the previous saved maps. Below is the screen grab for the IR Map.

Ir map is loaded.

Likewise for the Light Cache, go to the Mode section and use the down arrow. Select "From File". Click the small box on the File section and browse the previous saved maps. Below is the screen grab for the LC Map.

LC map reloaded

Step 4: Re-adjusting the parameters (high quality setting).

Global Switches. Untick the Override materials.

Image Sampler..

Option 1: Adaptive DMC. Increased the Max Subdivision to 32, you can make it up to 99, but I think that is too much. Color Threshold is lowered to 0.003 (this will produce a very smooth rendering. You can make it 0.002 or 0.001 but I think its not necessary. For faster rendering you can even make it to 0.005. Anti-aliasing is enabled. I normally choose Catmull Rom (for me the most sharp AA).

Option 2: You can also use Adaptive Subdivision. Raise between 2-4. But I think this is slower.

Output. You can increase your output now. For this tutorial I will use the Viewport size.

Saved the Visopt if you want. Hit Render...

Here is the render.

Basic VRAY SketchUp Tutorial Series 3The next segment of this Basic VRAY SketchUp tutorial focuses in introducing Nomeradona's approach with material. This is just the beginning overview. There will be more sub-topics coming soon.

If you missed the previous segment be sure to read them first.

Basic VRAY SketchUp Tutorial Series 1Basic VRAY SketchUp Tutorial Series 2

Ok let's start!

1. The VRAY Material Editor

The icon for the material editor is the firs one "M".

2. Adding keyboard shortcutI love putting my shortcuts in SketchUp. I also assigned "m" for my VRAY material editor. If you want to create your own keyboard shortcuts, go to system preference. (see image below). This is a very good time saver. Once the shortcut has been assigned, you can automatically open the VRAY Material editor using the keyboard shortcut (in my case, I assigned "m").

Creating New VRAY Standard Material

If you apply the material in SketchUp, VRAY will automatically create a VRAY material. You can also create and load vismat materials. In this segment let me concentrate in doing a new "standard" material (other materials will be tackled in other tutorials). To create a VRAY Standard material, all you need is to highlight "Scene Material" thenright click mouse(another tab will appear). Highlight create and again you will have 5 different types of materials (angle blend, SKp two sided, standard, toon and two sided). ClickStandard.

Once standard material was clicked, this new material will be created. You will notice Vray will stack in the very last and name it "Default Material". This default material will have three properties (diffuse, options and maps)

3. Renaming your VRAY Material

Renaming material is pretty simple. Highlight the material you want to rename andright click mouse. Click rename material and type the desired name.

Note: Using the same approach, you can save, pack, duplicate, remove, import, apply or even select all objects that use the material.

4. VRAY Layers

Each VRAY MATERIAL does not only have properties, but can have also different layers. Vray layers are like stacks of paper or transparencies on top of each other. This understanding must be noted as early as possible. The reflection layer is like a varnish that you apply on top of the stacks. You can apply as many layers as you wish. In this tutorial, I wont talk about UV and I want to do a separate tutorial just for this subject.

5. Creating VRAY Layers.

To create Vray Layer, you need to highlight the material you want to add layer. Right Mouse click then highlight create layer. Four layer types (emissive, reflection, diffuse and refraction) can be selected.

The Reflection Layer

Refraction Layer

Emisive Layer (self emitting layer material)

6. Removing Layer

To remove layer, all you have to do is to highlight the layer, right click mouse and select Remove Layer.

You can also add as many layers as you want. For advance materials, usually you can play with two different reflection materials, or two different diffuse materials. You can also change the position of this layer by moving the layer above or below the stacks.

7. Adding/loading MapsOnce you see a small"m"in any box, this indicates that you can load a texture map here. If a capital"M"is showing in this box, this means a texture map of any type is applied. To apply or load a texture map, simply click the small 'm'. In the particular example below, I clicked the "m" in the diffuse layer. Once clicked, a new tab will appear. The small square window is the preview window. This is a very useful tool to preview the material. Under it is a small scroll window where you can load the different texture map types. On the right is the property window that display the different properties that can affect this texture map.

8. Texture Map TypesThere are different map types that you can load here: TexAColor, TexBitmap, Texblend etc. Let us use the the common one the "TexBitmap".

Note: All other Map types are procedural maps except the TexBitmap

9. Texture Bitmap Properties

Each texture bitmaps have different properties. Below is the Window properties of Texbitmap.

10. Loading Bitmap FileTo load bitmap file, click the small box on the right of File. (see image below).

Browse the location of the file you want to load and click open.

11. Applying Vray MaterialAlthough you can apply the material using the VRAY Material Editor, I will not advise this especially with high poly-models - its very very slow. To apply the material, use the native SketchUp paint bucket .

Note: The highlighted material in VRAY material is the same material selected in the Native Sketchup Material Editor once paint bucket is selected.

To apply the material, simply select the faces you want to apply the material.

In the image below the material has been applied. Notice that tiling (repeat of texture) is so obvious. I purpose applied a non-seamless material so as to help you in the very beginning how to manage your bitmap texture.

12. Nomeradona's strategy with SketchUp Materials.

The first thing that one must remember is the texture file size. Using hi-res photos in VRAY SU is a no-no with me, because of two main reasons: I notice that they need much memory, which actually you should allocate during rendering and second I notice that parsing and rendering time is a bit longer.

My first step is finding the balance. I usually re-size my texture to 520px width using Photoshop. You might asked me but how about printing big image.. Printing big image is another issue but you can always use other software on this matter.

The second thing is making the texture seamless in order to avoid obvious tiling.There are lots of software design in creating seamless texture. My favorite is Pixplant and Crazybump. You can also use Photoshop using this quick tutorial.

Step 1: Load the texture

Step 2: Use filter/other/offset

Below is the effect of offset tool. It will shift the edges of original texture both vertically and horizontally.

Step 3: Use Patch tool.

Select the seamed area and drag it to another area.

Step 4: Use Clone stamp tool.

You can also use the clone stamp tool by taking some sample and stamping in on the areas you need to correct.

below shows the corrected texture, the obvious line is gone.

I reloaded the corrected texture in the File tab.

Here is the corrected texture. Tiling is not obvious anymore.

Step 5: Adjusting the texture UVI normally adjust my texture UV using the native editing of Paint bucket.

13: Region Render.

Anothergood addition with VRAY is the region render. You don't have to render the whole image. I normally use the region render to render the area I want to see. During this stage, I also use the save maps (see Basic VRAY SketchUp tutorial No.2). Click the region render icon and drag to the area you want to render. Then hit render.

14. Mirror Material

The screen grab below shows the finished render. But wait what happen to the wood material we applied on the table. This one looks like mirror.

Well it's look like a mirror because in the Reflection Layer, there is no map loaded. Notice the 'm'.Be aware that if there is no Map type loaded in the reflection layer, VRAY will read the reflection as 100% reflective. So any material you put in the diffuse layer, the reflection layer will disregard it.

15. Fresnel Map Type in the reflectionlayer

Now let us load fresnel map in the reflection layer. Click the 'm' box beside reflection. Under the map type select the TexFresnel.

Here is the TexFresnel properties window. For the moment click ok.

Here is the finished render using the render region. Ohh it looks like plastic.

16. Blurry ReflectionIn order to create blurry reflection, we need to lower both highlight and reflection glossiness to 0.85 and adjust the Subdivision to 16.

Here is the finished render using the render region.

Bonus...

Download the materials I did. We will use these later.

Diffuse map

Displacement/bump map

Specular map.

Finished render during this stage

PART 1: Adjusting the Texture Position

Step1: Selecting the texture.

You can select the texture in two ways. The first one is using the Vray Material Editor and the second one is using the native Sketchup Material editor. Use the eyedropper icon and point the material you want to edit. In this case, I choose the wallpaper 2 (see screen grab below)

Once the texture is selected, you will see in the Vray Material Editor that this material is selected and highlighted. Any material that you created in SketchUp from Vray SketchUp 1.33 up, will have VRAY material automatically.

Step 2: Adding bump map.

Let us add Bump map. Go to the Maps tab, click the small "m" to the right.

Once clicked, this new tab will appear. Under Map type, select "Texbitmap". Go to Bitmap Buffer, click the small box on the right of the File. Load your Bump Map.

Here is the Bumpmap that we will be using for this tutorial.

When we apply a different bump map with different pattern from diffuse map, we won't have any idea how the bump map is pplied. In the below screen grab only the diffuse map shows, we wont have any idea how will be the effect of the wooden weave bump map that we applied. To control the UV position and scale of the bump map we will go to the next step.

Step 3: Adjusting the position and scale of the Bump map.

First of all, I would like to recognize Fernando Rentas, I owed this one from him.

We can adjust the scale and position of bumpmaps or any other maps like displacement, reflection etc. by creating a proxy diffuse map and placing it on the upper stack. We will load the same material we used in the bumpmap in this proxy diffuse material. We will make the proxy diffuse map as transparent so as to have no effect to our original diffuse map. Here is how to do it.

a. Create second diffuse layer

b. You can rename this second diffuse layer (in my case Diffuse_UV MAP), and move it on the upper stack. Load the same bump map on the second diffuse map.

The 2nd Diffuse map shows up in the screen grab, what happen to the Diffuse 1 ? Well its under this second diffuse material that we put on the top layer. Don't worry we will just use this to adjust the position and scale of the bump map.In the screen grab below, the bump map scale is showing and its too small to see.

c. Adjust the Diffuse proxy map.To adjust the scale, we always advise you to use the Sketchup Native material editor. It's, exact, easier, faster and the effect can be seen immediately in real-time.

Below, I entered 200x 200.. The image scale has been adjusted in real time.

d. Adjusting the Color Transparency.Letus now adjust the transparency of the diffuse proxy map. You can do this quickly by putting white color to the color swatch. But the problem, you will end up on making the wall transparent also. The best way to do it is by assigning anA color mapwith 'white' hue. See image below.

Here is the render. We can see the effect of the bump map to the wall. We also managed to adjust the scale of the bump map.

PART 2: Creating Decal MaterialNext we will create a decal material and we will adjust the scale and position of this material. Let use the mirror to do this. Use the eyedropper of the Native SketchUp Material Editor like in Step1 and select the mirror material. Below shows the highlighted mirror material

Let us create reflection Layer.

Since we did not put any map to the reflection layer, this suggest that the material is 100% reflective (like mirror material).

Here is the render. See the effect of the mirror material

Creating the Decal Map

Let us first create the decal map using Photoshop. In Photoshop, I quickly added some texts.

Be sure the background is transparent. Save it in png format.

Now let us follow what we have done in tutorial 3. Move the Diffuse layer on top of the Reflection Layer. Load in the diffuse layer the decal map that we have done in Photoshop.

Below shows the effect of the diffuse map to the mirror. It's repeating many times. This time we will adjust the texture position and scale.

Again by using the Native Sketchup Material editor adust the scale.

Adjust also the position by right clicking the mouse.

You can also use the pins (by unfixing them) in adjusting both the scale and position. Ok I'm satisfied with this.

Now, this is the most important in decal. Be sure to click 'Use color texture as transparency".

Here is the final render. Notice the effect of decal to the mirror.