Making Projects More Photo Realistic?

[buildinthevoid]

Hey so I’m trying to find a way to make my projects look as photo realistic as possible. Ray tracings improve my projects a lot, but I was wondering if there are any other techniques or compatible softwares with Chief Architect to enhance how a project looks in terms of realism?

[johnny]

6 minutes ago, buildinthevoid said:

Hey so I’m trying to find a way to make my projects look as photo realistic as possible. Ray tracings improve my projects a lot, but I was wondering if there are any other techniques or compatible softwares with Chief Architect to enhance how a project looks in terms of realism?

Do a search on PBR inside Chief....if you're talking actual photo grade where you can't tell the difference of a real photo vs rendering you will need to supplement with 3rd party software.

 

Lumion or Twinmotion

 

Ultra real = VRay

[buildinthevoid]

Gotcha. Would I be able to import a project from Chief Architect to any of these softwares and enhance them from there?

[Lakeside-E]

1 hour ago, buildinthevoid said:

Gotcha. Would I be able to import a project from Chief Architect to any of these softwares and enhance them from there?

yes

[Kbird1]

On 12/3/2020 at 6:31 PM, buildinthevoid said:

Gotcha. Would I be able to import a project from Chief Architect to any of these softwares and enhance them from there?

 

X13 will have enhanced PBR RTRT views in the Windows version (only) if you have a Nvidia RTX capable video Card,

but there are also other render Apps like Twinmotion and D5 Render which are free ( or were) but come with the added

complexity of learning another program.

 

Lumion is on of the better paid Renders as Johnny mentioned but still not quite photo-realistic from what I have seen

 

Unreal engine is out there too , but last time I looked it was harder to get files out of Chief for it...though that may have changed?

 

M.

[Seafield]

Best for me is to export from Chief as DAE (no vertex limit as in 3ds), convert to FBX (with FBX converter from AC),

then import into Sketchup (via TRANSMUTR)----and only then render in Vray for photorealistic results.

 

Just learning to put in 3D grass. Next is to start using LAUBWERK to put in trees and bushes.

 

It has taken me a long to figure this pipeline out, but the results from Vray are taking me to the quality of light/rendering I want.

 

Chief geometry is superb to work with. Attached are a couple of draft renders as per time of day in SKP/Vray.

 

 

[Michael_Gia]

How about, design it in Chief, build it, and then take a photo afterwards?  Might be faster?

 

(kidding)

[Seafield]

Yes, I am sure you are right......:)

But seriously, if anyone has a better (faster) way to take a file from Chief into Vray on a Mac

I would be keen to learn how to do so.

[joey_martin]

I have been playing with Twinmotion recently. These are Chief models exported in 3DS format. I have spent just a few hours with TM and this is what I have come up with.

[johnny]

2 hours ago, Seafield said:

Best for me is to export from Chief as DAE (no vertex limit as in 3ds), convert to FBX (with FBX converter from AC),

then import into Sketchup (via TRANSMUTR)----and only then render in Vray for photorealistic results.

 

Just learning to put in 3D grass. Next is to start using LAUBWERK to put in trees and bushes.

 

It has taken me a long to figure this pipeline out, but the results from Vray are taking me to the quality of light/rendering I want.

 

Chief geometry is superb to work with. Attached are a couple of draft renders as per time of day in SKP/Vray.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm curious why you're trying to get to an FBX file in your process?  You can export from Chief to Collada (as you do now) and then import that right into Sketchup and its a pretty clean file without the 3DS issues.  I do wish Chief exported FBX directly for other reasons, but unless you plan to use the file in Unreal Engine or other gaming software I don't see the point of adding that step....but i'd love to hear your reason.  Perhaps there is some other advantage I'm not aware of.

 

Another thing i'm trying is using Vray with Blender which I find is WAY WAY better to organically shape terrains.  Not only that but Blender is free and very robust.

[Seafield]

I have never been able to take a Collada file directly into Sketchup with materials attached correctly to the geometry

(as per image). 

However, when I translate the collada file to fbx, it attaches the materials. It embeds media properly.

But the reason for fbx is to be able to use Transmutr. It brings my model cleanly into SKP. Equally important, it can make any

model I bring in as a proxy for Vray before I open it up. I have not tried it just yet, but the potential to import a whole slew of houses or trees, etc. as proxies

(and reduce file size) so as to not grind SKP to a halt is something I want to be able to do, for sure.

You are absolutely right about using Vray in Blender. Collada into Blender works very well, of course. So that could be the ideal solution, but in truth,

I am reasonably comfortable in SKP and just do not have the heart to learn one more program right now.

 

BTW, Vray 5 for Sketchup on a PC can produce real-time renderings. Unfortunately, it is not yet available for a Mac (nor sure when).

[Rich_Winsor]

On 12/5/2020 at 3:08 PM, joey_martin said:

I have been playing with Twinmotion recently. These are Chief models exported in 3DS format. I have spent just a few hours with TM and this is what I have come up with.

 

Hey Joey, I got the free version of TM but I have 

never gotten around to playing with it yet. Not to

be a nit picker but I was curious as to why the light

shining from the fixtures over the garage doors

seems to be displaced up and to the left of where

one would expect it to fall on the wall and doors? 

Just wondering?

 

[joey_martin]

@Rich_Winsor as far as I know the lights don't come with the export so I added them from the TM library. They must be off a bit, I hadn't noticed.

[buildinthevoid]

On 12/3/2020 at 6:16 PM, buildinthevoid said:

Hey so I’m trying to find a way to make my projects look as photo realistic as possible. Ray tracings improve my projects a lot, but I was wondering if there are any other techniques or compatible softwares with Chief Architect to enhance how a project looks in terms of realism?

If i were to send over a chief architect file to someone with Sketchup, would they be able to open it as a .plan file?

[Kbird1]

21 minutes ago, buildinthevoid said:

If i were to send over a chief architect file to someone with Sketchup, would they be able to open it as a .plan file?

 

No , not as a .plan file , only Chief and the Home Designer Products can open them...

[johnny]

On 12/5/2020 at 4:04 PM, Seafield said:

I have never been able to take a Collada file directly into Sketchup with materials attached correctly to the geometry

(as per image). 

However, when I translate the collada file to fbx, it attaches the materials. It embeds media properly.

But the reason for fbx is to be able to use Transmutr. It brings my model cleanly into SKP. Equally important, it can make any

model I bring in as a proxy for Vray before I open it up. I have not tried it just yet, but the potential to import a whole slew of houses or trees, etc. as proxies

(and reduce file size) so as to not grind SKP to a halt is something I want to be able to do, for sure.

You are absolutely right about using Vray in Blender. Collada into Blender works very well, of course. So that could be the ideal solution, but in truth,

I am reasonably comfortable in SKP and just do not have the heart to learn one more program right now.

 

BTW, Vray 5 for Sketchup on a PC can produce real-time renderings. Unfortunately, it is not yet available for a Mac (nor sure when).

 

That is interesting...i've tried several models into Sketchup with collada and the textures come in just fine....so just FYI maybe there is some subtle issue - but if the whole system works for you then I guess it works.

[Seafield]

I will try to import Collada directly into SKP again and see if I can find that 'subtle issue', but changing a dae file into

an fbx file is only a matter of 5 seconds or less. What is important to me here is TRANSMUTR.

 

Transmutr only imports fbx, not collada, but it does what I need really well: It reduces file

size to begin with, and further, converts anything I bring in to Vray proxies. This eliminates trying to work with large files 

in SKP itself, yet gets things set up to correctly render the proxies when in Vray.

[ericepv]

It is possible to get really nice results from the Ray Trace feature in Chief. I've found that the most important things to learn are materials (and material properties), lighting and Ray Trace settings. There's really no easy answer, you just need to take the time to learn each of the settings and experiment so you can see the effect on the final image. Below are a couple of examples that were modeled and rendered in Chief: 

 

 

A great place to start is with these videos - https://www.chiefarchitect.com/search/?default_tab=video&q=ray+tracing

 

 

[Rich_Winsor]

On 12/6/2020 at 2:21 PM, joey_martin said:

@Rich_Winsor as far as I know the lights don't come with the export so I added them from the TM library. They must be off a bit, I hadn't noticed.

I wasn't picking on you, just trying to figure

out the process. I may be over-sensitive to

this issue as I just installed a pair of similar

fixtures on my project so I can see where

the light actually shines. 

To completely digress I will give an unsolicited

testimonial to Genie for their new wall mounted 

garage door openers. I just installed the first 

garage door (as seen in the pic) with the wall

mounted opener and it's a WAY simpler and

more efficient system. Installing the unit literally

involves tightening 3 set screws onto the torsion

shaft and lagging one bracket to the wall.  

[Lakeside-E]

6 hours ago, Rich_Winsor said:

To completely digress I will give an unsolicited

testimonial to Genie for their new wall mounted 

garage door openers. I just installed the first 

garage door (as seen in the pic) with the wall

mounted opener and it's a WAY simpler and

more efficient system. Installing the unit literally

involves tightening 3 set screws onto the torsion

shaft and lagging one bracket to the wall.  

what about your upper and lower limits?

[rlackore]

I'm using TwinMotion when I need to produce higher-end renderings. This is a screen porch addition modeled in Chief with lights and vegetation from TwinMotion. It's not photorealistic, but it's significantly faster and better than a Chief raytrace. These particular examples use TwinMotion's Light Line filter (there are several available "artistic" filters):

 

 

[Ridge_Runner]

Nice, Robert. I especially like the the daylight shot and the vegetation. May have to dust off my copy of TM. I used it on a limited basis for exterior views when it first came out, but have been swamped with work for some time and just relying on CA. I hope X13 will be much improved in this area and their RTRT.

[basketballman]

On 12/5/2020 at 4:27 PM, Seafield said:

Chief geometry is superb to work with. Attached are a couple of draft renders as per time of day in SKP/Vray.

Better get a longer column or your house may fall down ( pic 2 ) 

   Renderings look great ,  btw

Check out this if you haven't already it seems to make use of vray ..

https://www.chaosgroup.com/gallery/arc-media-chelsea-island

[Rich_Winsor]

17 hours ago, Lakeside-E said:

what about your upper and lower limits?

Real simple 3 button (set/up/down) system to

program the limits. It also has a nice feature

where the speed of the door opener is regulated

so that it slows down when it starts and stops a 

cycle. When you close the door it starts slowly

for about the first foot or so and then briskly

continues on down until about the last foot of

travel where it slows down again and nestles

down on the weather seal like a butterfly with 

sore feet. 

[Seafield]

Yes, once I am into final renders I will have to make sure my house doesn't appear to fall down.......:)

Thanks for the link---good interior renderings.

Another solid little model in Chief, including siding materials, boxes and flowers, brought into Sketchup (I Am now buying better entourage).

I like the quality of the sunlight in Vray and how the interiors glow with bounced light.