su + photoshop rendering

8/4/2019 Su + Photoshop Rendering

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thanks for viewing and comments! (charlie)

tdmc and wizum are right in saying that these images are purely made

from exported jpegs from sketchup and 'painted' in photoshop, alsowith the help of a collection self made textures, objects and people

psd. files

its really a trial and error process, and its not easy to explain my steps

in rendering an export from sketchup with photoshop but i have a few

key steps.

when i export an image from sketchup, i either do 2 or 3 exports of

the same view: export 1. with edges and and no textrue. export 2.

with shadows and all textures no edges, export 3. without shadowsand edges but with texture.

i then put these 2 or 3 images together into photoshop as a ways to

start my painting template. i would name export 1 'outlines' where i

would only turn this layer on when i need to magic wand a plane fast

to airbrush. however this technique is rough and requires fine lasso-

ing also.

from there its really about having a coherent layering system where

you would apply soften shadows and reflections. i also find that inmost images you would need to re-apply the textures because the

quality of textures exported from SU is BAD. with regards to light andshadow its simply ALOT of precise lasso-ing and gradient painting. free

hand Lasso-ing with feather 20 or higher and adjusting the brightness/

contrast is a good technique to give soft light glow or shaodw effects.

generally when you adjust something brighter, you need to lower the

contrast slightly too, same goes with darkening something.

in order to keep a consistentcy, first make sure all the images you doare straight! or 'bulleto' as i like to call it. it means that the columns

and edges are vertical/ parallel, u're not looking up or down but

straight ahead at eye level. these are basic rules of architectural

photography. if you are doing a set of images, use similar colour tonesalso, i.e sky, trees .


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when u put people into the image make sure they are scaled correctly,

slightly transparent and blurred.. so that the attention is not takenaway from the general space. its also good to have a person really in

the forground, some midground and background too, it really makes

the place alive and tells the scale of it..

as for the animated sections, its like this one from Foster n

Partners..anyone know a good technique for that?

good luck!! i hope this helps abit. its an intensive but rewarding

process, more rewarding than waiting for 5 hrs for a render. would be

glad to see how you all get on and help you out. i may post a step by

step process of an image if some one requests it. just choose one thati have posted and i can show u all the layers i've done in photoshop!

layer by layer

haha i cant write the pdf ..for now. but i can show you layer by layer of

one image.


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now its essential to know all the photoshop shortcuts to get a good

work flow!

1st image: this is the rough render from sketchup, you can see that i

have mistakenly drawn on it and adjusted some stuff already. one

should always make duplicate layers of the original.

2nd: with sky and grass. notice here i already adjusted the brightness/

contrast of the grass as it pans out of the image. free hand lasso with

feather 40 used here

3rd: some highlights also with free hand lasso, trying to mimic some

cloud reflections here perhaps


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4th:shadows under the stadium

5th: a seperate render of the structure only was made and put as atransparent layer on top

6th: more multiple highlights


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7th: darken bottom and lighten top

8th: backgorund crowd

9th: foreground crowd plus trees


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the main focus of the image is the facade of the stadium. what goes

on underneath can be blurred out by trees or people. i have exported

from SU one image outline of the facade and one of the structure only.by putting these as layers in the psd file, one can tweak the

transparency and all other effects with ease.


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Shadows

generally with people i do the same thing as mentioned. but to addmore quality, you need to add some bluring depending on the surface

and adjust the contrast in which the shadow appears. if its a highly

reflective suraface then obviously you have less blur. its also good to

free hand lasso the bottom of the shadows with about feather 25 and

cut away abit of the shadow shape so it blends into the ground.

shadows should appear dark from the feet then lighter and as it fades

out (not a solid shape). i hope this makes sense.

sometimes its even enough just to make a dark spot underneath aperson, with multiple shades of shadow.

this is what i mean, hope it helps. its good when using a photo to look

at existing shadows and try to copy them.


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underneath the shopper here, theres basically a layer of shadow and a

layer of reflection. the shadow was freely drawn with additionalblurring. the reflection is a duplicate shape of the person vertically

inverted, slightly squished and then cut off with a few lasso-ing of

about feather 50. you could also use the shape only and gradient paint

it from solid to transparent on a seperate layer.

This is what I do for people and shadows. Works for about anything.

(Jake)

Step 1:

Duplicate the layer with your person, tree, or whatever you want tohave a shadow.


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Step 2:

Lasso the subject. Better to use a png with a transparent backgroundto start with.

Step 3:

Lasso the copy of the transparent png or lasso the shape manually.

Brush in using dark grey, black or sample a shadow color from the

destination image.

For the final steps see two posts down.

Step 4:

Lasso the brushed in outline and is the distort tool to pull it down to

where it looks natural.


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Step 5:Drop lasso and use a slight blur and transparency on the shadow layer

till it matches the scene.

Step:6 Done


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