Tutorials

Welcome to our tutorial section. As you go through this collection of great tutorials you will learn how to perfect your post-processing skills and techniques with easy to follow step by step instructions provided by highly talented professional contributors.
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Our Current Tutorial Library

Google SketchUp and Kerkythea – fast start 4architects by Majid Yeganegi

I need to mention first before you start to learn Kerkythea using this tutorial that this is an easy-to-use simplified tutorial and also an architect-oriented guide. I have ignored some intricate technical material tips but have another more advanced tutorial in the pipeline to follow this one. Hopefully after studying this you will be so impressed with Kerkythea that it will encourage you to learn Kerkythea deeper.

Even if you don’t use Kerkythea this tutorial will familiarize you with some of the render language used in such software and what it is…

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Drawing a Church Campus Using Google SketchUp by Jim leggitt

Perfect weather, unbelievable location and stuck two days inside a conference room working our tails off. There has to be a better approach to planning projects in exotic locations…

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Texture Workflow with SketchUp, Photoshop & Podium by Nomeradona

This short tutorial  will show you the work-flow in texturing a scene using Podium, SketchUp 7 and Photoshop. The methodology has been discussed before, but I would love to share it again for those of you who may have missed it.

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How to Manage Complex SketchUp Models by Jim Leggitt

A model that has an excessive number of components, a lot of building detail and too much site area is the perfect candidate for bogging down your computer and wasting a lot of your valuable time. This short tutorial has some helpful tips on how to manage digital model information and give you the results you deserve.

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Shaderlight – From SketchUp Model to Finished Render by Kate Marshall

This tutorial shows you how to get from SketchUp model to finished render in five easy steps using the new Shaderlight for SketchUp Beta plug-in.  With no complicated settings to master, any SketchUp user can achieve great results with a minimum amount of fuss.

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Using HDRI in V-Ray for SketchUp by Nomerdona

HDRI stands for High Dynamic Range Imaging. It is a technique that allows a larger span or range of luminance between the light and dark areas of an image. You can use image editing software to create HDRI images. In this tutorial I will not talk about how to create them but rather how to use them in V-Ray for SketchUp.

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Modeling in SketchUp to Match a 2D Image by David Macdonald

This is the second of three tutorials concerning the exporting of SketchUp models to other applications as 2D graphics. Each tutorial is complete in itself in as much as you can stop at the end of any of them having acquired a new technique that is complete in itself, without being obliged to finish the series.

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Creating a SketchUp Model Using Photo Match by Jim Leggitt

Here is an option for constructing your drawing by importing the photograph directly into SketchUp using the ‘Photo Match’ tool.

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The Edith Green Wendell Wyatt Federal Building - a digital watercolor with Photoshop by Scott Baumberger

Scott Baumberger has been offering a high quality professional service to architects, designers and developers for many years. He uses a digital process to produce imagery that ranges in technique from photo-realistic to simulated watercolor effects. In this detailed tutorial  Scott shows us his work-flow in producing a digital watercolor using a SketchUp output image and Photoshop. A great tutorial and a must read!

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SketchUp 2D Image Export with Alpha Mask by David Macdonald

This is the first of three tutorials concerning the exporting of SketchUp models to other applications as 2D graphics. They are progressive. You need to do them in order, as each will assume knowledge from the previous. This tutorial deals with the export process, particularly the creation of Alpha Masks for your model.

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USC Village – A step-by-step guide to making  a “digital watercolor” architectural illustration using  SketchUp and Photoshop by Scott Baumberger

Scott Baumberger has been offering a high quality professional service to architects, designers and developers for many years. In this detailed tutorial  Scott shows us his workflow in producing a digital watercolor using a SketchUp output image and Photoshop.

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Use Image Editing Software Inside SketchUp by Nomeradona

This simple little tutorial will show you how to edit a texture image right inside SketchUp with Photoshop or whichever image editing software you use.

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Drawing Aerial Perspectives with SketchUp by Jim Leggitt

A quick and easy way to draw an aerial perspective from a site plan is to construct a simple SketchUp massing model, establish an aerial view and then trace the perspective from a print of the scene.  Here is a “step-by-step” explanation from a recent drawing I created during a drawing workshop with landscape architects at the University of Monterrey in Mexico.

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The River Runs Through It by Jacques Cleghorn

Hi all you avid SketchUp users, developers of the new SketchUp 7 team and any modelers out there that do not really know the true potential power of this amazing design tool. Here I want to share the power of SketchUp itself and encourage those of you who think  SketchUp is just a tool that can only build block models and nothing more. You may be pleasantly surprised!

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Making of Hillside House by Ibon Enriquez

Ibon Enriquez is an architectural student from San Sebastian in northern Spain. This is a model he rendered for a rendering competition over at the Spanish SketchUp forums. Ibon uses a suitable 3D SketchUp model, TwilightRender and Photoshop for post-processing in this tutorial.

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IES Light Tutorial using V-Ray for SketchUp by Nomeradona

The latest version of V-ray for SketchUp (ver. 1.48.66) has the new added feature of IES Lights and Spotlights. V-Ray works within the SketchUp environment allowing users to be able to efficiently incorporate the task of rendering within their current workflow. In this simple tutorial we are going to set up three basic pin lights.

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Perspective Drawing from SketchUp by Jim Leggitt

Drawing perspectives involving planning projects can be challenging and somewhat intimidating. A great method of visualizing master plans is to simply build a SketchUp model, determine an optimum view and then trace over a print of scene. I call this process the “Overlay and Trace Method” and is easy to do and very accurate!

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Creating Perspectives with SketchUp by Jim Leggitt

Constructing models may be easy, but establishing the right kind of perspective view can be tricky. When establishing scenes in SketchUp, an identical visual “checklist” must be considered so you can present your design concepts in their best form and avoid 3D digital disasters!

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Making of Black Hawk by Jacques Cleghorn

This was probably the most anticipated advanced modeling project I had ever undertaken which pushed SketchUp’s limits more than I had ever imagined it would ever go to. This project took me about two and a half months to complete. I actually thought it would take a lot longer since I was doing this after hours in my spare time.

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Simple Overlay and Trace Project by Jim Leggitt

“Here is a  simple “step-by-step” technique for creating an illustration using a Google SketchUp model as a base, your creative imagination and a splash of color markers. Here we are mixing 3D Graphics with hand drawing skills”.

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Add a Rotoscope Effect to Your Image by Rocky Vezeau

A quick and simple method in achieving a Rotoscope effect for a rendered image by Rocky Vezeau, aka ‘xrok1′. A regular contributor on the SketchUcation, Twilight and Podium forums to mention a few and now here at SketchUpArtists. ‘Rotoscoping’ is the term used when artists paint or trace over live-action film, frame-by-frame, to create an animation and it is being used in everything from television commercials to Hollywood movies.

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The Quasi-Clay Style by Oliver Shea

The image I am using in this tutorial is part of a housing project I am presently working on. We are going to try and achieve a fake or ‘Quasi Clay Style’ effect in this tutorial. You will need Google SketchUp, SU Podium and Photoshop.

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Blender to SketchUp – A Workaround for Texturing Organic Shapes by Michalis Zissiou

Although Google SketchUp is one of the easiest and fastest applications for architectural modeling when it comes to organic forms, texturing and rendering organic shapes it falls short and has not as yet solved this issue. The major problem of SketchUp is that it triangulates things thus making it difficult for smoothing and UV mapping of textures. Check out my tutorial for the workaround!

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A  Watercolor and Line Drawing Ink Effect by Nomeradona

This tutorial is not about rendering but how to compose a watercolor and ink effect using a few simple steps. I am using a rendered image in order to add depth, particularly on some main areas. I use a couple of styles and V-Ray for a render image in some of the steps.

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Making of H.M.C.S  Snowberry by Jacques Cleghorn (AKA `silver_shadow´)

I was always fascinated by the way some people built everything in models in such detail and decided to start the ‘ Candy’ series, trying to emulate them, but by only using Sketchup with no other external applications for modeling. This tutorial is a quick overview of  ‘Eye Candy 3′  The H.M.C.S. Snowberry. I go through some tools that I used and how some of it was built. All the plug-ins used in this tutorial are widely available on SketchUp sites and forums.

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Pencil Overlay by Sid Porobic (AKA `Sepo´)

This tutorial has stemmed out of the need to produce attractive “hand made” images which are to be used when discussing architectural projects with clients and planning authorities alike.

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Making of a Classic Room by Ricardo Cossoli

The ‘Classic Room’ scene was fully modeled in Google SketchUp with the help of some free available plug-ins. It is a classic style room with details of moldings, illuminated with natural light from the scene and only the light support in the middle of the room is a resolved V-Ray emitting material.

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Image Post-Processing in Photoshop by Teofilo Pardo

This tutorial has been designed for those people who are not using Photoshop as much as they should in their post-processing workflow or not using it on a regular basis. It incorporates lots of hints and tips and shows what can be done in the post-processing of a V-ray output image of a SketchUp model.

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Tradigital Drawing Using the Simple Composite Method by Jim Leggitt

The following Tradigital Drawing was generated for academic purposes and does not represent any actual project. I built the SketchUp model from components found in the SketchUp 3D warehouse and from FormFonts.

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Fast Way to Achieve a Nice Digital Watercolor Render by Majid Yagenegi

In this tutorial we are going to achieve a nice digital watercolor render using SketchUp and the new render engine ‘Twilight’. We will also do a little post-processing with Photoshop (or your desired photo editor).

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Create a Fake Render in Photoshop by Majid Yeganegi

This tutorial is going to show you how to ‘fake’ a render using Photoshop. It is very simple and straight forward and I hope you find it very useful as it could be one quick option in your work process…

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A Quick and Simple Render Technique by ‘Mr Wip’

While trying to evolve in the cruel world of virtual rendering, you may have seen many tutorials, all presenting super advanced master techniques, but you can’t  stop feeling that their starting point is always a bit above your current skills, and their goal far away from your current needs.

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Making of Hotel Room by Mateo Soletic

How to create a right mood in your interior design presentation? Obviously SketchUp can do some things but if you want to investigate further and create a real life photo-realistic environment you will have to use real life materials, light sources or simply you will have to post process it with a renderer.

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Finer Shadows and Edges in Podium Renders by Majid Yeganegi

Podium renders are really very nice and you can make them even better with a few little tweaks. Sometimes fine details are missed during the render process, and maybe you need to have them or by adding this further detail would improve your renders. If this is the case then this tutorial is for you.

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Making of Beauty Salon by Do Phu Hoang Nguyen – Phunguyen

In this V-ray for SketchUp tutorial I will be covering the use of materials and light to create this interior lighted Beauty Salon image.

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Photomontage Tutorial by Teofilo Pardo

This tutorial is going to show you how to blend a render into a real photo. This is my post-processing method.

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SketchUp to Artlantis by Mr Wip.

Let’s take a simple SketchUp model: several colored boxes, a plan, a texture…here we are, the stage is set…

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Lesbian Vampire Killers Tutorial Part 2 by Alex Jenyon

I posted a tutorial on one of my background paintings for ‘Lesbian Vampire Killers’ a little while ago, which seemed to go down really well. Here’s another from the same series – ‘part 2′ if you like…

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Drawing Clouds in Piranesi by Snoopywang

We have yet another great tutorial by Wang. He uses a brush technique he has developed to draw clouds with giving a beautiful watercolor effect to them. Follow Wang’s tutorial and achieve some great clouds in your images..

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Pencil Sketch Tutorial by Snoopywang

We are delighted to add to our growing list of tutorials this tutorial by Wang (AKA Snoopywang). It is a short tutorial on using a raster brush you maKe yourself and then using it to create a pencil sketch drawing in Piranesi. This technique could also be used in other painting software and as Wang states “In fact, the brush is not important, the most important thing is your imagination.

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The Making of Bahamas by Nguyen Tran Huy Vu

In this tutorial we are featuring “the making of the Bahamas villa”. A competition work by an architecture student from Vietnam, Nguyen Tran Huy Vu. In his tutorial he demonstrates the basics of SketchUp to 3DS Max & Vray workflow.

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Making of Marina by Mateo Soletic

I hope that this tutorial on my evolving SU post-processing techniques proves useful to you. I have received some positive feedback and e-mails from people asking me how this is done. For some time now I have been experimenting on various techniques in the aim of producing high quality CG professional render output, yet one with a subtle brush and line work touch that resembles the natural effect of SketchUp.  Here is then the basic process…

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