SketchUp to Artlantis

SketchUp to Artlantis by Mr Wip

Let’s take a simple SketchUp model of several colored boxes, a plan and a texture as shown in the picture above. Here we are then, the stage is set… note that it does have some scenes, which represent different points of view in the model.

To import a SketchUp model in Artlantis, you just have to choose, in the first window that pops up, the skp file type and the program will be able to load it directly. If everything works out fine, you should be looking at something similar in the picture shown above. It can be useful to keep in mind the fact that Artlantis separates the model file and textures when saving them. SketchUp places everything in a kind of archive. So don’t be surprised with an extensive amount of texture files from your model. Artlantis simply places them directly in a folder of it’s own.

The software interface is quite simple as shown above.The right window shows a real time preview of your render. Navigation inside this space is similar to the SketchUp one. There are four principal toolbars:

1. Main settings categories – Sun, Cameras and Materials.

2. Navigation tools – Zoom and Rotate. The first button disabled the real time rendering, allowing quick manipulations of the model.

3. Rendering and View options.

4. Multi purpose toolbar, where all operations will be done. It changes accordingly depending on the type of element selected.

SketchUp to Artlantis, The Basis – Cameras , Knowing how to take a look around…

For a start it is required we select some point of view.In Artlantis these points of view are displayed as cameras as you can see in your side panel as shown above. These views are your SketchUp scenes. However, do not panic if your model does not have any scenes (everyone makes mistakes…). Artlantis automatically creates one camera called ‘SketchUp’, matching your last viewpoint.

Navigating in space and moving the camera are (at first) two linked operations. So in order not to loose a good point of view while sightseeing, it is necessary to create a copy of a camera already set up, by pressing the ‘+’ Icon (a new thumbnail is then added to the menu). Finding and manipulating a camera precisely is made easier by use of the 2D view, in which the active one is displayed as a small red dot. This panel is able to display different views (plan, facade…)useful in the next steps.

Every camera has its own focal point, which can be easily adjusted, from a pan view to a zoomas shown above. Unfortunately focal angles are the only things that do not travel well from SketchUp to Artlantis, and you will probably have to adjust them yourself to get a reasonable result…

SketchUp to Artlantis, The Basis – Sun, the first step in light realism…

When you know what to look at, you can move on creating a realistic environment. In that respect the sun will be the first thing to set up.

For each camera there is a sun , in our example shown above, camera ‘view1′ is linked to the sun ‘view1′, and the same goes for the other ones. Through the menu, it is possible to assign any sun to any camera, for example camera ‘View4′ with sun ‘view2′.

Similar to the camera menu, the sun menu shows in the right column the list of those present in the scene. Again, pressing ‘+’ adds a new one in the menu. In order to see clearly the real effect of the sun you have to enable shadows and a with a help of a slider you can further adjust their intensity, from strong (like in SketchUp),to smooth (much more realistic).

When using the sun further adjustments of parameters are required like date, time and location. This you can do through the first icons and sliders on the toolbar. A reminder that adjustments of these parameters like the sun position and north angle are possible to be done through 2D view.

A’natural’ outside lighting solution is made of two separate elements:

-The sun: a direct light that creates clearly defined shadows.

-The sky: a diffuse uniform light emitted by a dome surrounding the model. The sky light allows a much more realistic illumination than the one directly hit by a sun . Intensity of both sun and sky are linked directly to date and time settings, but it is possible to alter their settings with the help of sliders.

SketchUp to Artlantis, The Basis – Materials, so things get a visual presence…

Playing with the sun and light is useless if the objects have no physical properties,so… The selection of a material is made by a simple click on a geometry in the model viewas shown above, or directly through the menu.

One of the main elements that brings realism to a material is its level and quality of reflection.Those parameters are directly adjusted by the two sliders in the tool bar:

-Reflection: Allows adjustments from a barely reflective surface to a complete mirror. -Shininess: Changes the quality of reflection,the bigger value enhances its quality. -Transparency is also adjustable in the same way, and settings made in SketchUp are recognized by Artlantis.

It is also possible to change the tint of a material in Artlantis, a right click on the colored panel as shown above and a color chart appears.

A material is rarely just a simple colored surface. If it contains a texture, it is possible to edit the basics (transparency, reflectivity…)but it is also very easy to add a bump effect through a slider.

SketchUp to Artlantis, The Basis – Environment, because its all about context…

When a scene begins to have an interesting look, it is necessary to take a step back and pay attention to the surroundings. Initially the background is a ‘physical’ sky, a colored dome evolving in relation to the sun position. It is possible to add to this realistic sky a wide range of cloud formations, easily adjustable if you had a bit of meteorology knowledge… If the automatic sky does not suits your needs, you can replace it, through a menu, by more classic elements: solid color, gradient, picture…

SketchUp to Artlantis, The Basis – Lights, Going further into space illumination…

The sun is an efficient light source in many case, but for indoor rendering, or by night it’s quite limited. It is then necessary to take a look at the artificial light sources (let us consider the virtual sun as a natural one…). Lamps are arranged into groups, linked to every camera by the lighting panel. A night effect is achieved easily by deactivating the sun light in the same menu.

To create a lamp, select a light group in the menu and press ‘+’. The lamp appear at the same place as the camera, then you have to manipulate it and place it where you want. Use the 2D view, where lamps appear as yellow dots. Unlike with the sun, lamp’s shadows are not automatically enabled, and the related box has to be ticked to create a more realistic effect. All lamps are spots, and you can see (and adjust) the three elements that define them (source, target and angle), in the 2D view or by numerical input.

To get an omni directional light source, just set the spot angle to 360°. Light intensity can be seen directly in the preview window, and,once again, adjusted by a slider(how common…).

To create a new lamp , it is possible to press again ‘+’ but a more simple way is to just duplicate or copy and paste it in place . This is of course much easier easier to do in a 2D view.

SketchUp to Artlantis, The Basis – Beacause thats what its all about…

The model is now ready to be rendered, but there are just a couple of more general settings to be adjusted before we continue. Through the settings tab, it is possible to change the render image size, which will be adopted by the preview window, allowing a better framing of the render. Picture’s quality depends on its size but also on the calculation precision. Main parameters are Antialiasing (’sharpness’ of the picture) and Radiosity (light calculation quality). It’s then up to you to choose how to adjust them, regarding to the time left for the rendering process…