Unfamiliar render techniques are appealing; they look good, work well with any sized scene, and make it look like you put in the extra effort. Whether you’re a student or a professional, a well thought presentation matters.
So, instead of rendering your next model in the usual Perspective view, try giving one (or all) of these techniques a shot and see how it goes!
Rendering a 360° (Panorama) View
The easiest thing you can do, is render in 360°; you just set your camera right in the middle of the room, tweak the VRay Camera & Render Output, then hit Render.
Steps:
- Position your Camera or Scene View in the middle of your desired space (Adjust the height to a realistic 165 cm or 5’6 ft.).
- Go to VRay Settings> Camera> Type and select VRay Spherical Panorama.
- The tricky part here is that you have to set your Resolution at 4,000 x 2,000 minimum (Aspect Ratio is 2:1 by default, if not then manually change it). This means your render is going to take a bit of extra time, but it’s worth it because you’re literally rendering the whole space in one go.
- Make sure to set your VRay to automatically save your output image (Jpg format is recommended) + all the necessary filters (more about that here).
There you go! This is a 360 render. To be able to post this render to Facebook or view it in a 360 Viewer you have to follow these steps:
- Right-Click your final Image and select Properties.
- Under the Details tab, find the Camera details.
- Type in Ricoh as your Camera Maker, and RICOH THETA S as your Camera Model.
All done! Feel free to upload this image or use it anywhere (that supports this type of media) and it’ll function as a 360 Degree Image.
Rendering an Elevation View
Elevation Views are quite handy, you can edit dimensions into them as rendered 2D images or Render them into perspectives if you have a small space that doesn’t look right when rendered traditionally.
I’m using VRay Next and Sketchup 2018, you can still do this with any other Sketchup version but you’re limited to VRay 3 and above. For Users of VRay 2.0 and above, please leave a comment below or message us on Facebook or Instagram for help with the steps (Facebook Page – Facebook Support Group – Instagram Account).
Sketchup Section Steps:
Create a Section using the Sections tool on the desired wall (Just click the icon and place the Section Plane on the outside of the model).
Using the Move tool, move the section forward or backward till you reach the placement you want. Don’t forget to hide any elements that stand in the way (Right-click the object and select Hide).
Right-click the Section Plane and select Align View to move your view to the section cut.
Once your view is aligned, you can either choose to view in either Perspective or 2D (Parallel Projection). You can do so by going to the View menu and choosing either.
Now you’re ready to move to your VRay!
In your VRay Asset Editor, select the Geometry Tab and do the following:
- In the Parameters Drop-down, turn off Use Object Material and select a dark or black material by clicking the Texture Icon (you’ll have to add the material to your model’s Material List beforehand).
- Make sure that everything under Options is checked.
Hit render, save as PNG and you’re good to go! You can edit the section cuts and dimensions using Layout or Photoshop.
Here’s another example of the Elevation render used to render a small space in Perspective instead of a Parallel Projection. I cropped out the borders and presented it as a regular perspective.
Plan View Render
Similar to the Section View render, this will require a bit of setup too.
But, instead of using the Section tool, we’ll just Hide the ceiling and use a Top View in Parallel Projection.
To set up VRay, you’ll need to do the following:
- Turn off EVERYTHING under the Environment Drop-down (turn off the Sun, too).
- Under the Render Parameters, go to Switches and make sure that Hidden Lights is checked.
Save it in PNG format and you have yourself a rendered plan! Use Layout or Photoshop to add any dimensions or notes you want.
You can download the model used to create this post on Turbo Squid, click the image below to view my complete collection (updated regularly).
Hope this post has helped you in one way or the other! For any questions or suggestions, leave a comment below or message us on one of our social media channels.
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