Rendering in SketchUp: From Modeling to Presentation for Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Design

I am regarded as a rendering idiot when it comes to using Sketchup, so I was very interested in this book when it came out. I have a mastery of Sketchup, plug-in, Photoshop and have a very very very basic understanding of how rendering programs work and are utilized with Sketchup. I have looked all over the internet, through various websites and YouTube to try to get a good grasp rendering programs with not to much information. More importantly finding any information on how to actually use rendering programs effectivly is near impossible to find until now.Daniel Tal has great Sketchup skills in teaching rendering, and after reading through all 600+ pages (keeping me up late at night because I couldn't put this book down), he has shared every secret and work flow he know with no hold back in this book. All books on Sketchup out there are good, they give tips, information, examples, but Daniel Tal's book goes way beyond what is normally provided by an author. He shows workflows with great examples (in full color including screen shots), and as a Sketchup user workflows are everything in Sketchup.Tal shows how to prepare, organize, implement, process and post process your models to achieve the maximum output from your model. In short summary (but not a complete overview these are just what jumped out to me) the book does an incredible job of conveying:* An overview of his process and his objectives and goals in teaching you how to use rendering programs (he gives examples to all the major players out there and gives step by step instructions with accompanying photos on a few)* Thoroughly explains computer hardware requirements for the budget minded and for the deep pocketed renderer* Explains the foundations for a good effective workflow with textures, what they are, how they work, how to manipulate them, and where to find them.* Gives excellent examples of how to tweak textures - I definitely learned some things here! I have always struggled with manipulating textures on and above the normal before reading this chapter.* Shows how to utilize Photoshop for post processing and adjust your final output for a final tweak that pushes it over the edge to make it a professional looking render.* Explains and gives great examples of layering strategies in organizing your model to keep the speed and efficiency of Sketchup to a maximum. (this took me a couple years to learn on my own - wish I had this chapter some time ago)* The most important chapter of all, how to set your rendering apart from all the others, by creating details. Every master does this, but they never share it. How to bring randomness and staging to a model to breathe life into it. Simply put, here you learn how to play God.* Provides excellent and very lengthy insight into lighting, placement, natural light artificial light and how the it affects the final output of the rendering. This has been hard for me to find anywhere else, and there are oodles of examples with cause and affects.* Lastly giving step by step examples with screen shots in full color. This is like having someone grab your hand and walk you through the process.In all honesty I hardly write reviews. However this book caught my attention, and it gave me more than I expected. I think the only mistake in the book is it is to cheap. I have paid over $100 for some architectural books, and I get half as much as I did from this one. This book gives you the tools to become productive, proficient in a vast variety of rendering programs. It gives you the "secret recipe" to succeed, simplistically and straight forward. You will be able to increase your skills to a level of artist if you are a casual user, or if you are a designer for hire like me, charge much more for your end product.I enthusiastically recommend this book for any person wanting to learn rendering like myself if you are a rendering novice, or learn a tweak or two or three or four etc. etc. if you are an advanced user.

Rendering is not an easy subject to learn. It has taken me years of practice and intensive learning mostly by trial and error. As a newbie to rendering all the lingo was completely foreign to me. What were Gamma rays?, seemles and tillable textures? Ray tracing?, depth of field?, Anti aliasing (Didn't have a clue)& what the hell were bumps? The only "bumbs" I knew, was my forehead , constantly banging against a wall of almost "rumsfeldian" unknown, unknown's. Not understanding things: is never fun, it goes against our better human nature.If you are new to rendering, this book will enable you to fast track your learning curve and make the entire learning process a much more enjoyable experience. Daniel Tal is a formidable sketchup teacher and this book is surely a labor of love. His writing style and explanations are easy to understand, follow and most importantly replicate. I truly wish this book had been available years ago.Like his last book (Sketchup for site design) the books is set up in a linear fashion with each chapter building on the last. Yes, you can skip from one part to another, but the book is designed to provide a continuous learning curve that is easy to achieve with just a bit of effort and some necessary repetition. Practice makes perfect after all.Learning new things in Sketchup ,even after all these years is still always fun. Daniel didn't disappoint there is still tons under the hood of sketchup. I am still in awe of its subtlety and the depth of the program.Textures quite rightly takes up a major part and focus of the book. Having great textures and knowing how to use them is the secret of every ArchViz rendering Star, It separates the men from the boys, so to speak.Daniel takes you through the necessary resources you will need, he even shows you how to manipulate these texture with Image editing software that again adds greater variety and quality to ones renders.Organization is something that Sketchup enables and Daniel Tal methods if they are followed carefully will allow one to create sophisticated articulate and expressive models and subsequent renders.His Layers regimen is absolutely crucial to master: with the use of scenes and layers, you can leverage the model to provide exactly what you need. It is not hard to get organized. Sketchup is built to do all the hard work for you - if you set it up right. Daniel Tal provides the necessary guidelines, he doesn't just show you HOW to do things, but also provides the more subtle reasons of WHY to do things in a certain way.Rendering software has changed in leaps and bounds. It is becoming easier and easier every year for everyone to raise their rendering game. As such, it would seem a book like this could easily grow out of date. Not so- the future online chapters will go a long way in keeping its readers informed and updated with all things new in the rendering world. More importantly, however much easier it gets in the future what you will learn here will always help you and provide a better and richer understanding of all that is involved in the rich tapestry of rendering work.I remain unconvinced of the notion that Karma exists, Let alone "sketchup Karma", but if it does, then surly Daniel Tal has a healthy Karma count with all that is divine in life.Thank you Daniel for enriching all of our sketchup lives. We all owe you a big thank youRashad.