What’s happening ladies and gentlemen,
this is Minh from Architecture Inspirations.
Today I'm going to show you 10 tips
for a Realistic Exterior Rendering
using Vray 3.6 for Sketchup.
Let's get started.
First of all, if you have not seen my video
on 10 tips for a realistic interior,
you should definitely watch it
because some of those tips may apply here as well.
Now let’s jump onto number 1
1. Model in Detail
For example, let’s compare these two models.
They have the same design,
but one just has way more details than the other.
So when I render them, even without materials,
you can see that 1 is clearly more realistic than the other
because of the huge difference in the level of Detail.
Adding more detail usually comes down to two things.
One is to find good 3D Components.
For example, the original windows in my model
don’t look that bad,
but if I find a better one on 3Dwarehouse
and replace them,
you can see that it already looks so much better.
The second part of adding more details to your model
is to Model the Details yourself.
For example, in this model,
I want these types of siding for my building;
instead of finding a material that would represent it,
I can actually model the sidings themselves like so.
This way, it will look more realistic,
especially in corner areas like this.
This modeling process can get a little complicated,
but if you guys like to learn my workflow,
let me know in the comment section below
and I will create more video on modeling techniques
Another Example is instead of using a roof material
on a flat face like this,
I decided to model the roof shingles themselves like so.
Sometimes a small detail makes a huge difference.
And this is why adding details to your model
will always make your render look more realistic.
2. Study References
When you're looking for ideas for designs
or adding details to your model,
it’s important to use References.
I often use resources such as Houzz and Pinterest
to find photos that I can use as references.
References can be used as inspirations but it
can also help you create an accurate and realistic model
Also, whenever I don’t know the dimension
of a specific element, I can look it up using Google
and then make sure what I’m modeling
is at the correct scale
This tip does not only work
for the 3d model of your building,
but it also works for texturing
and other types of modeling such as Site modeling
3. Model a Good Site
Similar to the first tip,
it’s important that you also put in a lot of time
when modeling the site of your model.
A lot of people just place their building on a flat site
where everything is on the same level.
This is far from realistic.
In real life, things are built on different levels,
the site around your building
is more than just a flat surface.
So if your building is next to a road,
take the time to add the curb and sidewalk, etc.
As mentioned in the last tip,
this is a good time to look for references online
so that you can model the site correctly.
If your building is on a different site
where the ground undulates a lot more,
then use tools such as Artisan or Sandbox
to model the terrain.
The Artisan plugin costs money,
but the Sandbox tool is completely free
and it comes with Sketchup by default.
So I will focus on this Tool in this video
First, If you don’t see it on your toolbar,
then you can go to View, Toolbars, and turn on Sandbox.
The tool that I use the most from the Sandbox Toolbar
is the Smoove Tool,
which is used for sculpting the terrain.
But for it to work,
you need a surface of Triangulated Irregular Network
There are many ways to create it.
You can create it from scratch using this tool.
Or you can create it by
manually subdivide an existing surface like so.
Now I can sculpt the terrain by using the smoove tool.
I can set the radius by typing in a measurement
and then press Enter
And when I move the terrain,
I can also type in a specific distance here as well.
After you’re finished,
you can soften the terrain for a smoother surface.
You can always go back
and edit the site whenever you want.
To make it easier to see the edges,
just turn on Hidden Geometry,
and then turn it off after you’re done editing.
4. Realistic Materials Workflow
Realistic Materials are super important
for getting a realistic render
Here is my workflow for Realistic Materials
First is to download PBR Materials
If you do not know where to download PBR materials,
then watch this Video
about the top websites for getting materials for free
2. Create Realistic Materials using PBR maps
If you don’t know what PBR materials are,
and how to use them,
then watch this video to learn
how to create Realistic Material using PBR maps
Third, is Learn to Apply materials correctly
This means applying materials to scale,
in the correct position and orientation
For flat surfaces, you can right click a face and
use Sketchup’s tools to make adjustments to the texture
5. Creating Realistic Grass
There are several ways
of creating grass in Vray for Sketchup
One is by using Vray Fur
To do that, first you need to select a grass surface
and make sure it’s in group.
With that group selected,
click this button here to apply Vray Fur
Then go to the Asset Editor,
and in the geometry tab,
I can select the Vray Fur geometry
and expand the settings using this arrow here
Now I’m going to run the interactive render,
and adjust the settings a bit to make it more realistic.
Here is a closer look at my settings,
you can use this setting or create your own if you’d like.
When creating multiple grass areas,
instead of creating a new
Vray Fur component each time,
you can go into the existing group,
and copy the Vray Fur component,
then go inside the other group, and paste it there.
You can place the component wherever
and it will automatically adjust the size
and turn the new surface into Vray Fur.
This also applies the same settings,
so when you edit it,
all of the instances will change accordingly.
I also want to point out
that since we adjusted the terrain
of this grass area previously,
the grass has a form that’s more natural
than just a perfectly flat surface
making it look more realistic.
The second way of creating grass is by using Skatter
Skatter is a powerful extension
for scattering objects inside of Sketchup
You can follow this link to get a Demo or to Buy it
To create Grass,
you can download Grass components
from the 3D Warehouse,
then use this plugin
to scatter the components on a surface.
Remember that this will create a lot of geometries
and it might slow down your model,
so it’s a good practice to convert the components
into proxies before scattering them.
To make the surface look better,
make sure to have a base material for your grass area.
The cool thing about Skatter
is that you can always go back
and adjust your objects parametrically.
You can also use this plugin for other objects
such as trees, rocks, debris, etc.
Skatter also has its own Library,
which helps create grass very quickly and easily.
It also provides several
other types of landscaping elements
such as flowers, bushes, rocks, and even Trees
This takes me to number 6
3D Trees and Plants Resources
As mentioned in the previous tip,
Skatter has Trees in its Library that you can use.
Another plugin that has
really high quality trees and plants
is called
Lob work?
La vack?
Loud veck?
I don't even know if I'm saying that right -.-
Hold on
Laubwerk
Yeah, that.
Laubwerk
is a plugin for creating realistic trees
and plants for your 3D model.
I’m using the free version which has 5 different plants.
It might not look like much,
but each of these plants have 3 Variants,
3 ages,
and 4 seasons,
for a total of 180 models in one kit.
For this model,
I used these options to create different trees
to populate my model.
This helps avoid having
the same component again and again.
The cool thing about Laubwerk
is that all of these plants are proxies by default,
This makes it easy to add trees to your model
without slowing down your Sketchup.
The last place to find 3D trees and plants
is the 3dwarehouse.
Although, you need to take your time and be selective
when finding the component that you want.
And again, when using these high quality models,
remember to use proxies before making copies of them
to avoid slowing down your model.
A problem with using free models on the 3Dwarehouse
is that it’s hard to find variants of the same component,
so it might look unrealistic
because all of your components
look the same when your render.
This takes me to number 7
Which is Avoid Repetitions
When placing multiple instances
of the same component,
avoid repetition and perfection.
For example,
you can see that while this looks very organized,
it’s really unrealistic because you can tell that
all of these models look the same.
But if I Rotate and Scale the components a little,
then it will break the repetition.
It’s a small change,
but it can help your render look more realistic.
8. Combining HDRI and Sunlight
If you’ve used HDRI,
then you’re sure to have encountered
some lighting issues when using it.
A problem could be the lighting
or shadows of object is not sharp or visible enough.
This is why I sometimes
combine both HDRI and Sunlight when render
so that I can use the lighting of the default Sunlight
while using the HDRI
mainly for the background image and the reflection.
However,
there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind.
First is the settings of the HDRI.
I only want to use the HDRI
for the background and reflection,
so I will turn off Affect Diffuse,
Affect Specular and Shadows,
I sometimes like to turn off Affect Alpha as well,
this is so that I can have a transparent background
in case I want to make changes in Post Production.
9. Render Settings
People often assume that render settings
will automatically make the render look more realistic,
but in reality,
there is no such thing as a “perfect render setting”.
To be honest,
if you followed all of the previous tips,
then your rendering should look realistic
even with the default settings.
With that said, there are a few changes that I make
to get ready for the production renders.
First, I make sure to turn off Interactive and Progressive.
Then change the quality to High.
I also like to turn on the Denoiser,
you can also edit its settings
in the Render Elements rollout here.
I will also add some more render elements
such as Material ID, Refraction, Reflection, etc.
Here, I usually add an Extra Tex channel
then input a Dirt map,
this will be used later
to create ambient occlusion effect in the render.
If you want a simpler way,
then you can turn on Ambient Occlusion
in the Global Illumination Rollout.
Next is Camera Settings.
This actually depends on the scene,
usually I would use this
to brighten up an interior scene
but for this exterior render,
sometimes the default setting is good enough
If you want to learn more about camera settings
then watch this video here.
And Finally it’s the Render output,
which will depend on the scene and personal preferences.
I usually set mine to 1920 by 1080
or 3840 by 2160 if I need a larger Render.
10. Post Production Workflow
Post production is important
but it’s not super important
if you’ve done most of the work in the 3D model.
However,
using it correctly can help your render look even better.
I’ve done lots of Photoshop tutorials in the past
so I will walk through this process really quickly.
First I’m going to add a Bloom effect
and then add Contrast using a HighPass filter.
Then I’m going to bring in the ExtraTex channel
and overlay a brown color
to make the building look a little “dusty”
Next, I’m bringing in the diffuse channel
to add some more details on the sidewalk and road.
Then I’m using Nik Collection
to add some Cross Processing and Sunlight Effects
And finally I’ll finish it off with some lens flares.
If you want to learn all of these workflow in detail,
then check out my Photoshop Playlist
And those are the tips for a realistic exterior rendering
using Sketchup and Vray.
If you're looking for a similar tutorial for 3ds max,
I would suggest you take a look at this course on
Skillshare.com, who is also the sponsor of today's video.
Skillshare is a learning community
with over 22,000 classes in design,
photography, and more.
The premium membership will get you unlimited access
for less than 10 dollars per month.
But as part of this sponsorship,
Skillshare has set up a 2-month trial
for the first 500 people,
so you can watch all of their courses completely for free.
If that’s something you’re interested in,
then go to this link here.
I will also leave the link to the course
I just mentioned earlier.
Which is Exterior Rendering with 3dsmax and Vray.
This course will show you step by step tutorials
from modeling your building,
adding realistic materials,
modeling terrain,
to lighting
and editing in post production with Photoshop.
This course is made from the same author
who created the course on
Interior Renders with 3ds Max and Vray.
That’s another good course to check out too.
That’s all for today guys,
if you want to get this model
to learn more about my process
or simply want to support my channel,
then follow this link here to download it
It’s also available for my members
on Patreon at a lower price.
Just make sure to sign up before August 30th
Thank you so much for the ongoing support,
leave a like if you enjoyed the video
and comment below what I should do next.
Stay inspired guys, and I will see you,
next time ;)