[Richard]

A quick first render from SketchUp > maxwell > PS!

Having only just upgraded my desktop machine from V1.5 - V1.7.1 I've unfortunately realised a bug in the sun direction from a xp system and a pack and go to a vista machine! I had to re-adjust the sun location in Studio where the effect is not really know without testing (we need real time shadow cast preview in studio or at least a bug fix!

The excessive shadow cast onto the building I've tried to fix with lighting and just enough over exposure to drag light to the image in post pro! Should I re-render or is the image working?

[Josephus Holt]

Looks really great to me although I do have some observations....I'm admiring your landscaping in the front...looks very non-computer...very good, what plant generator did you use? Also grass looks great, love the subtle color variations in the pavement.

The background trees look good but are too contrasty compared to the softness of the model...I would try to soften them in PS.

Building shadows look fine to me but some of the tree shadows don't feel right..the one on the garage door, the one on the driveway, and the one on the left rear fence is not real...think about where the tree would be to cast that shadow on the fence. The shadows on the right side of the image look gret, especially the ones on the fence to the right.

I also find that the light in the living room ?? (just to the right of the entry door) is much too bright and therefore unrea...there is not that much window that we can see to bring that much light in the room.

[Richard]

Thanks mate!

The grass, foreground plants and background trees are all PS'ed in. Only the small ground plants are modelled.

Yeah the interior lights - hmmmm? Client wants daytime shots but with interior lights on! This can never really look right. If I turn the lights off the interior is just black as it should be!

I understand what you are suggesting about the tree shadows. Here we normally have street trees that in this case would be behind the camera, I did over do the shadowing on this one! I normally count on SU (exporter) for correct shadow location though the pack and go of the file from an xp to vista machine seemed to loose the sun settings.

Thanks again mate! I may still go back and re-render this one!

[Richard]

An update