- Today I'm gonna show
you a powerful approach that you can use the next time you need to get a beautiful
rendering out of SketchUp. It works with any rendering extension, whether that's V-Ray, Podium, Shaderlight or any
other one you might try. So, what's the secret? It's a mental model that we
call The Photographer Method. And it has become the
foundation for a class that we teach called Photorealistic
Rendering on a Deadline. In this class, our
students go from knowing absolutely nothing to being able to render on the job in just two days together. I'm Alex Oliver, founder
of SketchUp School, the place where professionals
go when they're serious about learning SketchUp. And in this video, I'll show you exactly how The Photographer Method works. Keep Watching. Last year, at the end of
one of the rendering classes I was teaching, a students walked up to me looking just a little bit panicked. She told me that prior to this class, she had committed to a
few client renderings. She had already tried
teaching herself rendering, but was completely overwhelmed. There were so many
extensions to choose from. And so many features and
settings to figure out. So with the renderings now
due in just a few days, our class together was
her last ditch effort to make that rendering deadline. She told me that she loved the class. But, she was worried that she
wouldn't be able to translate what she just learned in class back to the job on Monday morning. I offered to help. We met several times during that week. And I began to notice a common thread to the questions she had. While she knew how to
use each rendering tool, she didn't have a clear
approach for how to solve the bigger rendering problems she faced. So she wasted a ton of time
heading down dead ends. One day, almost by
accident, I used a metaphor. I told her how rendering
is like photography, and I explained to her how a
photographer would approach the rendering that she was working on. All of a sudden, everything
started to click for her. It was like a light went on
and she had a more intuitive sense for how to approach every rendering. What I had just shared
with her was a mental model of the rendering process. What's a mental model? It's a way of thinking
about how something works, and we all use them all the time. Mental models are like shortcuts. They allow us to recognize
patterns more quickly, solve problems more effectively,
and make better decisions. When we're learning something new, part of what we're doing is
developing these mental models. After seeing how well
my student was now able to breakdown each renderings
into a set of steps she knew how to accomplish, I decided to take the next several weeks to develop the metaphor into something we now call The Photographer Method. In just a minute, I am going to walk you through the entire approach. But first, I wanted to
share these renderings that my student was able to create using The Photographer Method. Remember, before our time together, she had never even tried rendering before. She was really happy with the results and her client was too. Okay, so without further adieu, let me show you how to use
The Photographer Method. It all starts with shifting your mindset. So imagine you're a photographer and you've been hired to take a beautiful photograph of a room. There are three things that
ultimately help you succeed. Having the right gear for the job. Setting up great lighting. And making adjustments to your final image in a program like Photoshop. Now imagine instead being
asked to photograph the room in the real world, you've been asked to photograph
it in SketchUp instead. You'll need to use the very same approach we call The Photographer Method. Let's take a closer look
at how that would work. First, you'll need the
right gear for the job. In SketchUp, your rendering extension gives you all the gear you need. No matter which one you choose. So what does that mean? Well for starters, they
all come with a camera that has settings. Some give your more simplified
or automated settings. Kind of like the camera on your phone. And then some give you
more detailed settings or professional settings,
kind of like a DSLR. Also, they all allow you to
add and configure lights. Again, some give you basic options and others give you professional options. Now, I often get asked
which extension to use. The short answer is it
almost doesn't matter. As you'll see by the end of this video, with The Photographer Method, we can get a good rendering
out of any extension. But since you will need to make a choice about which rendering extension to use, stick around to the end of this video and I'll link you to a
page where we help you make the right decision for
your particular needs. All right, so once you've got
the right gear for the job, the next part to The Photographer Method is that you'll need to
set-up great lighting. Imagine for a moment that
you're back in the real-world. Thinking about it like a
professional photographer, you could use 2-Point
Lighting to light your shot. What's 2-Point Lighting? It's a simple technique where
you set-up your camera angle, then add a primary or
key light on one side, and then add a secondary or
fill light on the opposite side. In SketchUp, use the same technique. Here's how it works. First, set up your camera angle. Start with the Navigation
and Position Camera tools to set up the camera angle you want. Then Hide and Show Layers to figure out the composition of the shot. And once you like what you see, remember to Save a Scene
to lock everything in. Second, set-up your main light
which is called a Key Light. The Key light should
provide the primary lighting and shadows that you want to see. In some cases, the sun
can be your key light. When the sun is your key light, you can use SketchUp's
Geolocation feature, and then use the Shadows dialog to set the position of the Sun in the sky. Then dial-in the final settings for the sunlight in your
rendering extension. Now in other cases, your key light will be an artificial light that you'll need to add using
your rendering extension. As a rule of thumb, point
your Keylight at an angle, preferably coming from above the camera. Third, balance your camera
exposure to the key light. Remember your rendering
extension is like your camera. So you'll need to adjust your
camera's exposure relative to the key light to get
a properly lit shot. This is a big deal. One of the most critical
mistakes I see students make is skipping this exposure step altogether. They end up wasting a ton of time adding a bunch of unnecessary lights just trying to force things to work. Fourth, add your secondary light which is called a Fill Light. This light should help fill-in anything that's too dark, helping you
bring out important details. As a rule of thumb, try
placing your fill light at roughly 90 degrees
relative to the key light, with your camera being
in-between the two lights. Fifth, balance the Key
and Fill lights relative to each other. Once you've added the second light, you'll often find you need
to adjust either the color or brightness of one of your lights to balance it with the other. Since you've exposed your
camera to the Key light, try making adjustments
to the Fill light first. As a rule of thumb, the Fill light should often be less bright or softer relative to the Key light. Of course, some rendering situations will absolutely require you to add more than just a Key light and a Fill light. That's okay. Just know that it's gonna
take a little longer to set up the lights and to
wait for your final render. Okay, in the real-world, once
the lighting is all set-up, a photographer will snap the photo. In SketchUp, you do the same
by hitting the render button in the extension. And once you do, you're
ready for the final piece of The Photographer Method You'll need to make adjustments to the rendering in Photoshop. In the real world, a photographer doesn't
expect perfect photos to come straight out of the camera. To make a great image, they'll
make final enhancements to it in a program like Photoshop. It's the exact same thing for renderings you get out of SketchUp. The very best ones have all been enhanced in a program like Photoshop. But here's the good news, you don't have to be a Photoshop expert. For example, here are three
high-impact Photoshop recipes you can use to quickly
improve your renderings. Number one, for all images, you can use Levels to adjust brightness, contrast, and tonal range. Here's how, with your
image open in Photoshop, add a Levels Adjustment Layer. In the properties window, click the menu icon and
select Auto Options. Try the first three options to let Photoshop automatically
adjust the Contrast, the Tone, or the color of the image. You can also make manual adjustments by dragging the sliders
underneath the histogram to adjust the brightness for the Shadows, the Highlights and the Midtones. Number two, you can adjust
the mood of your image with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Let's see how that works. With your image open in Photoshop, add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Slide the Saturation slider
to get a richer look. For Hue, it's generally better to use it to shift a specific color
channel from the drop down menu. Experiment with both to
enhance the mood of your image. Number three, paint Lighting
with your Brush tool. It sounds kind of fussy, but trust me, you do not have to be an artist. Just follow these steps. With your image open in Photoshop, add a new blank layer above it. Set your Layer blend mode to Screen. Then select your brush tool. Give it an opacity of 15%. Then pick a brush size
that's slightly bigger than the light source. Click once on the light
source in your image and you'll get a subtle glow. Then continue clicking
as many times as you need to strengthen the effect. And that's it, that's
the Photographer Method. So to quickly recap, it starts with having the right gear and it almost doesn't matter
which extension you choose. You need to set up great lighting. Remember the 2-Point Lighting technique. And you make your final
enhancements in Photoshop and you don't even have to be an expert. Just use a simple recipe. If you learned something, let us know by giving this video a like. Also, are you serious about learning how to render with SketchUp? If you are, we've got a
video course library filled with $8,700 worth of
SketchUp training exclusively for professionals including our popular Photorealistic Rendering
on a Deadline course. Head over to our SketchUp School website and try it for free. Hey, one more thing before
you go, do me a quick favor. We just walked through
the Photographer Method from finding the right gear
to setting up great lighting to making final enhancements in Photoshop. Leave me a comment below
and tell me which part of The Photographer Method
you found most useful? If you learn something from this video, then subscribe to our
channel by clicking here. Until next time, happy sketching! Oh, and I almost forgot. If you need help picking
your rendering extension, click this link right here. (upbeat music)
