Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Eric Galvin on January 11, 2010 at 12:20pm

you need to create a tile-able background image
heres a basic tutorial http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=222
good luck

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kevin Gaughan on January 11, 2010 at 1:10pm

Eric, I ended up figuring out how to do this a couple hours ago, the only issue i have is the white from the sky in the picture. I found another texture that i have been using where part of it is transparent...is it possible for me to make the sky in the picture goes transparent? Here is what it looks like right now:

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brent Jacobsen on January 12, 2010 at 3:20pm

Hi Kevin - did you bring a .PNG or a .JPG into Sketchup? The white background is likely from the jpeg file, because jpegs save information there even if you had the background cut out when you saved it. Re-export the image as a .PNG and the white should go away when you reimport it into the model. Alternatively, you can manually cut out the white background in Sketchup, but that is more time consuming. Or, do as Wes suggested and just export the image without a background and then put your treeline, etc, back there in Photoshop.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kevin Gaughan on January 13, 2010 at 7:45am

brent, thanks for the advice. I had used a GIF file before. Unfortunately, though, I just tried saving it as a PNG and it still does not seem to want to work. I have attached the file I am using...In preview the sky is completely gone, but everytime I bring it into Sketchup its while again. Im getting very frustrated. Is it possible that it wont work because Im using the free version?

Attachments:

• woodsedge3.png, 92 KB

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brent Jacobsen on January 13, 2010 at 11:15am

HI Kevin - sorry you are still having problems. I just imported the png into Sketchup and saw the same white background. The best solution I have is to edit the png in Sketchup to cut out the white. Can be a bit tedious but will take care of it.

0. Select face on view (one where you are looking at front of house) to be working in xy plane
1. Import the png into sketchup and scale to base size you want
2. Select the image, right-click and explode the image (will now be a surface and four lines you can edit)
3. Select the surface by clicking on image, and you should see the whole image light up
4. Go to DRAW menu and select freehand.
5. Draw a freehand line on surface that starts at right or left border line, traces along edge of trees and connects to border line on other side. (if connected properly, you will see line go from bold to normal indicating a new surface was created)
6. Click on trees to select image again and you should see the white area does not light up - it is now a separate surface you can delete. Click on white area and delete it . (If it does light up with trees, repeat steps with freehand pencil to try to properly create a separate surface) **
7. Select everything and make a component. Can now copy it across model as you did before.

** (note - will need to either delete individual border lines or hide them so they do no show in model once you have deleted the white background)

Hopefully those directions are clear enough - let me know if they work. Otherwise, I can email with you offline to try to send some screen captures, etc.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wes Arola on January 11, 2010 at 12:44pm

if you are using sketchup you can just place an image and rotate it 90 deg. and just move it into the distance and scale it accordingly. You can also export the view(s) you want and just throw a background in it from site photos or an image from the web.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Nelsen on January 12, 2010 at 5:44pm

I would say to do the background trees in photoshop. You can find an image of a dense treeline and cut it out for use in the background, or buy a tree package and use that. I bought a package from Absolute Textures and it includes several backgrounds of dense trees which come in very handy...I have used them in this rendering attached...

Attachments:

• Cabin_elevation_Final.jpg, 813 KB

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Orkin on February 13, 2010 at 9:35am

I like to use the component spray tool to select an area of the site and then up to 6 components and spray them into that area. It will automatically change the scale of the components. If you use 2d components they will look just fine in the background. You should check the warehouse from some 2d trees that are images and you could get a pretty effective tree line/mass.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by RFox on February 14, 2010 at 2:35pm

In studio Max you would use Vray proxy but I am not sure if vray for sketchup has that ability. You would have to check and see.

▶ Reply to This