Complete Guide to V-Ray for SketchUp
Render Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House using V-Ray for SketchUp. You'll work through the complete archviz process: setting up cameras and lighting, applying materials from Cosmos and Poliigon, scattering vegetation across the landscape, populating interiors with high-quality furniture, refining shots to match real photography of the building, and compositing final renders in Photoshop.
- 6+ hours of premium content
- 12 step-by-step video lessons
- Future updates included
About this course
V-Ray remains the industry standard for photorealism—even with excellent real-time options available. This course uses Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House to teach the complete V-Ray workflow: fundamentals like the Asset Editor and Light Gen, materials and scene population with Cosmos and Poliigon, shot refinement for exteriors and interiors, and post-production techniques including render passes and camera animation.
This comprehensive V-Ray for SketchUp course establishes you as a rendering specialist capable of producing photorealistic imagery that rivals professional photography. Through detailed exploration of V-Ray's sophisticated rendering engine, you'll master advanced material creation, lighting systems, and camera techniques that elevate SketchUp models to professional visualization standards.
The curriculum emphasizes practical application of V-Ray's extensive toolset, from the Chaos Cosmos asset library to advanced lighting systems including HDRI environments and complex artificial lighting scenarios. You'll develop expertise in scene composition and staging that transforms basic architectural models into compelling visual narratives.
Advanced techniques include animation workflows for architectural walkthroughs, post-production integration with Photoshop, and optimization strategies for efficient rendering. The course covers both interior and exterior visualization approaches, giving you versatility across different project types and client requirements.
These skills position you to compete in the high-end visualization market where V-Ray remains the industry standard for photorealistic rendering. The techniques learned apply directly to luxury residential projects, commercial developments, and competition submissions where exceptional image quality can determine project success.
What will you learn?
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This course will turn you into:
A confident V-Ray user
You'll navigate the Asset Editor, Cosmos browser, and Frame Buffer without hesitation. CPU vs GPU rendering, quality sliders, denoising—you'll know when to use each setting and why.
A scene builder who creates believable environments
Scatter trees around the Farnsworth site. Apply materials with proper tri-planar projection. Replace clunky SketchUp furniture with Cosmos assets that hold up in close-ups.
An artist who finishes renders professionally
Use render passes in Photoshop to lift your images. Create camera animations for walkthroughs. Know when a render needs section cuts, V-Ray Fur, or just better composition.
Syllabus
Why V-Ray still delivers the ultimate realism despite D5 Render, Enscape, Lumion, and Twinmotion. We load the Farnsworth House model (from Aaron Davis on 3D Warehouse), discuss path tracing vs ray tracing, and set expectations for what you'll build across twelve lessons.
Tour of the Asset Editor panel and render settings. CPU rendering gives you all features; GPU is faster but has limitations. Quality sliders, progressive vs bucket rendering, the denoiser, exposure control, and when to use each option.
V-Ray Light Gen for automatic HDRI lighting. Material override to test lighting without textures. Glass materials from Cosmos. Creating SketchUp scenes as cameras with two-point perspective. Focal length from 18mm (wide) to 30mm (realistic). Rule of thirds composition guides in the Frame Buffer.
Cosmos Browser for quick textures, Poliigon for higher-quality bespoke materials. White painted concrete for Farnsworth's walls. Tri-planar projection to fix texture mapping across complex geometry. Proper texture scaling using millimetres.
V-Ray Scatter tool transforms the Farnsworth site. Define a perimeter with freehand lines for organic edges. Scatter mountain alder trees across the boundary. Adjust count, random distribution, and scale variation for natural groupings.
Farnsworth's original furniture needs replacing—SketchUp geometry doesn't hold up in renders. Download high-quality assets from Cosmos that match precedent photos. A well-populated interior sells the exterior shots too. Stage planters along the deck edge.
Comparing renders to real Farnsworth photography. Adjust camera position and focal length for better composition. Replace low-quality trees with detailed Cosmos models. Dappled sunlight through the canopy adds depth. Metallic element refinement.
Make the travertine floor more reflective. Add invisible rectangle lights near windows to lift interior brightness. Remodel the fireplace in brushed linear steel to match the real building. Using precedent photos to guide material and lighting decisions.
High and High Plus quality settings—when to use each. CPU rendering with all features vs GPU shortcuts. 3000px on the longest edge for commercial work. V-Ray denoiser on mild. Scatter density adjustments for the final renders.
Auto-save on render completion for overnight renders. Saving all image channels: reflection, ambient occlusion, specular, cryptomatte, material ID. Using these passes in Photoshop with blend modes and masks. Making selections with cryptomatte for precise adjustments.
Camera path animation (not full character animation). Infinite plane for studio backdrops. Dome lights with HDRI for controlled lighting. V-Ray renders each frame sequentially—slower than real-time renderers but higher quality. Consider Enscape for speed, V-Ray for polish.
Section cuts with custom materials for cut planes. Affect light options for interior sections. V-Ray Fur for realistic grass patches. Displacement mapping. Tools you'll reach for on specific projects.
Meet your instructor
Adam Morgan
Architectural Director
ThreeForm Architects
Hi, I'm Adam. I am the founder and director of ThreeForm Architects, a team of architects and artists in Liverpool, UK. The office is experienced in a wide range of building types and procurement routes, successfully winning projects with contract values of up to £20 million. We work for a broad spectrum of public and private sector clients across the country.
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