5/20/2015 AmbientOcclusionTutorial| VisualizingArchitecture

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Ambient Occlusion Tutorial
by Alex Hogrefe | Jan 1, 2011 | Fundamentals | 12 Comments

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Im pretty excited about this video. It explores the idea of Ambient Occlusion shading to easily and quickly add
realism to Sketchup images via Photoshop. This is done without ever using a rendering engine such as MAX or
VRAY. The idea behind Ambient Occlusion is basically a really fast way of adding realism to a rendering by
adding shadows in corners where geometry meets. You will often see me adding this affect in a lot of the
videos I created using the BURN tool in Photoshop. This video demonstrates how easy it is to get a really cool
effect using just images exported from Sketchup, and a few tools from Photoshop.

If any of you have watched my Kerkythea clay model tutorial, you will notice that you get a similar look. The
rendering engine is doing all of the work for you. The idea behind this new video is to show the power of the
BURN tool in Photoshop, and how it can be applied to architectural illustrations. If there isnt a lot of complex
geometry in the image (in my case an aerial view of my design) than this method serves as an option to bypass
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using a rendering engine such as Kerkythea altogether and still get a really nice looking final result. Also, if
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your final illustration is looking a little flat, its an easy way to add a little punch to it.
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Photoshop Portfolio presentation

Quick Tips Rendering Sections settings

setup Site Plan Sketchup snow

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Exported Linework from Sketchup

Exported SU image with shadows turned on, line work turned off

Final Image after using the Burn tool and Gaussian Blur filter in Photoshop

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A couple of notes:

I may have overdone it a little with the blurring of the shadows haha. The main idea to take away from this part
is to avoid having really sharp shadow edges. The shadows cast by a building will usually have a little falloff,
adding more falloff as the shadow moves further away from the building

You will notice that in the beginning, I export an image with no lines, shadows turned on, and in shaded mode.
I then take it into Photoshop and tweak it so that I am left with just shadows. Sketchup 7 will not let me export
just shadows in hidden line mode. So this is a little work around I came up with. If you have any better ideas
on how to export just shadows, feel free to post them.

12Comments visualizingarchitecture
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adam 4yearsago
thankyousomuchdude.Yourblogrock.
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vuong 4yearsago
HiAlex.
Ithinkwecanexportonlyshadowsareaonmodelbythisway:
1.editstyle>backgroundsetting>disableskyandground,background:white
2.Facestyle:hiddenlineandthen:View>Edgesstyle:disableanystylesofedges
That&#39sall:allwehavenowonsketchupwindowisonlyshadowsarea.

Iwanttosaythankyouverymuchforyourtutorials,allofitareveryhelpfullformetoillustratemy
works.
Keepposting,bro^^.I&#39mwaitingforyournexttutsandprojects.Happynewyeartoyou!
1 Reply Share

Jan 4yearsago
You&#39redoinggreatjobpostingyourtuts.Thankyou!EverytimethatIcantgetonwithmywork
Icheckyourtutorialstogetsomeinspiration.

Keepitup!!
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eyka 4yearsago
thxalot..it&#39sreallyhelpme..=D
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Michela 4yearsago
Thank&#39sforyourtutorial!Yourjobit&#39samazing!I&#39maarchitecturalstudentof
FlorenceItaly
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ALEXHOGREFE 4yearsago
Thankseveryone
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Marcomazza 4yearsago
Thankyousomuchforsharing!!!Awesomestuff!
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Wolfgang 4yearsago
dude!urdoingamzingstuff,urincredible,tnxforthetutsisaexcelenthelpforme,imalmost
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graduateandformytesisitrealyhelps....fromvenezuelatnx
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douwe 4yearsago
amazingwork,thanksamillion!!
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EtaJames 3monthsago
Greattutorial!Thankyouverymuch
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hayley amonthago
thisissuchasmartandsimplemethodofquicklyaddingdepthtoyourrendering!thankyoufor
sharingyourinsightandworkflow,theyarereallyinspiring
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AvatarAdityaRaoheyalexgreatstuff!imsure AvatarAlfredR.M.ThanksAlexyou'reverykindto
manycs5userswouldbeverygreatfulifyou investmonthsofpreparationforyoursite,for
putupatutorialofhowwecandothe us.I'mverygrateful=D

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AvatarDaveMasonHiAlex,Justwonderingifyou AvatarAdnanDemirtasThankyouverymuchfor
werelookingintodoinganotherroundof sharinginformation.andthankyouverymuch
printingforyourlatestportfolio? forsharingyourinspiration.Ireallylike

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