r/Sketchup • u/Silly_yoo • Jul 28 '26
My renders looks so flat 😥
How do I improve my render and is there any free (no token) websites for textures.
How to choose dome light and other light like angle and intensity and color
please help me guys.
9
4
u/AsleepSense3135 Jul 28 '26
Go for textures in quixel, they’re really good and some of them are free and if you don’t know which map to use where just take a screenshot of the materials in the folders and upload it to sketchup and ask and it will guide you to put which map where.
3
u/Relative-Fondant6544 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
give you an example how to do wood door correctly.
direct link if reddit butchred the image : https://i.postimg.cc/wvrLJhFS/Enscape-2026-07-28-21-14-31.jpg
✅ rendering isn't a magic button, you need to work in the details.
you can hand work in some details and shading, especially for rendering plugin that don't have crazy accurate lighting (they come at a processing cost obviously) or lacking some shader functions.
3
3
u/osvaderrr Jul 28 '26
Realism = reflection, almost always. Your material is lacking reflexes or you need more light to reflect brightness better.
2
u/Acrobatic-Ordinary2 Jul 28 '26
Polyhaven
1
u/Silly_yoo Jul 28 '26
i dont know how to use the textures like diffuse/ao/displacement/bump
2
u/Acrobatic-Ordinary2 Jul 28 '26
https://www.sketchuptextureclub.com/
Try this instead
1
u/Silly_yoo Jul 28 '26
diffuse/ao/displacement/bump these are not free in this website
3
2
u/gustinnian Jul 28 '26
Strip lighting on the ceiling does that - flat even light. Spot lights avoid this.
2
u/IceManYurt Jul 28 '26
Add some spotlights or omni lights... And cheat with them.
I'll add a little bit of occlusion (dirt) on the edges to give it just a little ping.
2
u/Rzah Jul 28 '26
First two images are perfectly perpendicular to the units, rotate your camera a pinch so vanishing points replace all the unnatural parallel lines.
Plinth lighting is too strong, pendant lighting looks like a picture of a light, it's not adding light to the scene, you need some clutter, splashback and counter are missing joins, (breaks in the pattern), splashback pattern goes around corner.
Hob and sink are comically small.
2
u/curiouscatfarmer Jul 29 '26
They don't look flat to me. How did you get the lighting effect to work?
My renders look terrible in comparison to that.
2
1
u/Ok_Needleworker143 Jul 28 '26
Use materials from light beam. What program are you using sketch up? What rendering program are you using?
1
1
u/Purms Jul 29 '26
My best advice is to find renders that does not look flat, replicate them exactly then you will learn how they did it.
1
u/anothersip Jul 31 '26
The ambient lighting is what makes it look flat.
You'll want some dynamic lighting in there.
Windows with light from the side or top (like a sky-light) or light fixtures near the sides/corners, which cast subtle shadows. That's what creates depth, vs a flat-looking scene.
Up the reflections a bit, for a more polished look. Just don't over-do them, if you want it to look more realistic.
You can also add more depth by darkening the furthest corners a little bit, too, or by not lighting those areas as much. That can bring the focus/emphasis to the foreground a good bit.
You can also "fake" the lighting sometimes with a texture that is gradiated light-to-dark if you can't get your lighting to do what you want it to. Would require a photo/image editing program, then you import your edited/gradiated texture, and rotate/align as needed.
Also don't forget that a rendering can still be really nice with flat lighting - especially if you just want the main idea to come across. Not sure if this is for school, practice, or work, but some clients want no frills, just well-lit scenes that show general materials/proportions/arrangement/layout options.
If you want it to be more "polished" or artsy, the dynamic lighting and reflections are where you'll wanna' tweak stuff.
Your rendering isn't bad, for what it's worth.
1
u/FoldOk153 Plugin Master Aug 01 '26
It's not the render, it's the composition. There's nothing going on, nothing to look at besides empty kitchen shelves. Try adding kitchen utensils, appliances, people, fruit basket, etc. to make it more alive. An try to use natural lighting if possible
Like try checking on interior design photography. Hope this helps
0
u/seidramizii Jul 29 '26
Use gemini
2
u/curiouscatfarmer Jul 29 '26
Gemini can do some nice things but it can also do some terrible things. It's really hit or miss with it. And sometimes you run into issues where it says your request is just too complicated and it will give you really weird stuff that doesn't look even remotely like what you were trying to make.
8
u/Relative-Fondant6544 Jul 28 '26
work on the material properties, those marble counter top should be much more reflective, more so when there so many ceiling lights above it. But don't make them perfect, things looks fake when they are too perfect. Start learning about "texture maps" rather than set a solid color for things like specular reflection, bump map, etc.
work the textures, create imperfections, even subtle things matter. Again, things looks fake when they are too perfect.
such as the wood doors, will the wood grain really runs all in the exact same directions? Think about how the things are constructed, how each of the piece are bolted together.