Hi guys and gals,
I need help or advice on staging photos. I work for a property marketing company and we want to be able to use sketchup to stage photos. Is it possible with decent results or am i barking up the wrong tree? Below is one attempt:
-Photo match for sketchup view
-Built shelves in sketchup decorated with enscape
-Masked image over original in photoshop
Problem is now shadows so things have no depth, any advice would be much appreciated.
Hi mintstick , so if you activate the "Use Viewport Aspect ratio" in the Capture tab of the Visual Settings, and when you then also activate "View Synchronization" before exporting a rendering, you will be able to overlay it over the SketchUp viewport, or images exported from the SketchUp viewport. 
Also, I can fully understand what you're trying to do, but I mentioned the overlay part because you may have to model some of the parts in order to also get some correct shadows - I think in the end it may be better to simply model the scene though, especially if it's a complicated one. It may always be tricky or almost impossible to just insert some objects into a photo and get correct shadows, if the light comes from different sources especially, then it may not be easy to add them in photoshop for example afterward.
Alongside, if you haven't already, you may also "Export Object-ID, Material-ID and Depth Channel" also via the the Capture tab of the Visual Settings - I'm not sure if you require this at all for your procedure, but it may help.
in my workflow I photomatch in Sketchup. Insert a 3D model. Export the model including material ID etc. Then use the material ID as mask in photoshop to overlay the 3D model on the original photo. Then match color and lighting.
I have not found a satisfactory way to export the model including the original photo.
I would love to hear if I am missing something. Please see the example below. The carwash (incl. cars etc.) are overlayed on an empty field.
Hi mintstick , so if you activate the "Use Viewport Aspect ratio" in the Capture tab of the Visual Settings, and when you then also activate "View Synchronization" before exporting a rendering, you will be able to overlay it over the SketchUp viewport, or images exported from the SketchUp viewport.
Also, I can fully understand what you're trying to do, but I mentioned the overlay part because you may have to model some of the parts in order to also get some correct shadows - I think in the end it may be better to simply model the scene though, especially if it's a complicated one. It may always be tricky or almost impossible to just insert some objects into a photo and get correct shadows, if the light comes from different sources especially, then it may not be easy to add them in photoshop for example afterward.
Alongside, if you haven't already, you may also "Export Object-ID, Material-ID and Depth Channel" also via the the Capture tab of the Visual Settings - I'm not sure if you require this at all for your procedure, but it may help.
thanks Demian i found using the material id good for masking and cutting out the parts i want, but yeah like you say hard to emulate shadows and lighting.
in my workflow I photomatch in Sketchup. Insert a 3D model. Export the model including material ID etc. Then use the material ID as mask in photoshop to overlay the 3D model on the original photo. Then match color and lighting.
I have not found a satisfactory way to export the model including the original photo.
I would love to hear if I am missing something. Please see the example below. The carwash (incl. cars etc.) are overlayed on an empty field.
yerah thats the workflow im using too, i did try projecting the texture onto the model which had some degree of good result but still not ideal. I think its just not an easy option to do with the two mediums
Compositing exterior photo is much easier than interior's!
You can hide a lot of artifact and and lighting is easy to replicate (it's a sun and sky)
Interior you need to take care of reflection, matched lighting, model requires up close details ...good luck!
Hi I follow the steps and I cant get this to work.
I have the image as I want it saved in a Sketchup Match Photo Scene.
I have the Use viewport Aspect Ratio selected.
I match the resolution to the SKP Export (1492x751 in this case)
View Synchronization is ON.
I go and render the Scene and it changes as I have it on the screen
Please Help!
What I'm I missing!
Display MoreHi I follow the steps and I cant get this to work.
I have the image as I want it saved in a Sketchup Match Photo Scene.
I have the Use viewport Aspect Ratio selected.
I match the resolution to the SKP Export (1492x751 in this case)
View Synchronization is ON.
I go and render the Scene and it changes as I have it on the screen
Please Help!
What I'm I missing!
Hey Sasha Schiavi ,
Unfortunately you cant do this in-render (though that might be a sweet feature!).
After you render you would need to composite the images in Photoshop or other photo editing software. Import all the images (Background photo, Render, Material ID pass), stack them in photoshop, then select the background from the Material ID pass and mask that part out of the render. Then hide your Material ID Pass and you'll have what you are after.
Hey Ted
Hey Sasha Schiavi ,
Unfortunately you cant do this in-render (though that might be a sweet feature!).
After you render you would need to composite the images in Photoshop or other photo editing software. Import all the images (Background photo, Render, Material ID pass), stack them in photoshop, then select the background from the Material ID pass and mask that part out of the render. Then hide your Material ID Pass and you'll have what you are after.
Hey Ted.Vitale! Thanks for your reply.
I don't think I was clear enough when I explained my problem.
Yes, I understand what you're saying about needing Photoshop to compose the image after rendering. That's how I usually do it. And I use the render channels to make my life really easy.
But my problem is, that even when I render, enscape changes the image's depth of field to what ever I have it set to in the Rendering Tab of the Visual Settings menu. The view Synchronization and the Use Viewport Aspect Ratio don't seem to work for getting the camera position and field of view exactly as I have it in sketchup.
I'm working around it by trying to match the depth of field of the image by flicking View Sync on and off and adjusting the FOV until I get it as close as possible. Then I render it. I use the presets to save this so I have it set to each of the images I want to render.
Thanks. If you have any ideas on what may be going (or me doing) wrong, please share!
