Solid Iris (the folks behind freeware renderer Kerkythea and Thea Render Studio) have been busying themselves over the past few months, having successfully updated their latest render plugin, Thea for SketchUp. With an updated UI and and many new features it has certainly got tongues wagging. Previously the SketchUp plugin served as a platform to access their already highly popular Thea Render. Now its fully integrated and the latest version takes away the need to export your scenes from SketchUp by introducing a new rendering window within SketchUp. With a great support network (hugely important with new software) which you can access over at their Thea Render Forum and a 20% discount during the beta period, currently it seems we have a win win situation here. Just after Christmas, we managed to have a chat with the folks behind it and learned a bit more about what all the fuss is about.
Many people have known Kerkythea the powerful, standalone, free render engine for a number of years now and of course Thea, which uses the same top quality engine (as do Podium and Twilight Render), what has prompted the Solid Iris team to develop this latest new plug-in for SketchUp?
Let us answer by telling the whole story then. Back in 2008, when we published Kerkythea Echo version, the feedback especially from SketchUp community was very enthusiastic – and still is! At that moment, the idea of a new commercial – sister – product (Thea Render) was born and it took nearly 2 years of research and development, shaping the new product almost from scratch. As a commercial application, Thea Render is superior in many ways to Kerkythea. At the end, it was the enthusiasm of the SketchUp community that made us invest in this modeling application and prioritize it.
Who are the team behind Thea for SketchUp’s development and its creation?
Tomasz Marek, as an architect and developer, is working on the connection, Ioannis Pantazopoulos is working on the core engine and studio interface, Patrick Nieborg is working on the content, Pentti Lahdenperä leads the forum technical support and Christina Psarrou is working on the website and documentation. This is the core team for the SketchUp plugin, so to speak, but there are many community members giving great help, like Kim Frederik Blom Semelin and Nige Copeland.
Garden Summer by David Hennessy
SketchUp already has many popular rendering plug-ins, why develop another?
With so much positive feedback from SketchUp community, there could be no other decision.
Do you need Thea Studio to use this plug-in?
Yes and no. The plugin at this phase still uses some elements that come with the studio, for example, the material editor. The studio is also needed if someone wants to make use of some features that are available only there (for example, Relight animation) or perform 64-bit rendering without RAM limitations. Even with respect to material setup, if someone wants to edit Thea materials, it is better to do that in the studio, which is more optimized in that aspect. Still, with the plugin, you will do most of your work without leaving SketchUp and we are currently working on making it as autonomous as possible.
Can you give us an overview of the core technology behind Thea for SketchUp, or more simply …what’s under the hood, what makes it so different?
The major difference you will see is the multiple engine support. Thea’s unbiased core is probably the best unbiased engine one can get, but we were not purists staying there. Thea has a biased also engine, using the “traditional” techniques of photon mapping and final gathering, which has received now a tremendous boost. A new engine running on the GPU will be available in the upcoming edition v1.2. And switching from one engine to another is just a selection away. In short, with Thea Render, our users get three different technologies in the price of one.
Are we going to be banging our heads off the wall now, or put more simply….how hard is it to use and learn this new plug-in?
We tried to keep things simple with the plugin. We avoided going too far with settings but instead hided most of the complexity. For users that want to dive deeper, there is always the studio. ?
Who would you say this render plug-in best suited for, the pro, hobbyist or both?
We are using Thea Render professionally ourselves, in architecture and 3D graphics and we understand very well the requirements of the diverse SketchUp community. We definitely address both groups.
'Chahe Chale Churiya', 06.
'Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon' 04. 'Main Har Ek Pal Ka Shayar Hoon' 05.
![Kabhie kabhie 1976 film Kabhie kabhie 1976 film](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123753387/314356857.jpg)
Living in Hanoi by Nomer Adona
![Thea Studio Download Thea Studio Download](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123753387/601417066.jpg)
The one question most people will want asked….what are processing times like, based on a relatively basic computer setup?
There is no easy answer for that. Thea Render, being in the category of photorealistic rendering software, does not give real time response. Instead, it is intended for high quality rendering, simulating the light scattering in space. From our comparisons, Thea has now the fastest true unbiased engine and one can still go with the biased engine and get a great result in a short time. With the addition of the GPU engine the interactivity is also maximized. Speaking about processing times in an absolute manner is not possible as this is very dependent on the scene and material complexity, machine power and efficiency, settings and engine used.
How positive has the reaction been so far with this Beta release?
• You can get it from the external sources for free.
Follow the given steps to successfully run the for pc:- • Get the Android emulator with you are more familiar. • If you don’t ever use any emulator then you can go with the leapdroid emulator.
![Apks Apks](https://lastdayearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/hack-last-day.jpg)
The reaction has been very positive. We were somehow expecting that but we are always happy to see the warm feedback of the users.
What will make me run out and buy (metaphorically speaking) Thea for SketchUp….what has it to offer in comparison to other similar Plug-ins?
Thea Studio Serial
It offers pretty much everything. Thea for SketchUp is a complete solution with multiple render engines, exclusive materials and it comes with a studio on its own. On top of that, I want to add something not easily seen; long term upgrades and support. Right now, we are close to three years of published upgrades and we are still before major improvements in v1.2. All updates in v1.x series are free of charge for our users which means years of development without additional fees. Compare that to other rendering software upgrade cycle.
Shell Chair by Massimo Siracusa
One final question…what’s next from you guys?
Our next milestone is publishing v1.2 edition which will be soon out. We have various great ideas about the (near) future but we would like to keep them as a surprise. ?
We now have Thea inside SketchUp! ….what next?
For Software, Tutorials, Gallery and Forums visit the Thea Render website.
Troy Homenchuk, based out of Michigan, runs his own design studio called Inside Out Viz. Troy has a background in architecture, urbanism and design. His design studio builds 3D digital models, produces renderings, photo manipulation, and consults with professionals, who want to bring their in-house rendering workflow to the next level. Here Troy shares with us his workflow on how to get SketchUp models into Thea for a quick render.
For those of you who use SketchUp and want to get serious about producing high quality renderings, I suggest Thea for SketchUp. There are many good rendering engines that integrate well with SketchUp, but I like the big three – Maxwell, V-Ray for SketchUp, and Thea. For ease of use, speed, and quality, I find Thea to be my top choice. V-Ray offers the greatest variety of shaders, and Maxwell has a rich library of pre-made materials. Really, you can’t go wrong with any of these three. But if you’re interested in getting your SketchUp models into Thea for a quick render, I’m sharing this little tutorial that takes you through my workflow. It’s not perfect but it works for me. So enjoy and feel free to ask questions if you have any. The design is by Ethan McMorrow Design and modeled by Robert Scott Residential Designs.
Step 1
First check the model in Monochrome mode, as all faces must be facing out. By doing this you will be able to see immediately what your face orientation is like.
Step 2
After checking your faces, enable Shadows and adjust your daylight as desired.
Select Shadows
Step 3
Start the Thea Tool window and select your aspect ratio. In this particular case I used SketchUp Window.
Step 4
In the Thea Tool window select the Tools tab and Save Thea scene to your computer (you should get a message saying your scene has been saved successfully).
Save Scene
Step 5
Open Thea Studio and find your saved file and open your scene.
Step 6
Click on the Interactive Render button in the Active Render toolbar and find Sun in the Tree View (you may have to scroll down). If your sun is not enabled, the scene will be dark. Refer to step 9 if there is no sun at all.
Step 7
Make sure the correct scene is selected. With the little camera tab under Properties selected (Properties>Current View Properties), check to see the size (Resolution) you want and that it is correctly entered.
Correct Scene and Size
Step 8
Select the materials you want to edit if you wish (a warning has appeared in my model, some bitmaps are missing, so click the button on the left for details’)
TIP: If this should happen, you can render regardless, but if you want to recover them, click on the Textures tab where you see the warning symbols.
They indicate that there are some missing bitmap files. Right click on the symbol.
Then click Missing Bitmaps, and you will get a list of files you need to track down if you wish.
Step 9
In Settings, click on Environment>Sky and make sure you have enabled Physical Sky.
Step 10
Head down to the Biased tab and click on General tab. Under Main>Engine Core select Adaptive (BSD). Then under Channels tab select the following: Alpha, Object ID, Material ID, AO, Reflection and Refraction.
Settings
Step 11
Under the Render tab select Biased RT and enable Ambient Occlusion.
Step 12
Now look under the Biased GI tab. If you have something that uses caustics (water for example) you can adjust this under the Caustics tab. Small Estimation Photon number will produce sharper caustics and reduced render time. Larger numbers do the opposite.
Step 13
Next we head to the Dark Room situated between Viewport and Console.
Darkroom
Click on the start button.
Step 14
The Start Render window will pop up. This gives you the opportunity to make sure you have the right scene and resolution. Click the ‘tick’ button to start your render.
Start Render
Raw render output.
Final render after post production.
Final Render
Thanks for reading
![Thea studios santorini Thea studios santorini](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123753387/135166764.jpg)
Troy Homenchuk
Troy’s website, where you can contact him and see more of his work: IO Viz
Please select the version corresponding to your operating system by clicking on the appropriate link below. By downloading and installing the software, you agree to the license agreement. Developed by Solid Iris Technologies.
Check out Changes Log here. All available software is subject to our end user license agreement. |
Thea Render Studio Free Download Latest Version for Windows. It is full offline installer standalone setup of Thea Render Studio.
Thea Render Studio Overview
Thea Render Studio is an impressive application which can be used for creating or editing existing 3D objects by using multiple editing tools. It can also be used for generating a highly detailed preview through a very powerful render engine with various different presets. You can also download Octane Render.
Thea Render Studio has been mostly oriented towards visualization as well as rendering. This application has been equipped with a wide variety of objects you can insert textures, materials and loads of other editing tools. You can also insert application specific objects and OBJ, 3DS and SIA files. There is a side panel that has been equipped with multiple tabs like material lab, biased, inbiased, interactive, animation and instancing make sure that every object has been completely manipulated. In order to manage the individual objects you can create multiple layers. Selection ahs been made easier by implemented object explorer. All in all Thea Render Studio is an impressive application for creating or editing existing 3D objects by using multiple editing tools. You can also download Maxwell Render Studio 4.2.0.3 with Plugins.
Features of Thea Render Studio
Below are some noticeable features which you’ll experience after Thea Render Studio free download.
- An impressive application which can be used for creating or editing existing 3D objects by using multiple editing tools.
- Can also be used for generating a highly detailed preview through a very powerful render engine with various different presets.
- Mostly oriented towards visualization as well as rendering.
- Equipped with a wide variety of objects you can insert textures, materials and loads of other editing tools.
- Can also insert application specific objects and OBJ, 3DS and SIA files.
Thea Render Studio Technical Setup Details
- Software Full Name: Thea Render Studio
- Setup File Name: Thea_Render_1.4_Studio.zip
- Full Setup Size: 109 MB
- Setup Type: Offline Installer / Full Standalone Setup
- Compatibility Architecture: 32 Bit (x86) / 64 Bit (x64)
- Latest Version Release Added On: 27th Sept 2018
- Developers: Thea Render Studio
System Requirements For Thea Render Studio
Before you start Thea Render Studio free download, make sure your PC meets minimum system requirements.
- Operating System: Windows 2K/XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10
- Memory (RAM): 1 GB of RAM required.
- Hard Disk Space: 800 MB of free space required.
- Processor: Intel Dual Core processor or later.
Thea Render Studio Free Download
Click on below button to start Thea Render Studio Free Download. This is complete offline installer and standalone setup for Thea Render Studio. This would be compatible with both 32 bit and 64 bit windows.