SketchUP Podium

Well...if you are a SketchUp user and you haven't tried this out yet, it might be time you give it try. People are getting interested around the web, and Podium claims there is "no experience" required. Could this be the answer to finally making photorealism simple for everyone? Go here to download the free trial and find out.

Also search this page for Vray for SketchUP, another option for going photoreal with SketchUP.

Gimp Tutorial - A perfect alternative to Photoshop

Photoshop is such an essential program for all forms of CG, and digital photography. Unfortunately, it is a fairly expensive program. For those of us who don't own Photoshop, there is a great free download that can act as an alternative. GIMP is the name of the program. Here you can find several tutorials for GIMP. I think you will see that it has many of the capabilities of Photoshop, including masking, pen tools, and other powerful features.

The picture shown here goes with a tutorial on how to turn a photo into a sketchy image. This effect looks exactly similar to what Photoshop can do. Try it out.

Modo has been getting a lot of press lately. I has been praised as an innovative new approach to 3d. Perhaps the most intriguing feature is the ability to do parametric painting right in your viewport. The program also claims to be able to instantly update renders as you paint on them in 3d with a constantly rendering viewport. Besides these interesting abilities, Modo also claims to be very user friendly, and very fast! It's worth checking out. Download a free trial here. 30 day full trial version (the full version is only $895!).

Nice Site - A Bunch of Free Software

This site offers links to a whole lot of great free software downloads from around the web. The software ranges for CADD, to 3d modeling, to vector graphics, to photo editing, to compositing, and even audio and video editing. The list of software also includes the GIMP image editing software, which is a great free alternative to PhotoShop if you can't afford it. It has an amazing amount of capabilities...and a perfect price! Try it, and all the other software out.
Visit the site.

Vray For Sketchup

A third party extension for sketchup allows you to use Vray, an industry leader in photorealistic renderings, together with Google's Sketchup, one of the simplest and most intuitive modeling programs available.

Here is our collection of Vray for Sketchup Tutorials.

Here is an enormous collection of free textures that might help you as you learn.

Quest 3d - a realtime renderer

There is a new release of Quest 3d. If you haven't seen this before you need to check it out. It is a realtime renderer that can do some amazing things. Imagine your animations becoming completely navigable, just like a video game. There are many possibilities. Go here and make sure and check out the demos. You'll be amazed at the quality of images. Download the free demo and try it out.
http://quest3d.com/index.php?id=201

SketchUP Free

If you don't own any 3d software, SketchUP free is a good place to start. SketchUP continues to get more and more appealing with all the third party plugins that are now available for it. It is now possible to combine easy modeling tools with photorealistic rendering. SketchUP is definitely one of the easiest software packages to learn, and it is a good introduction into 3d. SketchUP also offers a vast library of 3d models for your use. For all those who use other programs these models can potentially be exported and used there also. Lots of useful stuff. Visit the site and explore a little bit. Make sure to check out the 3d wharehouse that is full of free models.

http://www.sketchup.com/?sid=4

Vismasters - Lots of High Quality Free Stuff

Vismasters doesn't only have the best visualization images on the net, but it also has resources for all the best software. This link connects you to free samples and tutorials for all the proffesional software you use, including Vray, Maxwell, Bionatics and others.

http://commerce.vismasters.com/download/view/type/?dtid=2

Vismasters has recently announced it's brand new exchange area as well. Here you can upload textures, and download others' textures. For the most part these are very high quality textures and it is a real privelage to be able to download them for free. You have to register, but don't worry it well worth it. Check out the gallery while your there...amazing! Here is the exchange:

http://commerce.vismasters.com/exchange/

Podium - Photo Realistic Render Plugin for SketchUp

Here is a free download of a new rendering plugin for SketchUp. Podium allows you to create true photorealistic images using SketchUp. Try it out!

http://www.suplugins.com/