Tips to increase efficiency when working in large and detailed Sketchup models?

I was wondering if anyone has any tips to maximize efficiency of the program when working with large and detailed projects. I am about to start a larger project that I plan to use a lot of lighting and detail. Does grouping or making geometry into components make it more efficient to render once the model gets more complex? Does hiding layers or groups that aren't going to be present in the rendering help? I am just now starting this project and I want to build my model according to what maximizes the program.

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Permalink Reply by Render Plus on February 10, 2012 at 10:38pm

Grouping and Components does not help

Layering helps a lot - because if you turn off layers for various scenes, then we do not have to process them.

Hiding things also helps

And avoid unnecessarily complex geometry (such as a round table leg with 512 sides, when 12 will probably work fine)

Also, sometimes complex geometry in the background - such as a complex window, or trees, can be replaced with images placed in the SketchUp model.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren Romein on February 11, 2012 at 5:34am

Thanks!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Richcat on February 11, 2012 at 5:35am

Also remember to purge the model in sketchup before rendering

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Permalink Reply by Randy S on February 15, 2012 at 5:35am

Here's a tip if you are doing LED strip lighting... DO NOT attempt to create a light for each physical LED. That can quickly run into the hundreds to thousands. Instead you can either use the Panel light, or simply light the strip as a whole.

I learned this the hard way. After simplifing the geometry, my render times went from about 2 hours down to 10 minutes. Not surprising... when I lit each LED I had about 400 lights in the model. After the replacement I had only 3 and it made a world of difference.

hth