How can I create a video which shows lighting changes?

I am searching the internet for a tool that works with Sketchup your homepage came closest and is may be even successfull end of my journey.

I am looking for a tool that illuminates houses while the Sketchup modell changes into night time. The whole thing should submit the feeling as if you were right in the middle of illuminated marketplace, where spots illuminate the fronts of the building (imagine the lights in the ground), sort of like malls are illuminated at night, the EPCOT CENTER's buildings around the lagoon or historic buldings like the Capitol in Washington.

If that tool is not part of your program, could you please give me an advice whether there is such a thing at all? And if it is part of your offer, could you please lead me to a sample to watch on your website?

Thanks very much in advance, and by the way HAPPY NEW YEAR

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Permalink Reply by Render Plus on January 8, 2011 at 8:34pm

The easiest way right now is to use lighting channels for interior light groups, and for the sun and Sky.

(To turn the Sun and Sky off at the same time, put them in the same channel - currently the default is to use separate channels to make it easier to balance them.)

Then after rendering you can do what you suggest:

1. Turn off all interior lights

2. Lower the Sun and Sky a bit to seem like Dusk.

3. Then flip on one of the lighting channels to turn on a group of lights

4. Lower the Sun and Sky some more,

5. Turn on more lights, etc.

If you do this while recording the changes with a screen oriented movie maker (like Camtasia), then you can get a prettty good movie.

I talked this over with Rich, and if you and other think this would be worth pursuing, we may make a change to our Animation routines to let you sepcify lighting channel intensities between key frames, and flipping lights on and off at key frames to achieve the effect directly.

Take a look at ourLighting Channels video to see how they work for this type of effect.