Use images and textures for faster rendering

Fractal Tree created with RpTreeMaker

SketchUp, and most renderers, do an excellent job rendering images and texture materials.
For background objects, and other objects for which 3D detail is not important, use images instead.
There is a free plugin for SketchUp - RpTreeMaker - which can be used to create tree images which can speed up your rendering time.

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Use Panoramic Views to reveal entire model

SketchUp model by Boothy rendered as a Panorama with IRender nXt and viewed in a web page. You can spin, zoom, look up and look down on the entire scene.

Create a full 360 degree panoramic image which can be turned into a movie and embedded in a web page.

A Panoramic image is created by rotating the camera while rendering to create a full 360 x 360 degree image.

You can create Panoramic Views by check the make Panoramic View check box on the Render Setup Tab dialog.

Most software to process Panoramic Views requires that the aspect ratio be 2:1 (e.g. 2000 x 1000) pixels. So the rendering resolution will automatically be set to a ratio of 2 to 1.

You can view the flash movie made from the Panoramic image here: Panoramic Viewer

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