Sketchup D5 rendering workflow

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1

Hi all,

I’m working on a product rendering workflow using SketchUp and D5 Render. I have many different profiles (products), each placed on a separate layer in SketchUp. My goal is to render each profile individually using the D5 Render queue.

Here’s what I tried:

  • I created a SketchUp file with all profiles on separate layers.
  • I activated each layer one by one, added the scene to the render queue in D5.
  • I also tried creating separate SketchUp scenes with only one layer visible per scene.

Problem:
When I start the render queue in D5, it renders all scenes using the currently active layer in SketchUp — not the layer that was active when I added the scene to the queue. So all my renders end up showing the same profile.

I also tried exporting each profile as a separate .skp or .d5a file and importing them into my main D5 project. But then I have to manually drag each imported model into the scene, which is very time-consuming. There’s no option to auto-place them at their original coordinates.

Question:
Has anyone found a reliable way to batch render multiple SketchUp layers or profiles in D5 Render without manually placing each one? Is there a way to preserve layer visibility per render queue item, or auto-place imported models?

Thanks in advance!

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2

Hi @dirk.vanderbruggen, could you please share a screenshot of the view in SketchUp so we can clearly understand what you are trying to achieve?

I suggest creating multiple scenes and layers in D5, with each product visible in a separate scene. This way, you can add each scene containing a single product to the render queue.

For imported .d5a files, you can use the “Sync Coordinates” feature to restore the model to the absolute modeling coordinates.

How to align models imported separately? | User Manual

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4

For now I ended up exporting my tags to different sketchup files using Ruby. Imported it to d5 and set cordinates to 0,0. Then setting scenes and added to render que.

5

During LiveSync, D5 references the current viewport in SketchUp. If a layer is hidden in SketchUp and later turned on, the previously saved scenes in D5 will only reflect the currently visible layers from SketchUp.

Therefore, I recommend using the .d5a workflow and syncing the coordinates instead. This allows you to manage layer visibility more effectively directly within D5.