Free extension for SketchUp Beta

Four ways to render, straight from SketchUp.

Fast path-traced photorealism, plus illustrated, collage and watercolor looks. It runs on your own GPU: no AI, no credits, no subscription, no account.

Version 0.3.0 (beta) · 0.3 MB · SketchUp 2021 or newer

A house rendered in the Photorealistic look: path-traced sun and sky light, soft shadows, textured walls and a chrome ball reflecting its surroundings
Photorealistic look, 1920 px, rendered in about 11 seconds on the development machine. Sample scene.
No AI. Nothing is sent anywhere. Works offline. Up to 5K PNG or JPG Your files stay on your machine

Pick a look, tweak, render.

Frame your SketchUp view, choose a look and adjust the sliders with a live preview. All four images below come from the same simple test scene.

Photorealistic look

Photorealistic

Real sun and sky light, soft shadows, reflections and bounced light, cleaned by a smart denoiser so a clean image needs only a few seconds.

Illustrated look with a thin pen line and flat tones

Illustrated

Calm flat tones, a thin grey pen line, fine texture lines on paving and concrete, and leafy clumps for planting.

Collage look with a matte print grade and stippled planting

Collage

A muted, matte printed-photo look with a pale paper sky and stippled cut-out planting with blossom patches.

Watercolor look with a loose pen sketch and blue washes

Watercolor

A loose pen sketch with overshooting lines and construction lines, blotchy cloud washes and bare white paper.

Made to stay out of your way.

1

Real light, fast

Photorealistic reads your model, materials, camera and SketchUp sun, then path-traces it on your GPU. An edge-aware denoiser means far fewer samples are needed, so renders finish in seconds instead of minutes.

2

Real pen lines

Illustrated and Watercolor redraw your model's actual edges as hand-made pen strokes, with overshoots, wobble and construction lines, rather than filtering a screenshot.

3

No AI, no credits

Every look is a plain algorithm running on your computer. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing that runs out.

4

Print-ready output

Save PNG or JPG up to 5120 px wide. For Photorealistic you choose Draft, Standard, High or Ultra and see the estimated time for your machine first.

Three steps to your first render.

Install

Download the .rbz and add it in SketchUp's Extension Manager.

Frame your view

Orbit to the angle you want. Quick Render renders exactly what your viewport shows.

Pick a look

Choose one of the four looks, adjust, then Render & Save.

How to install

  1. Download QuickRender-0.3.0.rbz.
  2. In SketchUp open Extensions → Extension Manager.
  3. Click Install Extension and choose the file.
  4. If SketchUp warns the extension is unsigned, choose Yes. The beta is not yet signed by Trimble.
  5. Open it from Extensions → Quick Render.

You'll need

  1. SketchUp 2021 or newer
  2. A GPU with WebGL 2 (any recent laptop or desktop)
  3. A perspective camera for Photorealistic

Questions

Is it really free?

Yes. Download it, use it, and use the renders however you like.

Does it use AI?

No. Photorealistic is a physically based path tracer with a classic denoiser, and the other looks are algorithms. Nothing is uploaded and no credits are spent.

Will my render look exactly like the examples?

You get the style, applied to your own model. The looks are generated from your SketchUp geometry and materials, so people, cars and rich planting appear only if they are in your model (for example as cut-out components).

How fast is Photorealistic?

A clean preview appears within seconds, and a finished 1920 px image typically takes seconds to a minute depending on your GPU and the quality you choose. The dialog shows an estimate for your machine before you start.

Will my materials look right?

SketchUp materials have no roughness or metal settings, so the extension infers glass, metal, wood and gloss from material names and transparency. Naming a material "Chrome" or "Glass" is enough, and a Reflectivity slider adjusts it further. Glass uses a fast thin-glass model rather than full refraction.

How big a model can it handle?

Up to about 1.5 million triangles. For very heavy scenes, hide fine detail or use lower-detail components.

Is it finished?

This is an early beta, designed for SketchUp 2021 or newer. Feedback on models that do not render as expected is very welcome.

Try it on your own model.

Free download. Install in a minute.

Download for free (.rbz)