Step 3 – Assigning materials
You have seen earlier that Thea will use and import SketchUp colors and texture images in the test renders. Luckily, most outdoor materials have a matte appearance that can be well represented with the default material properties. So, all you need to do to achieve a realistic rendering is to tweak the materials that are already set up from SketchUp.
For indoor scenes, you will want to replace most of the materials with special optical characteristics that are not available in SketchUp. These are:
Transparent Materials: These include windows, solid glass objects, and clear liquids. Windows and water surfaces are the most common in architectural renderings.
Translucent Materials: These include frosted glass and some natural stone such as marble. They also include thin fabrics and liquids such as milk. You will find these materials mostly in interior scenes.
Polished Metals: These include chrome, gold, silver, stainless steel, copper and so on. Metals do reflect...
