Monoscopic 360° Images with SketchUp

In this guide I will cover the basics of how to render a monoscopic 360° image in SketchUp, which can be viewed both in your browser, as well as in various virtual reality headsets, such as a Google Cardboard or a Samsung GearVR. A guide for stereoscopic images can be found here.

Used in This Tutorial

• SketchUp Make 2017
• Twilight Render V2

Step 1. Setting Up

Before you get started in SketchUp, you need to download and install Twilight Render V2 Hobby edition, which can be found here. We will need it shortly.

Step 2. Getting Started

Open your model in SketchUp. Here is the model I will be using for this demonstration.

Step 3. Picking the Camera Location

Next, you need to pick a vantage point for your render. For a monoscopic just pick a point and place your camera there. If your experience should be viewed standing, the view point should be at approximately eye height for a standing person, which is just over 150 centimeters. Adjust as you wish for seated experiences.

Step 4. Rendering

Now it’s time to render your image. Open the Rendering panel of Twilight Render.

You should get a window that looks like this:

Here, you need to change a few settings. First, pick a quality you want to render at. Click the Render Preset option, and pick one of the following:

Second, change Size to something with a 2:1 Ratio and make sure ‘Fit to view proportions’ is unchecked. Good sizes for viewing in VR are 2048×1024 or 4096×2048. For your final render, at least 4096×2048 is preferable.

Update Content should be set to ‘All’

In Camera settings, make sure Projection is set to ‘Spherical’

With all that set, you should be ready to render your image. Hit the Render button and wait for the image to complete:

When it is finished, make sure to save your work

You should get an image that looks something like this, depending on your model of course:

This is called an equirectangular panorama, and can be used by most 360° image viewers. Displaying your 360° images is covered here.