AMD or NVIDIA 3D graphics card with 1GB+ of memory.

100GB+ of storage (models and assets take up a lot of space).

16GB of RAM (32 or 64 better if you have the budget).

If you want to know what I use, you can check out this Dell XPS laptop. I’ll instead list what you NEED, not necessarily top of the line (although you could), but enough to let you work efficiently. PC), and I’m not even going to mention the minimum requirements because honestly, you can barely run both with those and you will become frustrated with slow performance and application crashes. So what type of computer do you need to run SketchUp and V-Ray efficiently? I’ll break it down for you by operating system (Mac vs. No exceptions to that unfortunately (for now). Now, if you want to show your clients a 3D model in SketchUp on-site, or something like that, you can use the iPad app, but for serious SketchUp work, you absolutely need a PC or Mac. You can’t use V-Ray on an iPad (SketchUp extensions are not supported on an iPad), so that right there is the kiss of death if you are trying to create photorealistic renders as part of your business. It’s “lite” and does not have all the functionality you need to use SketchUp professionally. The SketchUp app for iPad is fairly new, and it’s equivalent to the web browser version of SketchUp. I actually think SketchUp works better on a PC (toolbars are much easier to work with), but most of my students in FOCUSED SketchUp use a MacBook Pro.

Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I answer these questions, so instead I’m answering them in-depth below!įirst, you should know that both SketchUp and V-Ray are compatible with Macs and PC’s.

Two common questions I get asked multiple times a week are “can I use an iPad for SketchUp” and “What type of computer do I need for SketchUp?”.

Vray next mac