As easy as Enscape. With light that looks real.
Enscape made rendering in SketchUp easy: click, and your model appears in real time. But its images come from game-engine techniques that approximate the light, it wants a dedicated graphics card, and it costs about $575 every year. Rayscaper is just as easy to start, simulates the light with a path tracer, runs without a gaming GPU, and costs $99 once.
On a Mac? Get Rayscaper for Mac, for Apple silicon.
At a glance
| Feature | Rayscaper | Enscape |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $99 once, a year of updates included | About $575 a year |
| Try it | Free version without a time limit | 14-day trial |
| Rendering | Path tracing: the light is simulated | Real time, with game-engine techniques and optional ray tracing |
| Runs | Inside SketchUp, live | In its own window next to SketchUp, live |
| Hardware | Any Windows PC (NVIDIA GPU optional) or Apple silicon Mac | Dedicated GPU recommended |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS (Apple silicon) | Windows, macOS on Apple silicon |
| Made for | Photorealistic stills and animations | Walkthroughs, VR and presentations |
What it costs you
- Enscape
- Rayscaper
Enscape is about $575 a year, billed yearly, on the Chaos website in October 2026. Prices are in US dollars without taxes and may differ in your region. Rayscaper is $99 once with a year of updates included; the totals don't count later upgrades. Not happy with it? Get your money back within 14 days.
Why SketchUp users switch from Enscape
Light you can trust
A path tracer follows the light as it bounces: daylight spilling across a floor, a lamp warming a wall, a room reflected in a window. That's what makes an interior look photographed instead of rendered.
No gaming GPU needed
Rayscaper renders on an NVIDIA GPU when you have one and on the CPU when you don't, and on the GPU of an Apple silicon Mac. The office PC or laptop you model on will do.
Still live
You keep the live view: Rayscaper updates the moment you change the model, and its AI denoiser cleans up the image in seconds.
$99, once
Five years of Enscape cost about $2,875. A Rayscaper license costs $99, with a year of updates, and keeps working after that.
Made by Rayscaper users
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Exterior Scene · Majid Yeganegi -
Loft Cuisine · Julien Fischel -
Guggenheim Museum · Rich O'Brien
When Enscape is the better choice
Enscape is good at what it was built for. Stay with it if:
- You present designs in VR, or walk clients through a model in real time.
- You make long animations and need frames in milliseconds, which only a real-time renderer gives.
- You rely on Enscape's library of furniture, people and vegetation.
If that isn't you, you're paying for more than you use. Try Rayscaper on your next project and compare.
Switching from Enscape
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Install Rayscaper next to Enscape
Both work with the same SketchUp model. Open your project and click Start Render.
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Check the materials
Colors and textures come from your SketchUp materials. Make the windows Glass and the fixtures Metal, and the light does the rest.
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Set the scene
The sun comes from SketchUp. Pick a sky or one of 1,000+ HDRIs, and place Rayscaper's lights for the lamps.
See it on your own model
The free version has no time limit: open the project you're working on and watch it render. If you like what you see, a license is $99, once, and you can get your money back within 14 days.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a Rayscaper render take?
Rayscaper shows the render at once and refines it while you look; a clean image takes from seconds to a few minutes, depending on the scene and your hardware. Enscape draws many frames per second, which is what real-time rendering is for, but it approximates the light that Rayscaper simulates.
Do I need a graphics card for Rayscaper?
No. On Windows, Rayscaper renders on an NVIDIA GPU when it finds one, with hardware ray tracing on RTX cards, and on the CPU otherwise. On a Mac it renders on the GPU of Apple silicon.
Can Rayscaper make walkthroughs or VR?
Rayscaper renders animations between your SketchUp scenes, frame by frame, and 360° panoramas. It has no real-time walkthrough or VR mode.
Does Rayscaper run on a Mac?
Yes: on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or newer), macOS 14 or later and SketchUp 2025 or 2026.