Hello Crafty,
To answer a different part of your question... Sketch up is not a renderer.
Sketch is good at creating models to use with more full featured programs like SH3D. SH3D is very good at making renders, and depending on what you like in details, there is a built in renderer and there is also a renderer that you can download called Advacned Rendering..
Sketch Up can be a total pain in the rear end if you are going to make a whole room. It's because Sketch is made for unreferenced 3d viewing which can cause the lines to snap to weird angles. But if you have a particular piece of furniture you want to custom make, Sketch is easier to learn than other modeling programs, and you can export your model to DAE and import them in SH3D.
I hope that helps with deciding between Sketch and SH3D.. I think it would be well worth it to learn both, but SH3D is much better at the whole room.
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