If you've used Google SketchUp before, you've likely heard of Maxwell -- a photo renderer that works inside of SketchUp and makes your models photo-realistic. We have talked about Maxwell before, as the resulting images can be stunningly realistic.
They recently held a contest to see who could create the best render and the results were amazing! The winner of the "Licensed Category" was Brodie Geers with this image:
The winner of the "Free Category" was Arcen Dockx with this image:
The images are all unbelievable, and it gives us some idea of how great the models in Google Earth may look some day. I encourage you to view the full results on the Google SketchUp blog, as all of the submissions were truly amazing.