Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Realistic Rendering

omrania

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stanmpd

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stanmpd

Belz A&C 

Memphis, TN 

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Rnorton

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We have just made the jump to Viz. Due to pressure of work I've been unable to get any renderings done but hope to do so very soon.

Once I've finished one I'll post the image for comparison...watch this space....

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omrania

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although i have a modest experience in revit , it can produce realstic renderings, if u can handle accurender materials and lighting , but its taking for ever to render,

but on the other hand other rendering engines , max or viz for example, are more user friendly , and gives u more powerfull parameters and options to control, and eventually photorealism in a shorter time ..

just remember u'll have to reassign materials and re introduce lights in all light fixtures after u imported ur model from revit , i still cant import a model from revit and mantain material assignment and lighting fixtures,

one other thing i used to use ies files in lights in max and it gave a realistic rendering for lights , i cant seem to get ies files to work for revit rendering, i downloaded revit mep and assigned an ies file to the light fixture and for some reason its lighting in the rendering view is the same, can any one advice!! thanx

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VASTTDC

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Sven

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Vasttdc - I think you'll find that most of this discussion realtes to earlier releases of revit. Should you be using '09, then the legendary Mr Spot has a blog and a powerpoint on rendering well worth digesting...(http://revitrants.blogspot.com/2008/07/revit-rendering-fundamentals.html)

I think you'll find by combining alot of the tips above, as well as these helpful hints from Mr Spot, you will come along in leaps and bounds... happy rendering.

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diesellam

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This topic is very subjective.  There are lots of interesting inputs.  Here are my 2 cents:

Everybody has his/her own definiton of "realistic".  Are we talking about rendering realistic, super photo realistic, etc.?

I don't believe there's a software out there that can "do-it-all" meaning that can model any types of geometry (SD phase), product ultra photo realistic rendering (DD phase), and product a complete set of construction document with ease (CD, CA phase), ALL in one package.

After playing with Revit for almost 2 weeks, I strongly believe that it's going to the future version of AutoCAD.  Forget about the lines, layers, updating the plans, sections and elevations at the same time, etc.  The term "drafting" doesn't seemt o apply anymore because we just don't "draft" in revit, we literally "model".  We literally build the whole building in the computer like the way we do on the job site.  Every consultant is going to contribute to this "Building Information Model", everybody is going to extract the info he/she needs during this process and not just a simple and pretty 3d model for presentation only.

I may be wrong, but each software has its own limitation (that's why there's always an upgrade version for each software in each year.)  It's just my 2 cents, but I still don't think Revit is good enough of a software when it comes to modeling complicated geometry.  It's very easy for me using FormZ / Rhino when it comes to modeling nurbz or 3d curves, etc.  But it may take forever or almost impossible to build such a complicated geometry in Revit, then it doesn't become feasible when it comes to efficiency and meeting the deadline.  Even if you are a "cracker-jack" in Revit and knows every single nut and bolt of it, I still don't think a person can model a complicated geometry in Revit faster than the person modeling the same thing in FormZ / Rhino.  And during SD/DD phase, design should be "free-flow process", meaning your design thinking process shouldn't be constrained by the limitation of the software.  For example, some people may think that geometry is too hard to build in this software, and therefore giving up the idea of thinking that direction and choosing a simpler form, to me that's totally wrong.

And for the super photo realistic rendering, check out this link, http://www.vismasters.com/gallery.cfm

To me, that's my definition of super photo realistic rendering, meaning it's almost impossible to tell whether that rendering is a real photo or a super high end rendering.  There's no way Revit can produce a rendering image close to that.  That's why Autodesk has high end softwares like 3d Studio Max 2009 and Maya.  It just doesn't make sense from a business strategy point of view that if Revit can product super realistic images all by itself.  Then no one is going to buy other softwares but just simply Revit.  I hope that the new FBX file format export to 3d Studio Max 2009 is going to be a next major step to make the RAC2009/Max2009 a good combo when producing super realistic renderings in the future (I'm still playing around with it.)

In a nutshell, this is my break down:

Modelling ultra complicated geometry (FormZ / Rhino)

Producing a well coordinated construction drawing set for submittal (Revit)

Producing super photo realistic rendering images (Maya, Maxwell, and hopefully RAC2009/Max2009 combo)

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coreed

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best regards,

coreed,aia

bmpArchitects,Inc.

"Revit has to be implemented, Not installed." 

Long Live Revit

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Jhui

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Now that Revit 2011 is out. Is 3DS still the go to rendering program? Would anyone know of any add-ons or programs that would enhance renderings?

Also, why do the tree and shrub RPCs still suck? 

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law6vf

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I'm trying to find a 3rd party rendering program/ plug-in for revit/BIM that would give a more photorealistic rendering.  Is there such a thing?  I've heard of Accurender, Strata, Viz, and 3DS MAX, but I am not sure what one really works. Any advice?

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itsmyalterego

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Revit's *current* mentalray engine is pretty much the best.  This thread is old, and starts off with well-placed dissatisfaction with the old Accurender engine.  

I guess the question is... what about your rendering do you dislike?  Some programs like 3dsmax allow you to add more objects--like fancy 3d-looking grass to your render.  But it's still the same rendering engine that's built into revit, so there won't be a dramatic difference.

And the extra step is never fun.  There are a great number of things that you can do to affect your renders.  With lights, and materials, and post-render saturation/exposure/warmth/shadow/mid/highlight manipulation.  It really does take trial and error to find the best settings for a render, and depending on the light conditions, you might have to totally redo the slider bars.

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