Revit Lobby Rendering

Here is the second rendering done in Revit. The main differences you might see are that my file corrupted her chairs in her lobby, and I replaced them with a couple task chairs, just to have something there. Instead of the white space photoshopped renderings artistically bring in, the whole view is rendered. The shadows on white walls make it look more like a textured color than white, but the overall lighting qualities and shadows make it look more realistic.

Rendering Ashley's File In Revit

This is how far the rendering is as of right now. I have added lights, and some wall material while trying to edit the materials on the furniture.

FINAL

We decided to research and plan a study to compare rendering with Revit rendering options as opposed to rendering a Revit wire frame with Photoshop. We wanted to compare materiality, lighting, and the overall graphic quality of the two different styles.

We predicted that using only Revit would produce photorealistic renderings with more attention to detail. They would also have accurate lighting, reflection, and shadow. The materials used would also have the right transparency and accurate interactions with other materials in the space. As far as time efficiency goes, I believe that while it takes less time to set up a rendering by applying materials, lighting, and running a few region draft renderings, it takes longer for Revit to render it. In the past I have had a rendering take 14 hours. This of course is dependent on what materials are in the space, what the lighting is like, the size ad quality of the image you are creating, and the computer you are using.

We predicted that the Photoshop renderings would produce a more humanized style. There could be a smooth integration moving from the Revit wire frames to a Photoshop rendering that produces a hand drawing sketchy quality that sometimes is desired. Because of this, it can portray a concept well. and possibly better, than Revit can. The materiality can still be applied with Photoshop but it wouldn’t be as realistic, depending on the piece it is applied to.

Our research was mainly done online, with reference to blogs and Revit instructional sites. Also, some links from our classmate’s blogs were used. They talked about applying custom materials in Revit to using Photoshop to create a hand drawn look from Revit wire frames.

Personally, I have discovered that I enjoy a combination of the two the best. I enjoy letting Revit handle some materiality and all of the lighting, but I feel I have more control over doing other elements in Photoshop. I also like using Photoshop for things that would take a long time to create for Revit when I could just copy and paste it, and copy and distort a shadow in a Photoshop file in significantly less time. In Photoshop I can also bring out and bring more attention to certain aspects of the rendering. I believe this study was a great asset in helping me discover what I can do to create time efficient realistic renderings yet still add a personal touch to them.

RESULTS

Going back to my original question of whether or not Revit is the best program for rendering or if Photoshop is better, my final answer is that neither is better. The best scenario is to combine the two so that they can work in harmony with one another. By using both, you can take the strengths of each to enhance your rendering experience. One of the greatest benefits of Photoshop other than its sketchy quality, is its ability to speed up the rendering process. It did not take me much time at all to re-create Kristen’s lobby in Photoshop. However, not every aspect of the image is rendered entirely. Some areas are left blank, and that’s okay because that is the style. On the other hand, Revit renderings take a large amount of time to produce and can be very tedious. However, if you export the rendering at a lower quality without every material specified and then enhance it in Photoshop, you may actually produce a stronger rendering in less time. The bottom line is that there are successes and downfalls of both Revit and Photoshop, but it is the unique combination of using both that produces truly beautiful renderings that bring out the best qualities of both programs.

RESEARCH

Through researching several tutorials on both Revit City and Revit Kid and also research on AutoDesk, I was able to gain a greater understanding into the method of combining Revit and Photoshop. These tutorials and research proved that it is possible to use both programs in harmony with one another. If the sketchy look is so coveted as well as the honest look, then combine them to have both. Revit City provided a great example as to taking a Revit produced model and putting it into Photoshop to replace some of the color and give definition to the edges to make it look drawn. The outcome is an honest, pure drawing that looks like it may have been done by hand.

OUTCOME

The final outcome of my rendering is a much sketchier, hand-touched version of what I started with. The question is, does that make it better? I feel as though that is up to the individual, and everyone will have a different opinion. Some clients might prefer the more photorealistic, hard appearance of Revit, while others might want the renderings to look more hand-crafted. It also depends on what the designer feels comfortable with.

In this case, the final outcome of our test was that we ended up with two very different versions of our lobby spaces. There is a clear difference between rendering in Photoshop versus rendering in Revit. Revit produces photorealistic and honest drawings. Photoshop produces drawings that are sketchy, stylized, and leave a lot of detail left up to the imagination.

METHOD

By switching Revit files, we have both been given the unique opportunity to create a new rendering of each other’s project in our own style. The challenge has certainly been to match design intentions, such as using the correct materials and surfaces. Communication has been key throughout this entire process to ensure that we are both staying true to our original design intentions. In the end, we only want to test the final outcome of the renderings as far as how successful they are at conveying the design, not the design itself. The specific method I have chosen to follow is to export Kristen’s lobby view as a jpeg and pull it into Photoshop. Then I added the people that she had originally placed. Next I started drawing lines over the entire drawing to give it a sketchy feel. I then continued with the rendering process of adding color to walls, filters to people and materials, texture to furniture, lights, shadows, etc.

Phase 4

Phase 3 Progress

By adding fabric to the couch and copper to the reception desk, texture and color is added to the rendering. By scanning in actual samples of these materials, the rendering is able to look realistic and true to the materials that were selected for the space. Next, I will spend time on the flooring as well as shadowing.

Phase 2 Progress

Next, I have reduced the opacity of the original image entirely. Color has been added to the walls as well as a few lights. The feeling of a hand-drawn rendering is starting to come through. Next I will add texture and materiality to the furniture.

Phase 1 Progress

To start the photoshop rendering process of this image, I first uploaded it to photoshop and increased the canvas size so that I had enough room around the image to draw.
After increasing the canvas size, I am able to decrease the images opacity in order to draw lines over the image. These lines give the rendering a feeling of being hand-drawn. Next, I add filters to the people and lights to give it a more sketchy feel.

Revit Kid example

Revit Kid writes about his experience using both Revit and Photoshop to prepare a presentation. He writes...

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Revit Classroom Workflow - Step 6

Presentation

I received and e

mail asking about how I would/have created presentation style boards and images in Revit. Thanks to this email I finally am finishing up the very last step in my Revit Classroom Workflow!

The project I am going to use as an example is my very first Revit studio project. This is the project that forced me to learn everything I know now. It was also completed on the eve of the Revit 2009 release (hence the very first release with aw

esome looking renderings). As it is with every project in Revit if I knew then what I know now there would be many things I would have done differently. Nonetheless, I am still proud of it. I thought this would be a perfect example of a presentation board.

The project called out for two 20"x30" presentation boards and a set of drawings to go along with it. I fiddled with different ways to present my Revit models and found my favorite was with renderings (of course, the WOW factor always wins).

With very little knowledge of Revit and the help of videos online I was able to crank out a ton of renderings. How did I have time during a design studio to Render all 20 or so renderings, you ask? Well... good old Revit sped up the CD process and I was finished two weeks ahead of my personal schedule.

My computer stayed on for many nights and days rendering away. From those 20 to 30 renderings I moved out of Revit and over to Photoshop.

I sketched out some ideas of layouts for the board and where I would place all the renderings. (Wow, so even after all the design and CD's I am still sketching by hand? Yet people still argue Revit eliminates paper and pencil). With simple cropping, editing, and very basic photoshop knowledge I was able to create the layout I was looking for.

• Example 1 - Final Presentation Board

• Example 2 - Final Presentation Board

I hope these little examples will sort of give you an idea of what you can do with your intelligent Revit model. Using Photoshop for the layout and editing, in my opinion, allows for much more freedom of the renderings, printing, cropping, and overall graphics. I know some students who have tried creating layouts like this within a Revit sheet. I would not recommend it for you will be asking for a head ache.

Here is another example of something cool you can do with rendering in Revit and a little photoshop knowledge. I used this as a page in my portfolio but the idea could be used in presentation as well.

• Portfolio Example 1

The Photoshop Process

After switching files with Kristen today, I have begun the process of re-producing her Revit project in Photoshop. The step by step process that I will follow is as follows...

1. Export her lobby view as a jpeg

2. Add people in photoshop

3. Print the view on 11 x 17 paper

4. Using trace, draw over the lines of the view with pen

5. Scan the trace drawing back into the computer

6. Open the sketch in Photoshop and begin the rendering process

a. Add people

b. floor finishes

c. Ceiling and wall finishes

d. Materials on all furniture

e. Add detail

f. Add lighting

g. Shadows

Switching Files

Today, Ashley and I exchanged files. We have finished our renderings for studio, so now we will render each other's views. I will render Ashley's view in her revit file, using her finished rendering she did in photoshop as my guide to materials.

I have given Ashley my final rendering, and a revit line view, so that she can use photoshop to render mine, using my final revit rendering as her guide to materials.

Adjusting sunlight in revit rendering

As I render images in Revit for my studio project, I am having trouble with intense sunlight coming through the windows. I know I am not the only one, another student in my studio has also complained about "the light of God" streaming into his space.
To solve this I found a Revit tutorial that focuses on rendering only with sunlight. Once you can get a handle on this, then you can work with the lights you have in your space to create realistic lighting.

Here is the tutorial:
http://www.screencast.com/users/TheRevitKid/folders/Video%20Tutorials/media/b613c041-b151-49a6-a2c9-dd497b2620f9

I really enjoy the RevitKid. His tutorials seem to be geared towards students of Revit who need step by step coaching.

Photoshop Tutorial

Can the coveted sketchy quality that Photoshop offers truly be combined with the photorealistic models that Revit offers?

TUTORIAL = http://www.revitcity.com/tutorials/photoshop_rendering/page1/

I found this tutorial on Revit City, and it is a great example of how to combine Revit and photoshop. The tutorial, "A First Look at Layers with Photoshop," proves that Revit and photoshop can work together to effectively use the strengths of both.

"With all the great teaser photos being issued by the factory hinting at Revit 7.0 capabilities, I thought Id show how to make the images more sketchy"

Below is the example from the tutorial of before and after images. The first being a model produced in Revit. The second being the same image that uses layers in photoshop to humanize the image and create a hand-drawn look to the model.

Rendering 2

This is Ashley's original rendering. The perspective and all 3D forms were generated from Revit and then exported into photoshop. The rendering is a combination of hand and photoshop. All lighting and materiality were done in photoshop. I will replicate this process with my next rendering and log my successes and downfalls as well as the rendering time required.