HawkPoint3D

Hmmm...I believe I just found a Gem of a MAX Script! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8GGcthkxM&t=15s Mapping seems to be going ok:

I know it's simple geometry. I modeled it that way and took meticulous care to only model polys that would be visible. I am not allowing the user to go inside as there is really not much to see in the building to make it worth that effort. I planned the units right off the start in Max to go straight into UE without issues using centimeters. I have already tested just the geometry importing into UE via FBX and it comes in perfectly. my biggest grip is the UV mapping which is always the case. I still have not got my head wrapped around the whole lightmap issues and how to decide how to break up the model if at all. I have seen entire models completely unwrapped onto one channel and the models look astounding. I dunno how they are doing that. This is my struggle.

Here are a few pics of the modeling I just completed in MAX for preparation into UNREAL. I honestly don't know where to start in UVing this building. Should I break this into sections i.e each of the angular wings of the building and the center section then? Advice would be greatly appreciated and I don't mind sharing the model either! Dave

I have 17 various workstations at our office I have to upgrade video cards for 2014 suite. Of course the boss has a tight budget, so it cant be $$. I am just looking to support 2 monitors on each machine and I want to be able to support hardware acceleration in REVIT. Most machines are I5's. Need cheap and solid performance.

Sajid, Here is what Autodesk describes in the FBX export description in REVIT 2013: here is some information from the development team that worked on those improvements: With “Use LOD” ON you will get a more facetted model, but a smaller file size. The reverse is true if LOD is OFF. If LOD is OFF, your model will be smoother and more true to ‘actual geometry’ but the file size will be much bigger (and exporting to FBX will take longer). You are correct: LOD means Level of Detail (but it does not refer to a view's detail level as defined in Revit). It applies to only showing what is deemed ‘essential’ at a certain zoom level, or detail level. Revit shows geometry in a faceted manner when zoomed out – and smoother when zoomed in. When “Without Boundary Edge” is turned ON, you will not see the lines that appear wherever two surfaces come together. This provides a less ‘mesh’ like model once opened in 3DSMax and thus has a less ‘constructed’ look to it – appearing more as it would in real life. Attached is a zip file with a simple wall with a door and window for you to see what is happening...but 224 polys for that simple bit of geometry is way outta line to me for a comparison to native max modeling! I can quickly see the co-planar faces! REVIT_2_MAX_EXPORTS.zip

Scott, I agree that REVIT should never be used if at all possible for "Real-time" viz applications. I make a living using REVIT for commercial building design and it is the premier software title for that process at least state side. I have never experimented with just taking a couple of walls from REVIT and exporting to MAX, then recreating those same walls with native MAX and comparing the geometry counts. My belief is that a single 6 sided wall will still have 12 polys any way you cut it. you could shave off a few polys in max like get rid of the top and bottom polys, or in extreme cases...just use a single plane in max to represent both the inside and exterior sides of a wall. This can be a pain though when cutting in any additional detail when creating interior and exterior accruate spaces while making sure that you don't have any "lighting leaks" at rendering time. If one has to save every last poly though it all has to be thought out for sure!

I noticed in REVIT 2013 when I exported to FBX format, there was a little flag box to check for LOD...Wonder what that does in the background . I have pretty much come to the conclusion that everything from REVIT except walls, roofs, monolithic stairs, concrete surfaces, can stay, since a box is a box. Doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, furniture, electrical....etc, bye bye all should be done in max. btw...saw this plugin developed recently for MAX from the folks that make lightwave scripts for architectural projects, http://www.futurarch.com pretty kewl...but I bet you could generate a high poly model with it pretty easily!!

Here is the MAX 2013 file. I quickly made a low poly version 143 polys versus 1300! What do you think? test_barjoist02.zip

What am I missing here? I can't texture in Unity? http://unity3d.com/unity/quality/materials If I have UV's I should be able to map textures in Unity, even though I probably wouldn't. MAX is very familiar for me in the modeling and texturing areas. I will export out a max file with a native REVIT FBX barjoist in it and repost soon.

Thanks for the responses so far! Regarding the site...I think I will export the mesh from Max into Unity and then create a native terrain in Unity that basically conforms to the shape of the imported MAX mesh, then delete the MAX mesh. I like working in each software's own native geometry when I can. It's more predictable As far as those barjoists...they are each 1300 polys once in max. So, first of all, I will remodel a lowpoly version in MAX (I should be able to cut the polys in half at least) then I will only repopulate the actual model with half of the barjoist that was shown in the revit model. I mean, they are not going to build the structure off of this anyway! I can take some liberties!! Would you guys texture this in max and bake the whole thing or wait and do it in Unity? I have Flatiron and VRAY in my toolset so I could bake the lighting and textures in MAX..How much harder is it in Unity if I just start texturing from scratch in Unity? Again I am trying to figure out the best workflow for projects such as these...

How would you recommend modeling the terrain for this scene? I need it to be farily accurate for the developer so he knows what our regrading will be like. The other item of question is how would you handle the exposed bar joists in the open roof areas? Those things can be pretty poly heavy even if I use 3 sided polys for the geometry in max!

I could use some advice on how to approach using geometry that was originated from REVIT that I would like to salvage for use in a UNITY virtual environment. Some of the native stuff in REVIT is too high in polys i.e. overhead doors 27k each!!, and bar joists etc. How can I get bar joists modeled for a low-poly environment? In MAX I just use renderable splines usually but I don't think that will work for UNITY? My idea is to turn off those high-poly REVIT items and recreate them in MAX as low poly items. I will probably do all the materials in MAX also before going into UNITY as well. I recently saw a UNITY project that was really well done. One of the things I noticed was that it had a familiar "AAA Gaming" textured environment. i.e. doors were nothing more than a flat plane but it had the door handles and hinges etc that were correctly lit for the scene. How are they doing that? Do they start with a high-poly model with all the knobs etc modeled, then baking out the materials with the lighting? Then deleting those high poly items and just using the baked out maps on the simple surfaces? What's the process? I really want to try an ARCH scene in UNITY to see how it fits my workflow. I don't want to waste time or resources though! Any help greatly appreciated! Dave

Oh..forgot to mention I am not a newcomer to optimized modeling! I am a MAX user of many years...and I plan on using a plugin for MAX called flatiron to bake in the lighting and textures in max before going to Unity. Also rebuilding some of the geometry from REVIT in max for reduction of polys.

I am going to be building Architectural Virtual sites using REVIT, MAX2013 and UNITY3D pro. I am looking for advice..specifically in the video and memory areas. I currently have 16 gigs ram and a GTX550 ti. I have to turn off hardware acceleration in REVIT, since the VIDEO card or driver has refresh issues with the software. I usually get models from other engineers in REVIT. Then I add what I need to the build using REVIT or MAX and then use the assets in Unity. 550 series cards are cheap...anything better for what I am doing that won't break the bank? I really would like to turn acceleration back on in revit btw...lol!!

Ok, I am curious what method you guys use to rig up exterior renderings so that you get good believable Environment reflections in your building glass when using MRay with MAX2012? I have mapped photos to cylinders before but it really has not given me the nicest solution. I will take any advice I can!