Travis Smith

Attention all Architectural Visualization professionals. Is anyone using a design visualization application that inherently understands how to deal with "interactive" Revit geometry, such as on/off lighting, moving furniture/objects, and swinging doors/cabinet doors, without the need for extra work in a game engine? Are you able to walk through your space in VR or on your laptop and interact with everything in that space as if you were actually there, straight out of Revit? So, I have two questions for you: 1. Are you using such a tool? 2. If you had a tool like that, would you use it with your clients? I would love to hear your thoughts! This feels like an untapped area of design viz that the major players (Autodesk, etc.) are missing out on.

I'm curious if others are thinking the same thing as myself. This is difficult to articulate, but I'll give it a try. I've watched the visualization trends and tools change over the last 23 years making it easier to create real-time renders that look great without the need to be an expert in any particular piece of software. I feel as though we're at a turning point now, but nobody is really providing the tools I believe a lot of us are looking for. I used to be 100% focused on creating 3D visuals for design teams using 3DS Max and VRay. Now I am managing the process more than creating the actual visuals. The technology is there already to create quick easy visuals yes, but designers (and clients) need to be taking advantage of not only real-time render technology but also "virtual" and "collaboration" technology. With tools like Revit and Fuzor working in conjunction with each other or being bi-directional a designer can essentially walk out of their physical design space and into their virtual design space to make sure they are understanding every aspect of their design. Their spaces look great right out of the box and they can interact with it. With the way Revit works, a "virtual space" being viewed outside of Revit can be completely interactive right out of the box without the need for an expert that can manipulate a complicated piece of software like Unreal or Unity in order to give the client or the designer an interactive experience with their designed space. For instance, if a door family that will be used over and over again is setup properly in Revit when it's created, that door can be opened and closed inside Fuzor without the need for special programing etc. like would be required in Unreal or Unity. No special knowledge or experience is needed to make this happen. This can be done from the desktop or in VR. This makes the idea of designing and collaborating in both the real and virtual world seamless and easy without having years of experience in creating virtual interactive experiences. This can now be done by a novice in real-time without years of experience. I guess my question is why are there not more tools providing this type of truly real-time and collaborative/interactive process? A designer or Architect does not have the time to learn Unity or Unreal. Therefore an expert needs to be hired. This doesn't make sense to me. We all know how easy it is to create a beautiful visual in Lumion, Twinmotion and even a handful of other products without having years of experience. Now imagine your Revit model functioned inside Lumion or Twinmotion just like it does inside Revit. Imagine moving your furniture around in your easy to use viz software with accurate lighting and materials then pushing those changes back to Revit. Essentially one design/visualization eco system.....kind of like real life! I'm not pushing or advocating for the use of Fuzor. I'm asking why there are not other options available. The old school viz process of, you do your thing and give it to me. Then I'll do my thing and give it to the next guy, etc. etc. Then the design changes and we start the entire process over again is antiquated and not necessary in today's world. The industry seems to want to keep us doing things the same way we've always done it......just a little easier now. If I had a million bucks I'd make it happen. And don't get me started on AI! Curious on your thoughts.

For example, I work in an architectural office that utilizes Revit for design and construction docs. Recently designers have been producing renders using Revit and Photoshop. That's slow. Utilizing Octane however their production level would increase. That's great as long as it is for design and collaboration purposes. In this particular case the client is using one of the designers renders for a fund raising presentation, simply because they don't see the need to pay for a high end render after seeing the designers render. The designer's render is the final render and the client is ok with that. I'm simply saying that I believe we will be seeing more of this. I know I am certainly seeing more of this. Within the architectural office the dynamics are changing. I don't know how that will affect render houses and consultants, but 10 years from now architectural firms will produce presentation materials differently than they do now. I'm watching it happen.

May I ask, is "good enough" today's new normal? Architects and designers are using tools meant to speed up the collaboration process as the final stop before it heads out the door for print. And they are presenting it to their client as "spot on". This technology is obviously helping to aid in the evolution of how we work and think. Gensler presented this particular solution as a beauty shot and animation tool, not so much as a collaboration tool. So I ask my fellow artists, If the client is seeing what is being produced by designers and Architects and believes it to be "a spot on beauty shot", is this new "Real Time" technology hurting us or helping us?

The same article was sent to me on Monday of this week by one of our architects. He meant well. Although I have not had someone ask me why I cannot crank out 3 minute renders where "The lighting and shading were spot on. The materials, finishes, fixtures, and furnishings were precisely represented", I expect that question will be coming soon. When you're talking about producing fast design renders for the purposes of collaborating and refining spaces I think they were onto something. That's not how the article was written. Although these words were not used, they made this solution sound like the end all, that will essentially eliminate the need for visualization artists because the architects and designers now have what they need to produce marketing level images (and animations) themselves, so quickly in fact that the game has changed forever. Even if Mark Bassett has put his time into the business and earned the title of "game changer", the article was over the top. Do we all want to get better and progress as individuals and as industry? Of course. To claim "The lighting and shading were spot on. The materials, finishes, fixtures, and furnishings were precisely represented", as we all know is silly. There is no holy grail of visualization. That's what makes images by seasoned artists so special. The day that I no longer have to work at what I love because it's all done for me is the day I find another line of work. Maybe one day we can just Google the specs and our machine will squeeze out a real work of art!!

Who has experience with Revizto? As my office is 100% Revit, and I'm the VIZ guy I am looking to impliment something that will allow a more interactive experience for our clients. I purchased Revizto since it's cheap and works directly with Revit. I'm finding it to be a bit clunky and unreliable. I know, I'm getting what I paid for. Is anyone else having a good experience with Revizto, specifically on large buildings/models with a lot of detail? Not little Sketchup models. I can see it being perfect for that.

Great work. I am debating purchasing Lumion. I am in an office producing models with Revit of which I am rendering with 3DSMax and VRay. I am looking to introduce a more interactive experience for our clients simlar to Unity or Quest 3D. Are you using Lumion to make movies, still renderings or are your clients using the Lumion Viewer to explore their projects?

Excellent work. Do you find Unity to be an easy program to use? Have you explored Quest 3D? I have a 1 week trial version of Quest 3D waiting for me to install but like that Unity is free. And the VR's that you have on your website are beautiful and are exactly what I am wanting to produce.

Thanks for your input!

Thanks for the tips. I'll look into all of them.

What is the best way to create a walk through of a building that puts the client in the drivers seat instead of creating an animation with a start and end point. Something similar to a video game I suppose. I saw something that came from Archicad that was nice. Our office uses Revit. I am not aware of any way to export this kind of executable/interactive presentation for the client. I've looked at Twinmotion and a couple other expensive methods. Right now a 3D PDF or a series of panoramas is the only inexpensive simple solution I can find. 3D PDF's just don't look that great. Does anyone have any ideas? I'd appreciate any help or ideas.

Good morning friends. I would like to get some feedback if possible. I have been using 3DS Max and VRay for appox 12 years along with many of the other pre and post production tools. I am currently working for an architect that has fully embraced Revit (and the BIM process) with Sketchup also being used on a more limited basis. Being in a mixed role with graphics management and also producing high end marketing animations and renderings I am looking for the best solution for Revit that allows for good quality renderings to be produced by myself and others in the office. For everyday quick design/visualization I would like to start to move more towards working in Revit and bypass 3DS Max and VRay. I know some would shoot me for saying that. High end and fantastic has its place but quick and pretty (or quick and beautiful if possible) is very important for the design process as well as surviving in a integrated delivery system. My question is, what rendering plugins (if any) are you guys using to leverage Revit's capabilites and what kind of road blocks are you running into? Does Revit meet your rendering and animation needs? If so, what is the workflow that your finding is working best for you and your office. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

You are correct sir. I have actually heard of (not in my office) and architect buying an identical monitor for the client so they would stop complaining about the colors they were seeing on their end not matching. Sounds crazy I know. I suppose this discussion could be a whole other thread in and of it's self. Heck I could devote a website to this subject!

Hey Scott, that's funny. I'm picking up what you're putting down for sure. I don't work for myself but rather for an Architect that has a client that will not accept excuses. When my boss (the Architect) says figure it out, make the client happy...well, that's where I'm at. Oh, and I have spent hours holding paint chips up to print outs outside. Yes you heard me, outside in the sunlight. Crazy I know. Or maybe I'm crazy to putting up with this industry for 12 years! I do like what I do 95% of the time. Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, it does sound ridiculous and the guys writing the checks sometimes have us by the short hairs. Holding a paint chip up to a printout is insane, but some clients (at least in my experience) will not accept any scientific explanation or reasoning. They don't want to hear it. Geez, I've even worked with designers and Architects that don't want to hear it. They call it an excuse. They matte layers simply gives me a quick way to cut out or mask each material in Photoshop so I can tweek it and print it, tweek it and print it, tweek it and.......... Thanks for the feedback.