Gyp Board Rendering Technique
This
first rendering technique mimics the look, feel, and purpose of yesterday’s
hand built models...a technique our design predecessors used to rely on for their 3D visualization
needs. We'll answer those basic questions you should always ask before generating any Visualization.
The Basic Questions:
What’s the goal for this Technique?
This technique can be used to sale the “truth of form" in your design elements…As you can see from the image above, it is minus any distractions that could potentially
slow down the design process. Primary goal is to generate this level of
visualization on the fly, prior to and or during design approval meetings…real-time
when needed, and with minimal render times if stills are needed.
Recommended Deliverables:
Real-time Preview via Revit 2013 or Still Frame Rendering via 360 Cloud
Rendering
What Level of Detail is Needed?
Low Level of Detail
- The designer should model only the “truth” in form they want to gain approval
for.
Who is responsible for building the
model and or the visualizations?
The Designer – modeling will be done in their Native Design Software (Revit)
When:
This technique is
best used early in the design process, for internal design studies and client
approvals. Can also be used throughout design as new forms, layout, spaces need to be sold to the owner
What
tools and methods will be used to create this visualization?
Revit is used for both modeling and Real-Time Previewing. Autodesk’s 360 Cloud Renderer is used for
high res Still frame rendering.
Can we reuse this down the road as our
visualization needs change with design?
Yes…all methods shown for this technique are “non-destructive” to the design
model. All views and real-time graphic
settings are saved in your Revit model via View Templates, to be used anytime during the design process. For still frame renders simply resend these
saved views to the Autodesk 360 Cloud Rendering Service.
Sure, you can set your view's Visual Style to "Hidden", and turn on Ambient Shadows in your Graphic Display Options. While this might be sufficient for some, doing this will not allow you to generate "renderings" with this gyp board effect. To accomplish renderings using this technique within Revit, will require you to create a materials override on all objects in your model. In true BIMevolution fashion, we want to do this without destroying any of the concurrent efforts/edits taking place in the model by the rest of the
team…this includes preserving any and all early material/texture studies that
your designer might be in the process of assigning. Given that Revit will not allow “per view”
manipulation of material assignments, the quickest way to handle this is to create a special "phase", then apply that phase to your 3D views.
- (Optional) Start a New Revit Model and Link in your Project Model “Origin
to Origin” This allows you to:
- Have
a 3D Visualization Model that’s always up to date
- Eliminates
the added overhead of 3D views and renderings in your Design/Construction Document
Revit model
- Provides a
nondestructive environment where speed and flexibility is more important than
worrying about how you’re affecting the rest of the team.
Note: At times I prefer to create a File (Step 1 above) just for my 3D Views and Renderings, especially if there's a large project team accessing the model simultaneously. This method also keeps the design/documentation mode clean of all the settings and views I create for presentations.
- Manage > Phases - Create a Unique Phase, inserting
it “after” your last Phase in your Project. I’ve
named my Phase “HandBuilt Renders”.
- Assign your Material of Choice to the “Existing” Phase
by using a Phase Graphic Override
The default Material Assigned to all elements in your view will be “Phase –
Exist”. However, you do have the ability
to adjust and or replace this material with anything you chose or create in
your Revit Material Library. As you can
see from the settings below, I like to use the “Paper” material to add some texture
to the model. “Graphic Override” placed
on the Material assigned to the “Existing” Phase.
- Assign the Phase “Handbuilt Renders” Phase
to the 3D View you wish to render using this technique. The result will be a Revit view that looks
like the image below
- Adjust your Revit view’s Graphic Display Options to better simulate the
handbuilt model look you’re after. This
will take some experimenting to suite your own personal preferences. However when done, you should be able to
achieve some pretty nice results (See Below) for your Real-time Revit views. Note, how I set my View's visual style to "Realistic"
- Adjust your Visibility Graphics – you will notice in my images that all of my glazing elements have been turned off in this view. You might prefer to leave them on, however I do not. To suite
my preferences I simply go into the view’s Visibility and Graphic Settings and
turn Glazing off for Doors, Windows, and sometimes Curtain Walls.
- Create a Custom View Template so you can reapply all your hard work to
other views you wish to generate using this technique. To do this I simply right-click on the view
in my project browser and select “Create
View Template from View”. I then give my View Template a name that resembles
the Rendering Technique I have.
- Apply your View Template to as many
views as you want…including your 2D Views for Live Presentation and Real-time
view manipulation during your Client Approval Meetings.
The Results? You no have the ability to present your model in real-time via Revit using this technique, or your can send your views to quickly render for some added pizzazz. I use Autodesk's 360 Rendering service to speed things up.
Rendered using Autodesk 360 Rendering - render time: 1 minute, Res 2000x826
Rendered using Autodesk 360 Rendering - render time: 1 minute, Res 2000x1337
