Visualization Experimentation

Hello, Jereme here, so figured I would begin to contribute to the blogosphere. I am not one to talk typically, but people have been telling me I should begin to share. Recently I have been working on a project designing a sustainable outdoor classroom here in Kennesaw, Georgia. It has been interesting utilizing Revit for a number of iterations and designs. Using Revit we have been able to quickly get plans, sections, and elevations in rough form to contractors and consultants for estimates, as well as visualizations to the client in order to receive donations. The thing about these is that they were produced rather quickly. It being my first time truly going through the entire process of getting a building constructed it has been an interesting experience to say the least.

In terms of visualizations in Revit, we have utilized its rendering technologies and graphical prowess straight out of Revit.  Yes, Revit has graphical prowess!  One Technique I used to produce unique Visualizations is a composite approach using Revits’ Hidden (figure 1) Line, Shaded Render (figure 3), Realistic (figure 4), wire frame (figure 2) and Mental Ray Rendering (figure 12). One thing I like to talk up is the ability to use Revit in a way that may not originally have been intended but lends itself to intriguing results. This is particularly seen when it comes to graphics. In previous screen cast and classes Adam Thomas and I have discussed some of the techniques to produce things such as exploded axons and section perspectives. One thing we did on this project is use a composite technique to produce quick, efficient, and sexy, building representations.

I don’t want to go into too much detail yet, but if you would like me to on a later blog I would be more than happy to.  We took all of these different types of Revit visual styles and collapsed them in Photoshop to produce different effects, essentially only playing with the opacity settings and wand tool.  This is not necessarily anything new, I have seen it done many times before, but thought it important to point out that the technique works really well with Revit styles.

In (figure 5) you see an overlay of (fig. 1 and 4). This produces a style more representative of geometry and composition with the textures and materials being placed to the background.  A rendering showing the space with some attention placed to overall lighting without the harshness of shadows.

In (figure 6) a more representational idea of hidden structure of the space is used.  One can start to recognize alignments in the geometry of elements not readily seen in a typical rendering.  It also adds a level of complexity to what could be a bland rendering.  Typically if the model I am working with does not have much detail I will use this composite, or if there is a focus more on structure and things such as furniture have not been placed yet.

In (figure 7) I used the ideas shown in (fig. 9 and 10), which is the idea of using the consistent color or shaded render as a masking tool to select different materials in the scene that would otherwise be difficult to wand or lasso.  By overlaying the shaded rendering on top of the Hidden line as seen in (fig. 7) or the realistic as seen in (fig. 10) the layer can be turned off and the mask can be used to delete the floor from the hidden line rendering placing an emphasis on a certain material that plays strongly in the design intent or adds character to a space.

In (figure eight) the drawing becomes a diagrammatic timeline of the process of making through a layering of wire, hidden, and realistic to create an intriguing look into structure, geometry, and experience.

All these techniques can also be used with a mental ray rendering as seen in (figure 11) to either add more detail to edges and geometry or simply add more texture to materials that appear too soft in the scene. In the final image shown here the shaded rendering was used as a masking tool to select the floor and add detail by under-laying the realistic view style. That coupled with an overlay of a hidden line to add clarity to form all that is required then is to add entourage and adjust light streaks and warmness to produce the final image seen in (figure 12). I encourage all the readers to play around with different combinations to either improve the clarity in mental ray renderings or simply create diagrammatic shots of design intent.

PS. it’s also useful to use these same techniques to spice up plans and sections (I will save that for a later post though).  Have Fun!!

Jereme A Smith