2011 new display modes [Archive]

2010-04-16, 04:57 PM

I haven't seen many 'well done's yet to the programming teams on Revit 2011 but FWIW I think they have done an excellent job this time round. 8)

For me the new display modes are an unexpected treat.
With all the lines on my stonework elevations the 'consistent color' mode is just right for plotting but the surprise is the 'realistic' mode which once buffered (?) is so smooth and fast to move around the view.

The realistic mode is also excellent for picking up surfaces that have lost their texture file path.

So far so wonderful :)

2010-04-16, 05:10 PM

... and using the Walk tool on the navigation wheel in a camera view while in realistic display mode is really cool - I can see clients loving that.

PaperStreet SoapCO

2010-04-16, 05:12 PM

I'm also a big fan of the ambient occlusion option. Shaded views feel so much better with that on in my opinion - especially the interior shaded views.

2010-04-16, 05:26 PM

Thanks, I'd forgotten about ambient occlusion....

Wow, that's nice - that is really nice :)

btw something else that is excellent in this release is stability -

I could never leave 2010 on over night without seeing 'Revit has stopped working' appearing by morning.

I can leave 2011 on overnight with no problems and carry on working next day without rebooting.

narlee

2010-04-16, 09:10 PM

This is EXCELLENT! Revit graphics have been sooo far behind the sophistication of their product, forever. Can't wait to try 2011.

dzatto

2010-04-17, 03:10 AM

This is EXCELLENT! Revit graphics have been sooo far behind the sophistication of their product, forever. Can't wait to try 2011.
I gotta say, when I went from ACA to Revit 2010, I was amazed that there wasn't a realistic view. I use it all the time when rendering and modeling.

Now if Revit would only let you trim / exctend structural members like ACA does.....

2010-04-17, 01:32 PM

Same here when I came from using Nemetschek Allplan - it was the one feature I really missed.

Worth waiting for though ;)

Wes Macaulay

2010-04-18, 02:44 AM

Wow. Allplan. William, we genuflect in your ability to learn many software platforms!

This new display mode requires hardware acceleration, and isn't it great that they've improved performance so much with this release! Brilliant, it is...

samov

2010-04-18, 11:54 AM

OFF TOPIC: A question from halfway across the world. Is this screen capture from a real, as in going to be built, project?

I haven't seen many 'well done's yet to the programming teams on Revit 2011 but FWIW I think they have done an excellent job this time round. 8)

For me the new display modes are an unexpected treat.
With all the lines on my stonework elevations the 'consistent color' mode is just right for plotting but the surprise is the 'realistic' mode which once buffered (?) is so smooth and fast to move around the view.

The realistic mode is also excellent for picking up surfaces that have lost their texture file path.

So far so wonderful :)

2010-04-18, 12:09 PM

It's on site at the moment - it is a conversion project in the middle of my village.

The upper floor was once an architect's office (where I worked 30 years ago) but the restaurant on the ground floor is extending upwards into it.

The building is 'Listed' - i.e. a protected historic building - and so it was important to have an accurate model as you cannot change anything internal or external without permission.

plus the gothic detailing was a little challenge in Revit - and maybe I put a little bit extra into it as I used to sleep 'under the drawing board' there for a couple of years when I had nowhere to live ;)

/later:
Here is a Google Streetview link if it's of interest:
http://tinyurl.com/y38tw4z

ford347

2010-04-18, 05:44 PM

I wish I could take advantage of the new realistic view. Attached is an image of my model when realistic mode is turned on. It seems to take pictures of my model and splash it all over the place.....not working for me at all. I have hardware acceleration turned on and I got a warning. I am able to view the 3d model with shadows on smoothly and quickly, so that part of it must work, but I can't seem to take advantage of the realistic view. I am however running x64 Revit 2011 on windows 7 on Parallels on a Mac. So who knows?

Josh

Les Therrien

2010-04-18, 07:06 PM

samov

2010-04-18, 07:30 PM

Parallels is the culprit. Does not happen if you use "real" Windows.

I wish I could take advantage of the new realistic view. Attached is an image of my model when realistic mode is turned on. It seems to take pictures of my model and splash it all over the place.....not working for me at all. I have hardware acceleration turned on and I got a warning. I am able to view the 3d model with shadows on smoothly and quickly, so that part of it must work, but I can't seem to take advantage of the realistic view. I am however running x64 Revit 2011 on windows 7 on Parallels on a Mac. So who knows?

Josh

samov

2010-04-18, 07:33 PM

Nice memories! :)
I wonder if there are any architecture offices still taking on people to sleep in the office when they have nowhere to go.

These days you get to sleep on the keyboard.

It's on site at the moment - it is a conversion project in the middle of my village.

The upper floor was once an architect's office (where I worked 30 years ago) but the restaurant on the ground floor is extending upwards into it.

The building is 'Listed' - i.e. a protected historic building - and so it was important to have an accurate model as you cannot change anything internal or external without permission.

plus the gothic detailing was a little challenge in Revit - and maybe I put a little bit extra into it as I used to sleep 'under the drawing board' there for a couple of years when I had nowhere to live ;)

/later:
Here is a Google Streetview link if it's of interest:
http://tinyurl.com/y38tw4z

2010-04-18, 09:25 PM

These days you get to sleep on the keyboard.

Nice one ;)

RevitGary

2010-04-19, 04:16 AM

Where is the ambient occlusion ? I cant find it, It says it is the graphics tab of the options but I dont see it there. What am I missing?

Never mind I found it in the graphics display options above the shadow on off toggle

vennix.239720

2010-04-19, 07:43 AM

And then you wake up having querty written backwards acros your forehad.
Been there, done that trying to meet deadlines LOL

Geert

dlpdi5b

2010-04-19, 08:52 PM

That is sooo cool! thanks William for sharing the info on a very special building.

ford347

2010-04-19, 09:00 PM

Parallels is the culprit. Does not happen if you use "real" Windows.

So if Parallels is the culprit, then I guess the Mac's video card has nothing to do with it? I'm assuming there is nothing I can do to fix this? I guess this would be a post for the hardware side?

Thanks,

2010-04-19, 09:11 PM

That is sooo cool! thanks William for sharing the info on a very special building.

Glad it's of interest.

I suppose I should finish the top of the tower now ;)

iru69

2010-04-19, 09:51 PM

Probably not. Parallels uses its own generic virtual video driver. You can take it up with Parallels to see if that leads anywhere, but doubtful. You can also take it up with Autodesk - they might be able to make Revit more compatible with Parallels.

If you want the hardware acceleration, bootcamp might be the only option right now.

So if Parallels is the culprit, then I guess the Mac's video card has nothing to do with it? I'm assuming there is nothing I can do to fix this?

ron.sanpedro

2010-04-19, 09:59 PM

Given that Autodesk has said "Autodesk provides full support for the following products when used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop®, Autodesk’s preferred Mac virtualization software." and Revit is on that list, I suspect they have an obligation to get it right. Doesn't mean they will, just that the right thing to do is to live up to publicly made promises of FULL SUPPORT. Not "mostly working", but FULL SUPPORT.

That said, we all need to report it as a bug, because if we don't actually report the bug, then it isn't real.

Gordon

iru69

2010-04-19, 10:25 PM

Let's keep in mind that "supported" by Autodesk only means they're obligated to try and help resolve issues. It's not a guarantee that every feature will work, or an obligation that they will fix the issue.

I believe this has been explained to you before.

Given that Autodesk has said "Autodesk provides full support for the following products when used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop®, Autodesk’s preferred Mac virtualization software." and Revit is on that list, I suspect they have an obligation to get it right. Doesn't mean they will, just that the right thing to do is to live up to publicly made promises of FULL SUPPORT. Not "mostly working", but FULL SUPPORT.

ron.sanpedro

2010-04-19, 11:30 PM

Let's keep in mind that "supported" by Autodesk only means they're obligated to try and help resolve issues. It's not a guarantee that every feature will work, or an obligation that they will fix the issue.

By that definition, exactly how much of Revit can not work before they haven't delivered? How much must work? My point is that it is all a bunch of weasel words. And the RIGHT thing to do is still to deliver on the promise of full support, support meaning it works, not meaning they will say "There, there" and pat you on the head when it doesn't. I don't want to buy a car with "full support" for a breaking system, but the breaks don't actually work. How about energy analysis software with "full support" for local energy codes, but it doesn't always work? I wonder how all this would play out if there was a software lemon law? I know, there isn't, and in the end you get lots of marketing, and less product, and you don't have a choice but to smile and take it. Frustrating.

But as I said, anyone who has the problem needs to report it as a bug. Otherwise the development team doesn't know about the problem, and certainly nothing will change. And the more people post the bug, the better the development team understands the scope of the bug.

Gordon

iru69

2010-04-20, 12:17 AM

The point is that the problems with video card graphic performance are inherent in the VM platform - an aspect largely outside of Autodesk's control. I suspect that Autodesk could develop the software around some of those limitations, but why not just blast them for not developing Revit for OS X instead.

Suggesting that Autodesk is giving the shaft to Revit users running Revit on a platform it was never intended to be run on is disingenuous. They're making a good-will effort - they were never obligated in the least to offer support for Revit on Parallels.

If you want to make the argument that Autodesk is trying to take advantage of Mac users who otherwise wouldn't consider Revit, that may be a valid point. However, the only issue is are they being clear about limited performance/functionality of Revit on Parallels? If not, their obligations is to be more clear about that.

angelo

2010-04-20, 02:56 PM

If you want fast and responsive 3D graphic performance in any serious 3D software, you need to be in Bootcamp. No matter what Fusion and Parallels tell you on the box, they can't match direct hardware graphic rendering.

If you have a smaller project and all you need to do is "draft" or work in plan, VM's will work fine.

From my experience, everything else is just going to be frustrating.

Angelo

ron.sanpedro

2010-04-20, 11:33 PM

Angelo,
My experience has been different. For average size residential projects, with LOTS of modeling, not drafting, Parallels on a MacBook Pro and 2GB of RAM for the VM is more than enough I think. Revit is happy to work in a Windows environment where nothing else is running, and is in fact reasonably fast, and historically very stable. Much more stable than any windows native machine I have ever worked on. And with a new iMac you could easily give Parallels 3 cores and 8 or even 12GB of your 16GB of RAM. That would probably be a faster user experience in Parallels than I get now on a native Core 2 Quad with a GeForce 8600, for everything but renderings. I found even shadows in 2011 are better in Parallels than in 2010 on a native windows machine with hardware acceleration turned off (the more common scenario due to windows driver insanity).
Now if you start running Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Outlook and Photoshop in the VM you are doomed, but if you are going to do that, just use a Windows machine would be my thought. I would rather run Revit in an otherwise unsullied environment and then use Mail, Safari, Acorn and iWork on the Mac side for everything else. They are better programs, cheaper programs, and take advantage of the better OS. The only real down side is all those nice programs with lovely UIs just make the Drunken Leprechaun UI even more the ugly stepchild. ;)

Gordon

2010-04-21, 08:45 PM

Now there's a funny thing.

If you export an image from Revit 2011 which is displaying ambient occlusion, the ao doesn't seem to make it into the exported image - nor when plotted on a drawing sheet.

Is there a setting I've missed somewhere ?

cstanley

2010-04-22, 07:33 PM

ooh... That's too bad. I know it's much better processing-wise to use an exported image, but does it work if it's the live revit view when plotted?

Now there's a funny thing.

If you export an image from Revit 2011 which is displaying ambient occlusion, the ao doesn't seem to make it into the exported image - nor when plotted on a drawing sheet.

Is there a setting I've missed somewhere ?

2010-04-22, 07:41 PM

cliff collins

2010-04-22, 07:53 PM

Has anyone tried setting plot config. from Vector to Raster? ( did not see bug thread yet )

just a thought.....

cheers

muttlieb

2010-04-22, 07:59 PM

Has anyone tried setting plot config. from Vector to Raster? ( did not see bug thread yet )

just a thought.....

cheers

No choice, it automatically uses Raster on these views.

Wes Macaulay

2010-04-22, 10:10 PM

There is an ongoing discussion in the 'sticky' bug thread here:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=117212&page=3

I can export a bitmap of a view to show ambient occlusion if I leave the default 72 resolution setting and don't set zoom to more than 100%, otherwise it does not appear - and ambient occlusion doesn't appear in plots at all.
Aha -- that's it -- screens are assumed to be 72dpi by the OS so the shadowing is passed on from the graphics card to the print.

So all we have to do is make the view larger to get the resolution we need. Good find, William!

:beer: