Revit 2011 - " realtime rendering " or ambient occlusion in the viewport

[samov]

Just bumped into this. Choose Shaded view or Realistic. Then go to shadows - > Graphic display and check "Ambient Occlusion".

This is feature is THE best tool for client presentations.
Using the Gradient Background helps quite a bit too.

Finally... having a top of the line graphics card pays off.

[mehow1977]

I agree with you: ambient occlusion gives distinct "cartoon model" fill to the presentation which I really like - good step into real time rendering

[ron.sanpedro]

I agree with you: ambient occlusion gives distinct "cartoon model" fill to the presentation which I really like - good step into real time rendering

Now it just needs to

1: work in hidden line views also.
2: PLOT! ;)
Snazzy now for spinning a model around in front of a client, or for doing design in Revit where better visualization of form is a good thing. But it really would be useful in monochrome views, and would make for great presentation boards or (shudder!) PowerPoints, which are still more common for us than presentations via Revit.

Gordon

[barrie.sharp]

I find that ambient occlusion really slows when orbiting but does look good. Agree with monochrome. Would like to see perspective option on the standard 3D view for ease of rotation (dare I say, Sketchup styley) to show piece. Even for editing, the distortion can help the brain get a better sense of proportion. Axonometric has its place but how about a little flexibility. Perhaps we're meant to buy showcase?

[Andrew Dobson]

Now it just needs to

1: work in hidden line views also.
2: PLOT! ;)
Snazzy now for spinning a model around in front of a client, or for doing design in Revit where better visualization of form is a good thing. But it really would be useful in monochrome views, and would make for great presentation boards or (shudder!) PowerPoints, which are still more common for us than presentations via Revit.

Gordon

[Alt] & [Print screen] will capture the image at a resolution that is usually high enough for powerpoint.

[jeffh]

[Alt] & [Print screen] will capture the image at a resolution that is usually high enough for powerpoint.

That was what I was thinking.

You can also use the image export function of Revit to get a more consistant image.

[ron.sanpedro]

[Alt] & [Print screen] will capture the image at a resolution that is usually high enough for powerpoint.

Agreed, as a kludge. But exporting images of known sizes means even in power point you get like sized (ie scaled) images, located in the same place on the slide, etc. Print Screen is more likely to result in views that jump around on the slide, and/or require crop management in PhotoShop. An extra step that a properly thought through and executed tool doesn't need.
And I would guess we are about 15% power point, 85% presentation boards. And moving away from power point when possible. When talking to a community meeting, users group, school board, etc. boards have a warmth and a certain quality about them that power point just doesn't have.
And the simple fact is, Autodesk should know better than to ship eye candy that won't print. ;)

Gordon

[Andrew Dobson]

Agreed, as a kludge. But exporting images of known sizes means even in power point you get like sized (ie scaled) images, located in the same place on the slide, etc. Print Screen is more likely to result in views that jump around on the slide, and/or require crop management in PhotoShop. An extra step that a properly thought through and executed tool doesn't need.
And I would guess we are about 15% power point, 85% presentation boards. And moving away from power point when possible. When talking to a community meeting, users group, school board, etc. boards have a warmth and a certain quality about them that power point just doesn't have.
And the simple fact is, Autodesk should know better than to ship eye candy that won't print. ;)

Gordon

I do agree that it needs to export correctly at a decent resolution. You are right about powerpoint!

[daniel.sia616990]

Any ideas, why when we export or print the view with the ambient occlusion on, we lose the the ambient occulusion?

[barrie.sharp]

Have you upgraded to 2012?

[sbrown]

I'm able to print to pdf, views with ambient occlusion and realistic, then just save as jpg.

[daniel.sia616990]

Unfortunately haven't upgraded to 2012. My company is always 1 version slower. SAD.
So REvit 2012 addresses the ambient occlussion problem?

[barrie.sharp]

So REvit 2012 addresses the ambient occlussion problem?
Yes it does! The whole graphics dialog has been overhauled and graphical options have been broken down for added flexibility. You can show/hide edges in any mode and realistic works better with edges IMO giving it an illustrative feel.

It would be worth the upgrade for many other reasons too. I'm sure others might know otherwise but I haven't had any issues after moving over to 2012 and it has wowed clients right away! Tags in 3D with ambiemt occlusion is great for showing off structural details for instance.

[sami]

great tip, never even noticed ambient occlusion, interestingly on 2011 I can export a JPG or TIFF with ambient occlusion perspective up to a certain resolution anything more than that the ambient occlusion doesn't show, I'm guessing it's the maximum resolution my video card can take.

[SCShell]

Hey there,
I recommend upgrading to 2012.
New Ghost feature, ambient shadows in Hidden Line view, show edges in Realistic view and printing ambient shadows.
Add assemblies and you have some really nice new features.

Good Luck
Steve