Silhouette Billboard Auto Rotate to camera!

[craighowie]

Hi there.

I am neither an expert in Sketch Up or Artlantis, but guys tell me that there is a function which auto rotates Silhouette Billboards to the camera in 3d! (Specifically I am talking about a Silhouette Billboard of a Person in elevation) Is there a way to achieve this in Revit?

Silhouette Billboard Auto Rotate to camera!
Hi there.
I am neither an expert in Sketch Up or Artlantis, but guys tell me that there is a function which auto rotates Silhouette Billboards to the camera in 3d! (Specifically I am talking about a Silhouette Billboard of a Person in elevation) Is there a way to achieve this in Revit?

To my knowledge there is no function to actually rotate a family to a camera other than doing it manually! The only way I can think of achieving this auto rotate is using a custom RPC family of a billboard silhouette so when rendered the RPC map orientates to the camera like any other RPC.
Is this the only way I can achieve this? If so how would I go about creating a simple black silhouette RPC family?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Craig

[rtaube]

There is in 3dsmax, using a Look At constraint, but I don't believe this is possible in Revit.

[craighowie]

Thanks Ryan

Yeah needing to do it in Revit!

[twiceroadsfool]

Thanks Ryan

Yeah needing to do it in Revit!

Currently no way to do it.

[craighowie]

Currently no way to do it.

Could I achieve the same effect using an RPC family? As from my understanding an RPC when rendered 'turns' to face the camera! If so, does anyone have any advice on creating such an RPC family? Or is it very complicated?

[Alfredo Medina]

The feature is available in Revit, for still renderings and walk-throughs, only. You need to select the RPC family > Edit type > Render appearance > activate the Billboard parameter.

See illustration. There is a room with two cameras in opposite directions, and "Alex" is in the middle of the room, facing camera 1. When Billboard is not active, Alex faces camera 1, and is showing his back to camera 2, as expected. However, when Billboard is active, Alex is shown a little rotated in both camera 1 and camera 2, so that his face is shown in both views, even when the camera is behind him.

[twiceroadsfool]

Could I achieve the same effect using an RPC family? As from my understanding an RPC when rendered 'turns' to face the camera! If so, does anyone have any advice on creating such an RPC family? Or is it very complicated?

RPC's dont always turn to face tha camera, they just render from all sides. As Alfredo pointed out, you CAN make them turn to face the camera.

Thats my fault, i ASSume most people arent talking about rendered views. Whoopsie. :)