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Thread: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

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    Default VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    Does anyone on here use VisionRez add on for Autodesk Architecture.? I'm currently trying to find information on this product and have found many great write ups on it, but can't really find any forum discussions on it. I found a few from 2004 or so, but that is a really dated conversation. I watched countless videos last night and it seems like the perfect add on for me running 2009 architecture and not wanting to make the switch to revit.

    Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    JF

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    I could stop if I wanted to Andy.88917's Avatar
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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    We have been using VisionREZ for over 5 years now. It's great! We don't use all of the features that comes with the software (there are a lot) but the ones we do use save us tons of time. We are a 2 man firm (had a third for part of the year). We do approximatly 60% residential and 40% commercial work and we will produce over 250 projects this year including a rendering for every project. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help you out.

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    Thanks for the reply Andy...

    Actually, I have tons of questions... I'll try to limit them some though. First and most important question at this point is how is there customer care? I'm super excited about talking to a sales agent, but I've left three voice mails and two emails to the company over the last 3-4 days and I still haven't heard back from them. This leads me to believe that after I purchase their support could be lacking. Any thoughts. ??

    As far of the program goes... Do you have any renderings that you would be willing to show me.? Preferably some residential ones that have some detail / different roof styles .. Sheds / Gables / Hips / Dormers.. It would also be great if they were not imported into 3ds max for rendering..... I know that the final output would be better, but I really don't want to learn 3ds.... I'm alright with photoshop, so that is fine....

    As for my overall thoughts.. If I can switch from 2d to 3d and still be based in autocad architecture but have all of the details needed for residential design. Plus being able to easily create renderings for my client.... I do believe I will make the leap into VisionREZ....

    Thanks for the help... If anyone else has some input, please let me know

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    Just got off the phone with VisionREZ. Got lots of great information. I'll be getting the trial version in the mail, within the beginning of next week. Can't wait to try it out. Andy, I would really appreciate if I could see some of your work created in the program. IM me, if you want my email address rather than posting on here. Do you have the stand alone version ??

    Thanks.

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    VisionREZ typically has great support. I am a "figure it out myself" kind of guy but when I have needed anything they have responded quickly.

    I do all my renderings in ACA. The only time I pull anything into any other program is to crop or color corect in photoshop. Render time is typically 10-15 minutes. Keep it simple. Attached are some examples of renderings we did over the last two weeks or so. Could be better but they work great for what we use them for!
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    Andy,

    I really appreciate the renderings that you posted. I really needed to see what could be done with the program. I'm currently waiting for my trial version to arrive in the mail. Hopefully it will be here today.... Do you have the stand alone version? or the add on ?

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    Great images Andy. I too render all my projects, so easy to add a lawn and a couple of trees. Won't win a CG award but the clients love it.
    Should I read that you have trouble with blue skies too? Once you brighten the image in photosomething you loose the sky. Actually pushing the last image over to a diff monitor I see you do have some blue sky. I wish acad would allow you to change the colour of the sun. Most times skies look very drab. Nice bump on the roof tiles too.
    Nice work with the brickwork, I gather the gable soldiers are a structural object to get them to run perpendicular like that. I wonder if a structural object curved to the arch could get the brick to follow that too?

    To the OP. the rendering comes from ACAD but having lots of great tools set up makes assembling a decent image a lot quicker than it looks and good detail (created quickly) is a big secret to a decent rendering.
    I don't use VR but have trialed the package. If you are american or do things similar I think it would be a great assist as it had many custom tools setup ready for you. As I am not I have had to set my own up in a similar fashion.
    The other thing I think makes rendering so much quicker is multiple levels in one file for which VR has setup their own system. Not having to sort materials across files which makes rendering a more troublesome exercise.

    UPDATE: DoH! When first learning the new rendering, I had adjusted the sun settings to TOO bright and that is why I never get blue skies. So keep sun on 1 and sky & illum on 1 and you get a blue sky - DoH! Would like a few clouds now!
    Last edited by neje; 2012-10-24 at 01:32 AM.

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    I have the plug-in version of VisionREZ, not the stand alone. I only use the roofs and trim tools from VisionREZ, everything else is AutoCAD Architecture.

    Nathan: There are a few things I wish AutoCAD could do but these renderings are serving their purpose. The brick soldier course in the gables are VisionREZ trim. The arched brick is a structural member I created in ACA. I downloaded ACME's free Masonry Designer (http://www.acmebrick.com/md/) to create my brick materials. I have 6-8 different combinations I typically use but can create 1000's of others with that tool. It's pretty simple once you have everything setup but the setup did take quite a bit of time. I have been playing with a few of the settings recently trying to improve the quality but things are too busy to spend much time on that right now.

    I have also been playing with REVIT a little lately. It has some features that are awesome and I think if I can figure out how to do a few different things it could be quite a bit faster than what I am doing now. One of the lacking features is easily creating and modifying complex roofs. Simple, single plate height, single slope roofs are easy in Revit but once you get beyond that it's not so simple. I have heard that VisionREZ is currently working on a plugin for Revit. That could be a game changer!

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    Default Re: VisionRez? - Anyone..??

    Good tips Andy. Here in Australia we have gone for simplicity in design so gone are arches, brick features, sills etc so it's made the job of modelling a lot simpler.
    Yes the VR roof tool is very good but unfortunately doesn't do gablets (small gable at top of hip) something we used to do often (gone as well) so as good as it as it couldn't satisfy and then I learnt how to overdrive the OOTB roof tool. Still not as clever as VR's tool and you really do need a clever roof tool for residential.

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