Revit with 3DS Max on the side...

[Tilt441]

Just last week I was talking to my Autodesk dealer, and he brought something to my attention. I had mentioned how I wasn't really thrilled with the rendering capabilities of Revit, and he mentioned that I could benefit from upgrading my Revit Suite to a Premium Edition - which includes 3ds Max. He told me the rendering in 3DS Max was far quicker, and had way more tools. The quality and speed of the Revit renders are my main issues. So is this really worth it? I've began doing a lot more presentation type work since working Revit into my business. Will 3DS Max allow me to do renders in a fraction of the time, and look way better? My current computer isn't the speediest (upgrading very soon), and some of my latest renders take a crazy amount of time to generate.

[Anonymous]

it's all propaganda.. 3Ds Max has the EXACT same rendering machine as Revit.. 3Ds has some very nice image enhancment features- but you can do that in Photoshop much easier.. on the other hand- if you are a 3Ds Max rendering expert- you CAN get a more inspirational image out of it.. geez- i guess i should learn 3Ds Max.. BTW- forget about saving a few minutes rendering time- it takes days and days to get an image just right for a final rendering- for two or three hours of rendering time.. and during those couple of hours you can do something else.. if you don't already know 3Ds Max- learning it is way easier said than done..

[DarrenP]

with max you can create a render farm which can use thousands of computers to render out an image or an animation

with revit you can't but  3ds max does have a steep learning curve

[davidwilliamedwards]

Does Revit have iRay built in?

[DarrenP]

nope

[Anonymous]

i actually don't believe Photoshop does anything to improve a revit rendering.. in a way it seems like it does- but if you study it enough you will see that it's all trade-offs in image quality.. 3Ds Max is the same way- it starts off with the same rendered image as revit- but it can put on all kinds of strange image effects and that usually gets attention.. but there too- just like with Photoshop- those radical 3Ds image effects upset the balance of the image- or do something to take away some illumination precision.. just add a little more color to your revit rendering and bump up the DPI a little and see what i'm talking about.. i'm done trying to find a way to improve a revit rendering- i don't believe it exists.. BTW you might say- "then why did autodesk put a direct export to 3Ds MAX?".. it's because 3Ds MAX is an ANIMATION program.. and you can render each frame with that render farm system.. animated interiors are expecially profitable..

[Anonymous]

Yes, In the right hands 3ds max is a lot faster than revit. Yes it has the same mental ray render engine, but it gives you a lot more control over materials and lighting (leading to better quality) and loads more render settings to tweak (leading to reduced render times for similar or better quality), plus loads of other tools, etc.

If I need anything of a reasonable quality i export to max and have a much better result in about half the time, but I have been using both programs for over 5 years. Max has a pretty steep learning curve....

[Tilt441]

So I suppose the question is this. Can a person learn enough of 3DS Max to get the Rendering abilities figured out, without having to learn the entire program?

Much of my use of Revit (so far) has been relying on the ability to produce some cool renders, along with 2d drawings for actual construction. Upgrading to get the 3DS Max will certainly pay for itself very quickly - but only if I can make use of the rendering.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Yes, I believe so. For you purposes you can start by just learning the sections you need; the render engine settings, basic lighting and then materials. You can ignore more than 50% of the other features at first, such as modelling, animation, etc. You can always pick up additional stuff as you progress.

There is a lot of guidance available for using 3ds max in arch vis, perhaps invest in a good book and frequent sites such as cgarchitect.com.

If you have Revit on subscription I think you can upgrade to a suit including 3ds Max free of up front charge, just paying a higher subs rate. Google it.

[Tilt441]

Thanks again.

I think this is the route I'll go. I do have the subscription, and migrating my Revit Suite up to include 3DS Max isn't too expensive - as long as I make use of it. Mostly wanted to make sure my Autodesk guy wasn't just trying to make his sales. I've self-taught myself most of Revit so far, and I can likely get going on the basics of 3DS Max. It may be a bit of an uphill climb, but I rather enjoy learning as I go.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone on subscription received an e-mail yet on how to migrate their Revit Architecture 2012 Suite to the new Revit Architecture 2012 Premium Suite? Just curious.

[DarrenP]

here is the link to do it: www.autodesk.com/suiteupgrade.

[Anonymous]

Great, Thanks for the link!!!