Revit Rendering Quality

[elky853]

Hey,

I've been using Revit for roughly a year and started exploring renderings now. Many people with experience in 3D Design recommended using Revit itself-instead of a rendering plugin-and the results they got by doing that were breathtaking.

I did a few renderings, and although the material and lighting accuracy is fair, the quality of the image is poor. I've tried adjusting some of the settings, but nothing seems to work-as if this is the best Revit could perform. I'm wondering if that is the fact or there's something on my side that I'm missing. 

I'd appreciate it if anyone could shed some light. Thanks!

@barthbradley I think you were the one of the people who recommended using Revit without any additional plugins... If I remember correctly. 

[RDAOU]

@elky853 

People recommend using other software like vray, enscape, lumion,...etc not because Revit is bad but because 1. Other applications are more specialized in rendering, 2. Can give you better results, 3. And some if not most of the time with significantly less effort and faster time.

Revit is an excellent BIM authoring tool but not a great rendering app...even Autodesk offers alternatives to rendering in revit!! 

Anyone who tells you that you do not need to explore other means for rendering...most probably says that because they have no real experience with any other app that does rendering 

[elky853]

Thanks @RDAOU, that makes sense. 

If that's the case and Revit is primarily for 3D modeling and not for [quality] rendering, is there a specific rendering software you'd recommend (Lumion vs SketchUp vs V-ray, etc)?

Thank you

[barthbradley]

Look into PBR Materials. 

Here’s a couple of places to start:

PBR Materials for Revit: What These Materials Mean and How You Can Use Them | Autodesk University

pbr materials in revit - Bing images

[RDAOU]

I mostly use enscape and lumion... both are great, lumion tops enscape but enscape is a much easier to use app/software..

Vray is also good but I find it less user friendly.

[ToanDN]

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@elky853 wrote:

Thanks @RDAOU, that makes sense. 

If that's the case and Revit is primarily for 3D modeling and not for [quality] rendering, is there a specific rendering software you'd recommend (Lumion vs SketchUp vs V-ray, etc)?

Thank you

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Lumion and Enscape are my picks.  SketchUp is NOT a rendering app for Revit, not sure why you included it in the mix.  I have no experience with VRay.

They all have free trial.  Try them and decide what fits you best.

[syman2000]

Also look into Twinmotion. It is a real time rendering like Lumion and Enscape with weather effect. Personally I use enscape because it is much easier tool to get quick rendering.

[elky853]

Thanks @RDAOU @syman2000 @ToanDN, I'll look into those options. 

@barthbradley I did use mostly PBR materials for the projects I did, but still I don't like the quality of the image-if you zoom in to a Revit rendering you could literally see the pixels, if you get what I mean. Thanks for the suggestion though!

[semhustej]

If you see pixelated renderings try to increase resolution of the output image. From my experience, the easiest way to get to satisfactory rendering results is with Enscape. I didn't try Lumion though.

The thing with creating renderings is that it's not so much about the software but more about skills of setting up lighting, composition, materials, etc. When you take a look at showcase results of all above mentioned rendering engines, they all look stunning because they were created by people who knew what they were doing.

Tom

[barthbradley · Accepted solution]

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@barthbradley I did use mostly PBR materials for the projects I did, but still I don't like the quality of the image-if you zoom in to a Revit rendering you could literally see the pixels,

Sounds like you need higher quality images/texture maps then. Are you using ones found through a third-party provider?  Generally, they offer several resolutions from low to high to higher.  From free to not free.  

But, I totally agree with @semhustej.   It's more about lighting, composition, materials - and skill - than it is about the software.  I've produced some pretty awful-looking Renderings with Enscape and Lumion.  They aren't the "End All-Be All".  I've also produced some pretty great-looking Renderings locally with Revit.  But hey, you know what they say..."beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Best of luck to you. 

[radamel7]

If you want high realism in your renderings but don't have much experience with 3D modeling, you should try using AI-powered renderers like MyArchitectAI, Krea, or LookX.

While they won't give you as much control as traditional renderers, they'll save you a ton of time on modeling, texturing, and lighting. Plus, they run in the cloud, so you don't need expensive hardware to use them.