Topdown (3D plan view) Rendering - how do I get the ceiling to block the exterior light but still be able to see through the ceiling?

[redhouse.j]

I'm trying to use Revit to make fantasy maps. It's frustrating and not going well. Maybe it is not the right software to be using.

I'd like a top-down view where the sunlight does not spill over the walls and the interior space is lit properly, understanding there is a roof above and possibly other artificial lights outside of the range that should be effecting the rendering. I don't think this can be done. All the red outline should be in the shadows, not lit with sunlight.

 

When you use a section box to chop through the building, it obviously ignores everything outside of that. This is quite useless.

I've tried dragging my camera down under the ceiling level (looking straight down) as well as adjusting the focal length, but the distortion on such a view is so extreme it's unusable.

The only thing I can think of that might do this accurately is to hide all interior elements on all floors and the roof above, leaving the exterior walls alone and don't use a section box.

It would be nice if one could simply drop some type of void that blanks out everything above, or even better, if the material of the floor/ceiling could be made such that it blocks sunlight, but you can see through it and it renders as invisible. I've tried changing the ceiling to "air" material, or painting both top and bottom surfaces with "air" material, but it renders as a weird rectangle blocking everything below.

Thoughts? Is there a 3rd party addon that makes this possible or is this just something Revit will never be able to do and I really should be switching over to another software for what I'm after?

[mhiserZFHXS · Accepted solution]

Is there a reason why you're trying to use Revit for this? There are a ton of map/dungeon maker programs out there. A lot of them range from free to cheap. Using Revit seems like overkill.

If you insist on using it, and you're on standard Revit (not LT), I would at least export it to Twinmotion. I'm pretty sure the section tool in that does what you're wanting.

[redhouse.j]

Yes, it's absolute overkill, I realize. When you've been using Revit for 20 years, it's hard to switch to those other dungeon tools. Other guys are using Dungeon Alchemist or Unity for the 3D aspects, but seem to have the same output problem with the lighting. I have Dungeondraft, but the UI is clunky, it physically hurts my middle finger (I think panning uses a different method) and I would need to spend months making my own assets that'd only ever be in 2D.

Thanks for the tip on Twinmotion - I'll check it out.

[ToanDN]

Create a camera view with the camera below the ceiling, then set the camera view to orthographic.

[redhouse.j]

Hi Toan, I had a hunch you would know! Alas, I've tried that early on. Once I flip it to orthographic, the view shifts to be above the roof (even though the "Eye Elevation" is still locked in below the ceiling). Have you tried it out?

Also weird buggy things happen like the entire view rotates 90 degrees, or sometimes flips to look from the bottom up. It's not very controlled.

 

 Camera moved to underneath the floor beams @ 8', still displays 100's of feet above the building when flipped to orthographic view.

[mhiserZFHXS]

Those are some nice results you're getting there. Now I'm tempted to give this a try 😅.

Is there another program you use to actually share your dungeons? Like Foundry or something? If yes, maybe use the wall tools in that to get the shadows you're wanting.

[redhouse.j]

Yes, Foundry is pretty slick. It could do a pretty decent job, but not all the ambient light like a render. The other limitation is that the views need to be true topdown orthographic, otherwise the floors and stairways will not line up or work properly in Foundry with the Levels feature. A multi-level map with transparencies in Foundry is amazing to play on.

Now you have me hyped about Twinmotion because it's just mind-blowing what you can do with it. If I can get support to help uninstall my corrupted version of Single Sign On Component, then I could maybe use it 🙂