UV Manipulation For Rendering & Game Engine Exporting

[Hugh_Compton]

@Anonymous @M_Ludwig  

Add the ability in Revit to manipulate Revit object's UVs.  Similar to Navisworks (see image attached).  

This would give us the ability to both Render in Revit AND export an FBX directly into a game engine (such as Stingray, Unity, Unreal etc) without having to use another modelling program (Maya, 3DS Max, Blender etc).  

This has been an idea by others previously but archived due to lack of support:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/basic-component-based-render-material-manipulation/idi-p/6644046 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/uvw-map-like-in-navisworks/idi-p/6411669

[M_LUDWIG]

I just discovered this nice mapping Features in Navisworks. Since the Render Module looks almost the same in Revit, that shoudn't be a huge effort to release this feature in Revit too. On the other side, Revit handle the UV Texture quite good.

What do others think about that?

Marcel

[dbroad]

I can't believe the rendering controls still missing from revit.  Here are a few controls/features that should be added:

Control component level mapping (origin, local mapping rotation).  

   a.  Local origin:  Right now, if tiling is off on render images, (think TV display screen) no material displays unless the component is at the project origin.  Good luck on trying to manipulate a non-tiled render material so it fits a face. No UV mapping controls are available and no local/global switch is available.

   b.  Material rotation:  When wood grain has to be vertical, good luck on modelling a family so that a single material has vertical grain direction.  Even though the origin is always global (apparently), rotation is based on whether extrusions are plan based or elevation based.  If they are elevation based, the rotation is not-able to be specified.

  c. Rubber sheet:  We should be able to get a material to stretch on a given surface without much fuss.

  d. Linked transforms:  This should also include linking self-illumination image and generic render image.  Think drag-n-drop on the appearance tab at least.

  e. Decent mapping choices (box, planar, cylindrical, spherical).

  f.  Decent export to 3dsMax.  The model should be consistent with its render appearance in Revit.  Surfaces should be manipulable.

If a material is built in AutoCAD and imported via links, then the a render in Revit doesn't even faintly resemble the render appearance in AutoCAD due to mapping flaws and gaps.

[dgorsman]

Given the common materials and rendering components between multiple Autodesk products, improvements to materials and rendering will help many different users.  There's a few things I'd love to do, and but the lack of mapping controls gets in the way.  This isn't requesting full blown UVW mapping as would be found in a dedicated visualization program like 3DSMAX, just something that can handle basic tasks.

[dbroad]

Agreed. Just the ability to rotate the UV axis or move the origin would help immensely.  No need to unwrap the UV.  Being able to map an image onto a cylinder or sphere would be a plus.

[dgorsman]

Not an entirely bad idea, but the UV in Navisworks is *horrible*.  For example, mapping to a cylinder only works when it's pointing in one direction.

I'd rather detailed visualization work be put into other, dedicated products rather than a technical design tool like Revit.  If people want high-quality visuals they will need to invest the time in learning the appropriate product (but not necessarily spending more, as 3DSMAX is included in the Suite/Collection products).

[FarhanUddinShaikh]

there should be more clear option in material for UVW map, specially when applying into irregular objects it will not constraint.