Rendering Enhancements in Revit Structure 2009

In Revit Structure 2009, the AccuRender® rendering engine has been replaced with the Mental Ray® rendering engine. With this change, Revit Structure 2009 provides an overall higher quality of rendering. Improved lighting effects and more accurate render appearances for materials result in more photorealistic rendered images.

Rendering Workflow Enhancements

The user interface for rendering images has been completely redesigned. Fewer dialogs, a simplified workflow, improved defaults, and clear terminology make it easier for users to generate realistic images with a minimum of effort, even if they have limited rendering experience.

For more experienced users, Revit Structure 2009 offers control over advanced settings to refine a rendered image and achieve the desired result.

Render Appearance Enhancements for Materials

In Revit 2008 and previous releases, the software provided default materials, many of which used AccuRender definitions for render appearances. When you rendered a 3D view of a building model, these AccuRender definitions were used to provide a realistic representation of the model elements.

In Revit Structure 2009, new render appearances provide more accurate results in rendered images. A dynamic user interface presents different properties for each type of render appearance, allowing more control over textures and visual effects. When working with materials, you can enter search text to locate the desired material or render appearance quickly, based on its name, description, keywords, or other information.

Material definitions are stored as part of the project file. Render appearances are stored in a local, read-only library. If you change settings for render appearances, many changes are stored as part of the project. If you specify image files for render appearances (for example, for custom colors or textures), you can store the image files in a directory, and point Revit Structure to that directory. To share custom render appearances with team members, you use File > Transfer Project Standards. Also send the directory containing the image files.

Lighting Enhancements
Lighting fixtures are now photometric and can be described by IES files. (Many manufacturers provide IES files for their lighting fixtures, which you can download from their Web sites.) When you render an image, Revit Structure uses information in the IES file to determine the intensity of light at various points in space. If you do not use an IES file to describe the light source, you can specify real-world lighting variables based on manufacturer information. These improvements provide more accurate, realistic lighting in the rendered image.

During the rendering process, daylighting is performed automatically. For advanced lighting quality in interior views, you can enable daylight portals, if needed.

Enhancements for Export to 3ds Max

When you export a 3D view to Autodesk® 3ds Max® to use its higher-level rendering capabilities, Revit Structure 2009 passes rendering settings to 3ds Max. The information includes render appearances (material assignments), lights, and related settings defined in the project. By preserving this information during the export process, Revit Structure 2009 maintains a high degree of fidelity and reduces the amount of work you must perform in 3ds Max.

{Revit Structure 2009 User's Guide}