This process was achieved using the new Bake to texture feature. The process was to create a high polygon version of the wall and project the normal tangents from the high poly version to the low poly version that will be used in the real-time render or even the production render. In this feature I created a “Normals” map to use as a bump to my stone wall. The new feature “Bake to Texture” in 3ds Max 2022 is a feature that came in a 2021 update which I believe it is quite stable now. The Photometric lights will work in a 3ds max scene. Importing the model into 3ds max was the next step.Īfter importing the file into 3ds max I then used the scene converter from the render menu and converted the Revit material to Physical materials and the camera to a Physical camera. This was a quick render to see how the lights reacted on the wall.

Nothing is really added just the photometric light files are replaced with ies data that shows a defined illuminated shape on the wall. The Revit render setting is just the draft setting. In the image below we have a simple Revit scene with a stone wall with wall lamps shining down the wall. The first question I am asked when preparing Revit models for visualisation is the method and capacity to change the Revit materials to something more “realistic.” The question of texture tiling in the Revit render and the fact that surfaces that are meant to be quite bumpy are still flat and not very convincing. In my new features review video I have looked at the features that are useful in this workflow. Another aspect is that the clients need capacity to show options and create a more interactive immersive experience and not just a 3d viewer. Both Unity and Unreal Engine are very comprehensive applications in this area of real-time render. There is a lot of talk expressing that clients want to display Revit models in real-time, and this may be through Game engine technology. Most recently in my training courses with Revit to 3ds Max visualisation many people were asking about the workflow needed to get the Revit models suitable for presentation and display in VR and AR applications. There were two primary features that caught my eye when looking at some of the new features, particularly for the workflow that visualisers have, starting with Revit models.

In this blog, I will be looking at what’s new in 3ds Max 2022 for the AEC.

3ds max 2022 new features