Chapter 18 • Site and Topography 824 8. Move your pointer directly up from the first point. 9. Type 100 (see Figure 18.33). FIGURE 18.33 Relocating the project Now that you know how to position your entire model laterally and vertically, you can adapt to whatever condition you need to design to. Are You Experienced? Now you can… add a topographical surface to your site by using points create a topographical surface in your site by using an imported CAD file add site components split and divide a site’s topography rotate a project to true north relocate a project’s datum elevation CHAPTER 19 Rendering and Presentation Well, here we are! The chapter you have probably been chomping at the bit to get into—and for good reason! It’s the output that we create from this chapter that will make our bosses, and better yet, our clients get behind our presentations. Like I always say, none of this software is any good if you can’t capture the work to begin with. That being said, in this chapter we will focus on creating renderings and adding animations and provide solar studies based on the project’s geographical location. Creating an exterior rendering Interior rendering Creating walkthroughs Creating a solar study Chapter 19 • Rendering and Presentation 826 Creating an Exterior Rendering The first item we need to tackle is how to go about creating an exterior render- ing. Just trying to address the subject of rendering as a whole would convolute the matter. The thing is, when we create a rendering, lighting obviously plays a major role. Day lighting and artificial lighting are two completely different bears; one will influence the effect of the other. For example, if you are rendering an exterior scene, there are bound to be windows. If this rendering appears at night, or at dusk, the interior lights will be turned on. The objective of the first section of this chapter is to create a rendering from the exterior of the building using day lighting scenes, sky, and shadowing to create the rendering we need. In the previous chapter, we completed one of the hardest tasks when it comes to creating a proper exterior rendering: how a building is rotated in terms of true north. It stands to reason that your rendering will not be accurate if you have a glass curtain wall that is facing north but still have sunlight pouring through it. The correct building orientation is crucial, and we have accomplished that part. If you didn’t read Chapter 18, “Site and Topography,” you can still proceed with this chapter, but I strongly recommend that you review the last section of Chapter 18 as soon as you get the chance. To get started, open the model you have been working on. If you missed the previous chapter, go to the book’s web page at www.sybex.com/go/revit2011ner. From there you can browse to Chapter 19 and find the file called NER-36.rvt. The objective of the first procedure is to create a camera view that we can use for our first rendering. We will then adjust the view controls and look at the sunlight effects. 1. In the Project Browser, open the Level 1 floor plan. 2. Zoom in on the corridor area in the middle of the building. 3. Add some curtain walls to the corridors, as shown in Figure 19.1. (Come on, I know you can do it.) These are Level 1 to Level 3 with a –6 ″ offset from Level 3. You can use the Curtain Wall Storefront. 4. On the View tab, select 3D View ➢ Camera. 5. Create a camera view of the area shown in Figure 19.1. 6. Find the view in the Project Browser. It will probably be 3D View 3 under 3D Views. 7. When you find the view, rename it to Rendering View Corridor. Creating an Exterior Rendering 827 FIGURE 19.1 Creating the camera view 8. Open the Rendering View Corridor view. 9. In the View Control bar, set Detail Level to Fine. 10. Change Visual Style to Realistic. 11. For the Shadows, select Graphic Display Options, as shown in Figure 19.2. FIGURE 19.2 Selecting Graphic Display Options 12. In the Graphic Display Options dialog, click Cast Shadows and Ambient Lighting. Chapter 19 • Rendering and Presentation 828 13. Turn on the Gradient background (at the bottom of the dialog). 14. Click the […] button to the right of the Sun Setting field (at the top of the dialog in the Lighting area). This will bring up the Sun Settings dialog. 15. Choose your geographic location for the settings Date, Time, and Location. (I am choosing Syracuse, NY, and my birthday [05/10 is the default].) You can change these settings if you would like (see Figure 19.3). FIGURE 19.3 The Sun Settings dialog 16. Click OK. 17. Click OK again to get back to the model. 18. Click the Show Render Dialog button on the View Control bar, as shown in Figure 19.4. FIGURE 19.4 The Show Render Dialog button You can also access the Graphic Display Options dialog by clicking the small black arrow in the right corner of the Graphics panel. Creating an Exterior Rendering 829 In the Rendering dialog, you will see quite a few choices. Each choice will vary depending on the scene you are trying to capture. The following procedure will move through the Rendering dialog from top to bottom. At the top of the Rendering dialog, you will see a button that says Render. This is actually the last button you will click. This starts the rendering process in motion. For the rest, follow these steps: NOTE The Region toggle (the toggle to the right of the Render but- ton) allows you to pick a window to be rendered. Since the scene in this example is somewhat small, we won’t need to click this button. If you were rendering a much larger scene, you would render a region. That way, it won’t take hours upon hours to complete the rendering, and the resulting rendered scene would be a smaller size. 1. For Output Settings, set Resolution to Printer and to 300 dpi. 2. For the Lighting category, set Scheme to Sun And Artificial. 3. Set Sun to Sunlight From Top Right by clicking the […] button in the Sun Settings row. 4. For the Background category, set Style to Sky: Few Clouds (see Figure 19.5). 5. Click the Rendering button. After the scene is rendered, it should appear similar to Figure 19.6. TIP Before you click the Render button, find something else to do for about two to three hours because at this resolution, Revit needs about that much time to render this scene. I recommend that you have Revit installed on another machine at your place of business. You do not want to watch the rendering process as it is similar to gazing into a campfire. Plus, if your model is being rendered on another machine, you can get some work done. So you waited half your day for this rendering to complete. If you are like me, you then carefully move your mouse around wondering how long it will be before something happens and you lose your rendering. Chapter 19 • Rendering and Presentation 830 FIGURE 19.5 The Rendering dialog FIGURE 19.6 The 300 dpi rendering Creating an Exterior Rendering 831 The next procedure will look at how to save the rendering to the model, and also how to export the rendering to an image: 1. In the Rendering dialog, click the Save To Project button, as shown in Figure 19.7. FIGURE 19.7 Saving the rendering to the project 2. Call the new rendering view Exterior Rendering at Corridor; then click OK. 3. Click the Export button. 4. Save the file somewhere where you can retrieve it. You can choose whatever file format you prefer. 5. At the bottom of the Rendering dialog in the Display section, click Show The Model. The rendering now reverts back to the original graphics style. 6. Click the Show The Rendering button. The rendering shows back up. WARNING The ability to jump back and forth from the model to the rendering is a nice feature, but it is short-lived. After you close this view, the rendering is no longer available. Do not close this view until you have finished saving the view to the model and exporting it (if you wish to do so). With our first rendering under our belts, it is time to create another exterior rendering. This time, however, we need to start adding some lighting and produce this rendering at night. There is nothing like a good before-and-after rendering to sell a project. The objective of the next procedure is to add some exterior and interior lighting to create a nighttime rendering scene. 1. In the Project Browser, go to the Level 1 ceiling plan (that’s ceiling plan in case you missed it). 2. In the Home tab on the Ribbon, click the Component button. Rendering may or may not come easy to you. It may take some trial and error. I know you are not made of money, but setting up a separate machine just for rendering is not a bad idea. O Chapter 19 • Rendering and Presentation 832 3. On the Mode panel, click the Load Family button. 4. Go to the Lighting Fixtures folder. 5. Within the Lighting Fixtures directory, go to the Exterior folder. 6. Select the family called Wall Pack Light - Exterior.rfa and click Open. 7. Place the lights at the locations shown in Figure 19.8. FIGURE 19.8 Placing the exterior lights 8. In the Project Browser, open the Level 1 floor plan. 9. On the Home tab, click the Component button. 10. In the Properties dialog, choose the Sconce Light - Uplight 60W - 120V family, as shown in Figure 19.9. 11. Place seven lights on the walls of the northeast corner classroom, as shown in Figure 19.9. Now that some lights are in place, it is time to look at how we can efficiently group the various types of lighting fixtures to create a nice lighting scene. Creating an Exterior Rendering 833 FIGURE 19.9 Choosing the sconce Creating Lighting Groups All too often, we render scenes with no real consideration for the actual lighting that has been added to the model. Because we lean heavily on Revit to produce accurate scenarios to present to our clients, we should spend some time thinking through our lighting before we create a rendering. The objective of the next procedure is to create two lighting groups and to render the same view using a nighttime setting. 1. Select one of the sconces you just added to the model, as shown in Figure 19.10. 2. On the Options bar, click the Light Group menu, and select Edit/New from the list, as shown in Figure 19.10. 3. In the Artificial Lights - Level 1 dialog, click the New button in the Group Options area, as shown in Figure 19.11. 4. Call the new group Interior Lighting Northwest. O Remember, some components are more fickle than oth- ers. Lighting fixtures sometimes take some nesse. Make sure you are zoomed back enough to see a large portion of the wall, or Revit may not place the fixture where you expected. . Relocating the project Now that you know how to position your entire model laterally and vertically, you can adapt to whatever condition you need to design to. Are You Experienced? Now you can… add. at this resolution, Revit needs about that much time to render this scene. I recommend that you have Revit installed on another machine at your place of business. You do not want to watch the. time to create another exterior rendering. This time, however, we need to start adding some lighting and produce this rendering at night. There is nothing like a good before-and-after rendering