My goal was to create a document where the main features of 3ds Max are grouped togheter to create daytime / night time renderings of buildings without overloading it with cumbersome step-by-step “click here/ click there” instructions.  It gives some tips and tricks around NPR (Non-PhotoRealistic) rendering as well.

Here it is:

mentalray.for.aec.renderings

This group maintains a database and publishes this data via a program called Optics 5. From Optics 5 you can then export a Radiance Material (*.rad file), which can be interpreted
as mental ray A&D Material parameters.

To convert Optics 5 data into A&D Material suitable for lighting analysis, export a glazing or glass definition as Radiance (*.rad) from Optics 5. You will find this command under File | Export to Radiance File.

Once the file is exported on disk, open it in Notepad and search for a section that looks like this:

void BRTDfunc B530_front
10
0.245 0.281 0.340
0.169 0.197 0.187
0 0 0

The color coefficients (RGB) for the ideal specular reflection corresponds to 0.245 0.281 0.340. The color coefficients for the ideal specular transmission corresponds to 0.169 0.197 0.187. Those values will need to be used as a basis for the mental ray A&D Material.

How to use the provided Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to convert to the mr A&D Material.

To correctly convert specular reflection and transmission from a Radiance material to a mr A&D Material, we need to take into account internal energy conservation methods that are built in the mr A&D Material that are not factored by the Radiance material. In other words, numbers can’t be “plugged-in” as is.

To help you with this task, we developed a Microsoft® Excel® software spreadsheet that will let you do this precisely. The spreadsheet can be downloaded here.

Limitations:

• The Radiance Materials exported from the Optics 5 database does not take into account angular dependency: A Fresnel falloff curve is assumed so metallic-coated glazing systems may be less precisely simulated.
• The Optics 5 database contains optical data measured spectrally. The exported Radiance materials and the A&D materials use RGB colors which are a crude approximation of the visible light spectrum. Therefore, lighting simulations are done within limitations of RGB colors.

It will also control Text objects to display the current Time and Date of the Daylight System:

Here is a video demonstrating its usage:

You can download the tool here.

1. In Revit, go in the 3D view you will export to FBX
2. Edit the Graphic Display Options
3. Specify a Location and Time that matches your project settings, for a single day:
4. Export to FBX
5. Import in 3ds Max

Your Daylight System should now match the Revit model in Location and Time.

]]> http://www.pfbreton.com/2009/10/translating-project-location-from-revit-to-3ds-max-via-fbx/feed/ 0 http://www.pfbreton.com/2009/10/material-name-and-layername-columns-in-scene-explorer/ http://www.pfbreton.com/2009/10/material-name-and-layername-columns-in-scene-explorer/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:58:11 +0000 Pierre-Felix Breton http://www.pfbreton.com/?p=418 Have you ever wanted to display the material and layer names of objects in the 3ds Max Scene Explorer like this?

This can be done with a relatively simple MAXScript that you must install  under the \Scripts\Startup directory of your 3ds Max installation. 

By doing so, the script will execute each time 3ds Max is launched and will  instruct the Scene Explorer to fetch the Material and Layer names of your objects and create 2 new columns that you can drag and drop in place.

Click Here to Download the MAXScript

To get rid of those edges, you can hide them from the editable mesh panel:

Or better, use a Maxscript tool that will let you hide them all at once.

Click here to download the MaxScript

Usage: Select all your EditableMesh objects and execute the script. The script will only affect selected EditableMesh objects so the selection can contain lights, lines, cameras: they won’t be affected by the script.

The result:

Special Thanks to Chris P. Johnson who helped improving the speed and stability of the script on large models containing several instances.

The size of the FBX files exported by Revit is influenced by the following aspects:

Model size:

Obviously, the more details in your 3D view, the larger it will be.  There is not much you can do about it besides controlling the way your families are drawn (fine, medium, coarse display settings).

Texture Maps used by the Render Appearances:

All textures used by the Revit materials are embedded in the exported FBX for portability reasons. On one hand, this is useful because you don’t have to bother about file paths issues (”texture not found” errors) but it has a cost in terms of file size. If you don’t render in Revit, you might want to think about editing your materials in a way that textures are not used at all.  This way, the exported FBX file will not contain additionnal image files.

Environment Maps:

Revit defaults to a rendering setting that uses a texture map for clouds.  This texture map on itself weights about 20Mb and cannot be compressed more. Since it is also zipped up with the exported FBX models, you take a 20Mb hit right away. To resolve this issue, switch the render settings of Revit to use a clear sky (no clouds). Doing so will remove the large clouds image file and reduce the size of the exported FBX file.

The measured color palettes can be exported from the Color Munki software as *.CxF files and read back in 3ds Max with the help of a script that I have developped.

The 3ds Max script can be downloaded here.  Simply run it from within 3ds Max using the Maxscript | Run command, browse to a CxF file and drag and drop colors in your materials from the color swatch of your choice.

The exterior twisted steel ribbon representing a race track created a potential of glare for pedestrians and cars passing near by. My mandate was to help the design team understanding if this was a real issue or not.

With the use of computer simulation, several videos where created demonstrating the effect of the reflection of the direct sunlight on the surroundings of the building to identify glare sources. Simulations for the solstice and equinoxes where performed.

Lighting Consultant: One Lux Studio
Computer simulations: Pierre-Felix Breton

I have participated in the process and contributed to the authoring of the following paper: 3ds Max Design Exposure Validation (pdf – 5835Kb) – which describes the process and results.

This project consisted into developping exterior lighting concepts for the tower of a casino in Quebec City.

Color mixing LED light fixtures where selected for their compact size and ease of control for increased flexibility.

Lighting Design: Martin Gagnon
Conceptual Illustrations, Technical Coordination & Diagrams: Pierre-Felix Breton

Planned in 1840 by architect Richard Upjohn and consecrated five years later, the Trinity Church is one of the oldest church in North America.

Now surrounded by the tall buildings of Wall street in New-York (Upjohn would certainly not have made that prediction!), the construction exposes rich details pertaining to the neo-gothic style: carved stone, sculptures, bronze doors etc.

In March 2001, the city was planning a replacement of the street lighting fixtures. This opened the door for a proposal to illuminate the exterior of the building.

To be able to convince the authorities to accept the project, we created highly detailed lighting simulations with a professionnal 3D lighting simulation package.

One of the most difficult task of the project was to model the church accurately: virtually no data was available, except for a set of hand drawn elevations dating from 1930s!

Unfortunately, the project was put on hold by the 9/11 attacks on the WTC where the church was lightly damaged, although some of the lighting concepts where implemented on the front tower later on.

lighting design:

Martin Shaffer and Associates

lighting studies and simulations:

Pierre-Félix Breton

Established on the UNESCO World Heritage site at the foot of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, the Scottish Parliament has been completed in 2004.

My involvement with the project consisted into working with the lead lighting designers (OVI, Office for Visual Interaction) on the development of a lighting solution that meets television lighting quality, integrates to the unique architectural space and conforms to the global lighting scheme.

The six committee rooms and the debating chamber where lit with a different lighting layout: each space has a distinct configuration of asymmetric vaulted ceilings, suspension cables, trusses and seating layout.

The location and orientation of the luminaires (800+ total) was determined with a combination of high end analysis tools and custom designed 3d modeling tools (more on this subject in the Autodesk Media and Entertainment 3ds max showcase article – pdf).

The lighting of the debating chamber was a challenge on its own due to its asymmetric vaulted ceiling and visible structural elements.

More than 300 fixtures suspended in clusters are aimed in such a way that broadcast lighting conditions are achieved while no occlusion is happening from the architectural elements.

The lighting system of the committee rooms is mounted into “pockets” carved in the vaulted ceiling.

Each luminaire has a precise location and orientation calculated to not be occluded by the edges of the “pockets” and also meet television lighting requirements for intensity and angle.

architect:

Enric Miralles in collaboration with the Edinburgh practice of RMJM

lighting consultants:

Office for Visual Interaction Inc. (OVI) - Jean M. Sundin, Enrique Peiniger

lighting calculations and aiming planning (broadcast lighting):

Pierre-Félix Breton

photos:

Official page of the Scottish Parliament

see also:

Its impressive height and its envelope – a giant semi-transparent screen made with clusters of glossy ceramic bars – will capture environment lighting during daytime in a totally different manner than during night time.

The lighting concept calls for a very even and subtle gradiation of light from the bottom to the top, with accent lighting on the upper part of the building, on the tip of the mast (to meet FAA regulations) and on the structural elements visible on each side of the facades.

My initial task consisted into illustrating the lighting concept with interactive presentations demonstrating the appearance of the building at different time of the night with custom made presentation tools.

The second part of the project was to specify the exact location, count and aiming angle of the chosen luminaires to meet quantitative light levels required by the lighting concept.

Custom designed reflectors for luminaires where used to acheive a reverse wallwasher effect om the entire facade of the building.

architect:

Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with FXFOWLE Architects

lighting consultants:

Office for Visual Interaction Inc. (OVI) Jean M. Sundin, Enrique Peiniger

lighting studies, illustrations and simulations:

Pierre-Félix Breton

The addition of a pedestrian walkway and a 3rd lane was done in 1997-1999. This was an opportunity for the local authorities to transform the bridge into a landmark for Nova-Scotia with the installation of decorative lighting system.

My involvement with the project consisted into developing lighting simulations to validate the design assumptions as well as set of marketing imagery to convince the deciders about the validity of the project.

 [[Show as slideshow]]

The bridge was illuminated in a festive event, the night of January 1st 2000 as a New Year gift to the local population.

engineers:

Morris and Richard Consulting Engineers Limited

lighting design:

Rudy Ponce, Cooper Lighting

lighting validation studies:

Pierre-Félix Breton

photos:

Cooper Lighting
Halifax Dartmouth Bridge Commission

Lighting Design: Martin Gagnon
Conceptual Illustrations, Technical Coordination & Diagrams: Pierre-Felix Breton

More details here.

MacroScript files for 3ds Max Design 2009 created to improve the workflow of lighting analysis projects.

The first one will be on the topic of Daylight Simulation  with 3ds Max Design 2010. The second one will be about strategies to estimate optical characteristics of surface finishes for accurate renderings.

Daylight and Lighting Analysis with Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2010:

• How to predict lighting levels in a scene lit with daylight or electric light
• Finding correct values of reflectance and transmittance for the building materials you create and using these values in a lighting render of an existing building
• Importing and using the correct photometric information for a particular manufacturer’s light fitting
• Creating animated daylight simulation studies and experiencing your building in a dynamic way
• Limitations of lighting analysis programs
• Using MAXScript to perform advanced lighting analysis tasks

Capture and Acquire Appearances of Real World Materials for Improved Accuracy in Renderings:

• Rendering engines and color
• Gamma Correction and Linear Workflow
• Color acquisition devices comparison
• Measuring optical characteristics of materials in an affordable way
• Using this data correctly in Physically Based rendering engines

 
[[Show as slideshow]]