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Continuing the series of 10 quick tips, below are 10 tips for rendering in Revit I would like to pass along…

1.  Material with Image Transparency

The “Plastic” Material type contains an option for “Render Appearance”, “Type”, “Plastic Transparent”.  Along with this you can set the “Color” to “Image File” to utilize an image in the material.  With this combination you can make varied transparent materials containing image files.

2.  Rendering Lights at Draft Quality?

When rendering at a quality below “Medium”, you may notice artificial lights “Light Source Definition Shape” do not fully match the shape in the family.  To have the artificial light shape fully calculated, render at “Medium” quality or above.  For additional information I have included the technical solution link below:

Light source definition shape does not match rendering

3.  Section Box and Rendering Times

For more complex views, you can reduce the rendering times by enabling the section box in the view.  With the section box active, only objects that fall within the section box will be rendered.  This includes objects such as daylight portals or artificial lights.  For additional information I have included the technical solution link below:

Rendering only objects in current view or linked file

4.  Far Clip and Rendering Views

If utilizing a “Far Clip Offset” in a view to render, keep in mind the offset will not be calculated in the rendering extents.  The entire view range is calculated in a view when rendering.  If you need to exclude something in the distance, use a section box instead from the process in tip #3 above.

5.  Rotating Model Patterns & Materials

“Model” surface patterns can be adjusted by selecting the surface pattern and moving or rotating.  Doing so will rotate an instance of the material as well.  This is useful for overriding an area of the view for the rendering.

6.  Daylight Portals

Daylight Portals only work for interior views set to "Sun only", or "Interior: Sun + Artificial".  When checked active under the "Render Quality Settings" dialog they will improve the quality of light that shines through glazing objects.

7.  Light Fixture not Illuminating Scene

If you have a light fixture not illuminating verify one of the 4 following areas:

-Edit the family and check for geometry blocking the light source definition.
-Check any ceiling or object geometry potentially blocking the light source definition in the project.
-Verify “Lighting”, “Scheme”, contains “Artificial”.
-Verify “Lighting”, “Artificial Lights” are not un-checked or set to 0 for “Dimming”.

8.  Apply Materials to an Imported File

Linked or imported files can have materials applied to geometry.  Under “Manage”, “Settings”, “Object Styles”, “Imported Objects” locate the imported file.  You can expand layers and apply a material as needed.

9.  Material Texture Alignment

If a material has a surface pattern, you can use the “Texture Alignment” option under the “Render Appearance” tab to align the surface pattern with the render appearance.

10.  Sky \ Background Color

The sky \ ground color is based on the camera position in relationship to the horizon.  Two images below show the same “background” settings but with the camera looking down at the model versus up at the sky:

Looking Down:                    Looking Up: