9/5/2017 Revit to 3d Studio Max - BIM Workflow - Modelical

EXPERTISE
REVIT TO 3D STUDIO MAX
BIM WORKFLOW

3D Studio max is one of the best software to get photorealistic renders and video-animations to
show our projects to the client. So it is a good complement to Revit software.

OBJECTIVES
The main object of this guideline is to show the different options of exporting a model from Revit
to 3d Studio Max to do photorealistic renders. While there are several options in the workflow,
the user will be able to choose which in the most suitable depending on each project.

PREREQUISITES

1. User will be using revit 2015

2. User will be using 3d studio max 2015 or 3d studio max Design 2015

3. User has knowledge to use either of the software properly

PROCEDURE

1 PREPPING REVIT MODEL FOR 3DS MAX

Limit geometry by hiding or deleting → Use Visibility & Graphics to control it.

Purge unused before exporting → Manage / Purge unused.

Apply materials to all the elements in the Revit scene and also the elements inside a family. Try to apply specific materials
not leaving generic materials without changing them.

Light properties are accurately transferred to 3d studio max. Therefore, make sure the lights you have in the current scene
possesses the properties you want to use in 3d studio max.

The environmental settings are also transferred to 3d studio max, so assure to have the correct Solar orientation of the
project.

RPC from Revit are not supported in 3ds Max → Remove them from the scene before exporting.

Section box to control the view or Auto-section Box (add-in).

2 REVIT VS. 3DS MAX RENDERING

There are several ways to get renders from Revit´s model: you can render directly in Revit,
render in the cloud with Autodesk 360 or use another software application to render the image.
Render from Revit it is not a good option because of the quality of Revit's render engine and the
shortlist of possibilities that it offers.  Autodesk cloud is an online render gallery that allows to do
Renders really fast and access to multiple versions of the renderings on the cloud, change
rendering quality and apply background environments to rendered scenes.
However, we find that the best option to get high quality Renders is through 3d Studio Max and
the best option to get fast and nice Renders is through Lumion.
Revit Rendering:

https://www.modelical.com/en/gdocs/revit-to-3d-studio-max/ 1/3
9/5/2017 Revit to 3d Studio Max - BIM Workflow - Modelical

16 core for rendering

Animated Solar Study

Limited Effects

3ds max Rendering:

Unlimited cores for rendering

Camera & Rendering effects

Enhanced quality / Lighting control

Vray

Batch rendering, to kick off a sequence of images

Distributed rendering

3 EXPORT OPTIONS FROM REVIT

We have three options for the exportation:

DWG / DWF for Geometry Information (cannot export materials or lighting information, etc.)

Suite Workflows - FBX, which keeps geometry information, material data, lights and environmental settings and link the
model directly to 3d studio Max.

FBX export which keeps geometry information, material data, lights and environmental settings.

FBX export, is the preferred format due to it keeps metadata and geometry information and the
option to link the model from Revit instead of importing it may be a good option if we are still
doing changes in the project.

4 IMPORTING FBX FILE IN 3DS MAX

There are two options of importing a Fbx file in 3d studio max:

Import FBX

Link FBX

We can go back to Revit, update the design, re-export the Fbx model  and replace the file
updating in 3d studio max.
Settings of importation depending on how we have modelled the project and applied the
materials:
Choose Preset (how to combine objects):

Combine by Revit Material

Combine by Revit Category

Combine by Revit Family Type

As one Object

Do not Combine Entities

File Units
https://www.modelical.com/en/gdocs/revit-to-3d-studio-max/ 2/3
9/5/2017 Revit to 3d Studio Max - BIM Workflow - Modelical

5 3D STUDIO MAX
MATERIALS:

The implementation in Revit now includes the Autodesk materials, a derivation of the Arch &
Design material from Autodesk 3ds Max, arguably one of the most powerful and productive
materials for mental ray in that application. The advantage of this is that you can transfer
materials from Revit straight into Autodesk 3ds Max without losing any of the quality or
appearance. Revit also has many of the same controls as Autodesk 3ds Max for rendering with
mental ray. But this is where the similarity ends and the issues begin.

Create new materials

Modify Revit materials (scale textures, change diffuse and standard color, etc.)

Re-texture

ANIMATION:

Autodesk can render a walkthrough, however you have little control over the animation.
Transferring the model to 3d studio max is almost mandatory. Autodesk 3d studio max is also
meant as an animation platform giving far greater control over the camera, the lighting,
materials and even the ability to animate objects within your scene such as opening doors that
you walk through. It also allows you to create and render multiple cameras that can then be
stitched together into a single file, a small movie of the project.

Create simple animation

RENDER SCENE:

Choose the best Renderer Engine

Customize the size of the Render

Precision Presets

BOTTOM-LINE

To prepare the Revit model before exporting

The ways of exporting a Revit model to 3d studio max

The way of importing a fbx model into 3d studio max

The characteristics of the imported model

https://www.modelical.com/en/gdocs/revit-to-3d-studio-max/ 3/3