Author: Dan Stine
Glass, also referred to as architectural glazing in the context of architecture, is an amazing material that provides a barrier from the elements while allowing a visual connection to the beauty around us. It provides light and even desired warmth in the cold season and is also aesthetically pleasing in many ways, including its reflective qualities. Traditionally, glass was challenging to represent properly in architectural visualization. Either the glass reflection or color was off, or the rendering software and settings one had to know were too complicated for the average designer. Not that they had not done it before, or were not able to learn it, but the benefit-to-cost of time and budget just didn’t make sense on most projects. Thankfully, it's easy to create a photorealistic glass rendering with Enscape's contemporary real-time rendering software. This rendering software is always just a click away from within your Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Vectorworks or Archicad software. The user settings are simple: more like the controls on a camera than a spaceship. And with a few simple “reflection” adjustments, we can display great-looking glass in our visualizations. This article will cover how to render architectural glazing within a Revit model for a realistic-looking architectural visualization. With the evolution of Revit materials, there are three primary ways to define glass: Generic,Glazing,and nowAdvanced Materialsin Revit 2019. Understanding the differences between these options and how they look in Enscape is key to getting the realistic or aesthetic results you are looking for. The images above and below highlight the amazing results we can get from Enscape with just minimal effort. Not only that, but this effort is all encapsulated within the primary Revit model, not exported and refined in another format or copy of the model. Interior Revit rendering with beautiful glazing (Credit: Dan Stine) It is also helpful to know that Enscape has an internal material definition for architectural glazing, i.e. classic PBR: roughness, specular (F0), metallicness, etc., and they try to map the CAD’s material system onto these. However, by contrast, in Enscape’s own material editor in SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, and Archicad, you get the maximum control over all parameters. As just mentioned, SketchUp/Rhino, as well as Revit and Archicad have the most options for glazing when it comes to Enscape because the native materials are more limiting, supporting only a texture and transparency value, and thus there is a custom Enscape Material Editor. This editor, of course, corresponds directly to the rendering engine. Sort of like Apple making an OS for its own hardware, which removes the “middle-man” and lots of guesswork and unknowns. When dealing with glass in SketchUp theTint Color and Reflection Roughness are key. Here is an example in SketchUp showing three different glazing conditions and their respective settings. Tint Color: typical architectural application; corresponds to visual light transmittance (VLT) Transparency Texture: image used to represent a pattern in the glassArchitectural glazing
Realistic glass rendering in architectural visualization
Defining glass in Revit
Glass rendering in SketchUp
Glass settings in SketchUp
Albedo Color: defines the diffuse reflected light’s color, which is only visible if the Opacity is > 1% (transparency <99%); think frosted glass.
The smoother the material (Roughness -> 0%), the more it will reflect its environment, whereas a rougher surface will diffuse incoming light.
For the Transparency Texture example, notice the railing’s glass panels have a pattern. This is defined by the Texture parameter, which allows you to control the transparency using a 2D image: a map. It refers to the opacity value, so a black area (which equals zero) on the image used will result in a perfectly transparent portion of the surface, while a white area will appear perfectly opaque. Gray areas will appear partially transparent, such as glass. If you load a colored image, Enscape will automatically convert it to black and white, so you do not have to worry about that. The image can be inverted and resized as shown here.
The Refractive Index slider determines by which factor light is being bent when traveling through a transparent surface. You know this effect from looking at a glass of water or very thick glass. Air has a refractive index of 1.0, so light rays travel through it in a straight line. Water has an index of 1.33, while the index of window glass is 1.52. Diamonds, for a further example, have an index of 2.42: they bend light quite heavily. For architectural glazing, this value can be very low or 1.0 (i.e. no distortion) for efficiency.
How to render glass in Revit
Using Autodesk Revit, we can also achieve amazing results in Enscape. However, Revit has its own built-in material editor and multiple material shaders to reach similar results, with slight differences between them. The following image highlights the three options: Generic, Glazing and Advanced.
Default glass material
A Revit-provided template has the “Glass” material set to the Glazing shader option (not Generic or advanced). But the Reflectance value is set quite low so the initial impact in Enscape can be disappointing. The range of reflectance can be seen in this comparative image, with a 100 setting on the left, 50 in the center, and 0 on the right. The default in Revit is 15, which is closer to the example on the right which almost looks like there is no glass in the curtain wall system.
Comparing reflectance values for Revit’s glazing material
Advanced material
Revit’s advanced materials, introduced in Revit 2019, have different settings for the physically-based glazing shader. It should be pointed out that this “glazing” material is different than the equally new advanced “glass” material. Unlike glass, light is not refractedfor efficiency in glazing (as discussed in the previous SketchUp section). The result in Enscape is a surface which is always evident from any vantage point, and the reflective quality is good.
TIP: At this time, this material type is NOT recommended to achieve optimal results in Enscape. It is still touched on so the reader can better understand the differences and limitations.
Again, the Glazing base PBR material (aka advanced material) is different than the more physically accurate Transparent (i.e. glass) material that would be used for a vase or solid glass object. Rather, glazing is optimized for architectural applications and does not produce any refraction or internal reflection. These newer advanced materials have ‘base versions’ which can be used to start new materials from scratch as shown in the image below.
Revit 2019 advanced materials base asset library
It is interesting that the new advanced material has aVisual Transmittance(T-Vis or VLT) value. Anyone specifying glazing or involved in daylight analysis or calculations will be familiar with this real-world physical property.
Revit, Autodesk Lighting Analysis, ElumTools, and, Insight also use this information for energy analysis. In the chart below we see the VLT range is from about 60 – 90%.
NAME | GLAZING TYPE | U-VALUE | U-VALUE (Video) Enscape Realistic Rendering - Full Workflow Explained | SHGC | VLT |
Sgl Clr | Single Clear 6mm | 6.17 | 1.09 | 0.81 | 0.88 |
Dbl Clr | Dbl Clear 6/13 Air | 2.74 | 0.48 | 0.7 | 0.78 |
Dbl LoE | Dbl Low-E (e3=0.2)Clear 3/13 Air | 1.99 | 0.35 | 0.73 (Video) 5 Tips for Realistic Renders in Enscape | 0.74 |
Trp LoE | Trpl Low-E (e2=e5=0.1) Clr 3mm/6mm Air | 1.55 | 0.27 | 0.47 | 0.66 |
Quad LoE | Quadruple LoE Films (88) 3mm/8mm Krypton | 0.66 | 0.12 | 0.45 | 0.62 |
The transmissive color corresponds to the inherent color in the raw materials used to create the glass. The light assumes this color as it passes through the glass. Using Revit’s advanced material shader for glazing, when the correct color is entered, from a manufacturer’s data sheet for example, the Visible Transmittance (VLT) value is correctly calculated as well, as shown in the image below. VLT is the total amount of light which passes through the glass. FYI: Vitro example used can be found here.
Glazing defined with Revit 2019 advanced material – special 'glazing' shader
The following image shows the results of this material definition within Enscape. It is easy to see the transmissive color within the glass, which is great! The one big limitation with this material within Enscape, at the moment, is that the glass appears frosted when receiving direct sunlight.
Rendered image using Revit’s advanced ‘glazing’ material
Generic material
Revit’s generic materials have the most options to control the various aspects of a material in Revit, as seen in the following image.
Chart comparing adjustment options for Revit’s generic and physically-based PBR materials
In the manufacturer datasheet shown below, the glass color and reflectance can be mapped directly (tip: use an eyedropper tool in a graphics app to get the RGB value of the color). The VLT can be translated as a percentage of Revit’s 255 shades of gray; thus, 255 x VLT = RGB value (enter the result for all three). This is achieved using the Tint parameter.
Setting a generic material to align with real-world product data
Photorealistic rendering using generic material to represent real-world architectural glazing
Tip: Adjust the Luminance value within Revit's color dialog to adjust the VLT when using a color rather than grayscale RGB. This ElumTools article describes how to map an RGB value to a real-world VLT value.
Here is another example using a much lower VLT value from the manufacturer’s product line.
A variation on the previous example, using a darker VLT value
Photorealistic rendering using generic material to represent real-world architectural glazing
Visible light reflectance (VLR)
What you can adjust via the reflectivity sliders in Revit isn’t 1:1 for the VLR percentage found in manufacturer’s data sheets, but a subset of the range that is still physically plausible. Which means, for a “default” of 50% specularity we’re assuming a mapping to the actual physical value of 4% reflected light (at an angle of 0°, we call that F0). Maximum specularity (slider at 100%) is mapped to the physical value of 12%, which is actually already above the highest plausible value for pure glass materials we found in literature at that time. Also, for materials that provide 2 sliders in Revit (direct & oblique) Enscape uses the average value of both sliders.
Glazing material
Finally, let us take a look at Revit’s ‘Glazing’ material. Here we find that, when following the same steps just covered regarding real-world product data, the results are similar. Again, the tint drives the glazing’s VLT.
Setting a glazing material to align with real-world product data
Rendered image using glazing material to represent real-world glazing
Thus, of the three ways to renderglass in Enscape, the latter two being the best in achieving real-world results.
NEW: Glass Material Now Available in Enscape
Since this article was originally written, Enscape has introduced a Material Library, which includes various ready-made materials, including glass.
Now it's easier than ever to select, edit, and use predefined materials within your scenes.
For more information, check out the Enscape 3.1 blog post that talks about the new Material Library and the overhauled Material Editor.
Conclusion
There is still much more that could be said about architectural glazing in buildings, or even glass in objects. But the information covered in this article should provide enough detail to achieve the beautiful results shown and additional variations by adjusting the related settings. Keep in mind, with Enscape open on a second monitor, many of these settings are visualized in real time, making the process incredibly easy.
As glazing is such an important part of architecture, it is truly exciting to see such dramatic results in a real-time rendering engine which also has a live link to our favorite 3D modeling environments.
For more inspiration, be sure to check out the EnscapeVisualization Galleryto see what other customers are doing. If you have yet to give Enscape a try, download the free trial today and check it out with Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad and/or Vectorworks:
If you are a student, be sure to take advantage of a free Enscape student license!
FAQs
How do I get better quality in Enscape? ›
The Rendering Quality Slider
Make sure Enscape is running and click on the Visual Settings Window button. The Visual Settings Window will open on the Main tab by default and the Rendering Quality slider is to be found at the bottom of that dialog.
How do I get the best quality in my rendered images? As already mentioned, setting the Resolution to 'UltraHD' will give you a high resolution image, but if you then also set the Rendering Quality slider in the Visual Settings' – Main tab to Ultra, this will give you the highest quality image possible.
Is Enscape better than Lumion? ›Reviewers felt that Enscape meets the needs of their business better than Lumion. When comparing quality of ongoing product support, reviewers felt that Lumion is the preferred option. For feature updates and roadmaps, our reviewers preferred the direction of Lumion over Enscape.
How do you make 3D renders look realistic? ›- Round your edges.
- Use surface imperfections.
- Introduce some chaos.
- Mimic real-world lighting.
- Use a realistic camera angle.
- Create some atmosphere.
- Use lens effects.
- Scale objects correctly.
- Bevel application. ...
- Photometric lighting. ...
- Blurred background effects make things much easier. ...
- Chromatic aberration aka color fringing. ...
- Specular maps. ...
- Textures increase photorealism. ...
- Natural effect.
- Renderpasses & Compositing.
- Denoise in Post.
- Utilize Post / Compositing to its fullest.
- Use a Rendermanager.
- Use a different Render Engine.
- Check for Software Updates.
- Upgrade your PC, buy more & better Hardware.
- Overclock the Hardware you currently have.
You likely turned on focal depth. Turn off that setting in visual settings. Everything will come back in the focus. Or you can reset all your visual settings back to default.
How do you make a reflection in Enscape? ›Enscape 101 | Part 17 | Advanced Reflections - YouTube
Which is better Enscape or VRAY? ›Although Vray offers an animation alternative, it is not advanced; it is realized only to create small animations or small videos around an objective. Enscape, on the other hand, offers the living and videos alternative and likewise panoramic pictures–it is a complete software.
How do I remove shadows in Enscape? ›In the Visual Settings to into the atmosphere tab and set the Sun Brightness to 0% - alongside you can also enable White Background in the top area of the same tab. This will basically disable our shadows (usually caused by the sun) and you'll only see a type of ambient occlusion in the scene.
How do I remove the Enscape watermark? ›
- Close your Revit session,
- In the windows explorer browse to: %AppData%\Enscape\Data. ...
- Delete or rename the folder "Textures" located in the mentioned paths.
- Open Revit again and run Enscape render process, the watermarks should be gone.
Enscape's rich features, rapid performance, and affordability make it a real-time rendering tool of choice across the AEC industry. And being so easy to use, with no training required, it's easy to see why Enscape has become a standard application in thousands of projects worldwide.
What is the best rendering software for architecture? ›- SketchUp.
- Revit.
- Archicad.
- D5 Render.
- Blender.
- Enscape.
- Lumion.
- V-Ray.
- Unity.
- Blender.
- 3ds Max Design.
- Maya.
- KeyShot.
- Cinema 4D.
- Lumion.
- D5 Render.
- Google SketchUp. SketchUp was initially developed as a quick and easy alternative to the more cumbersome 3D modeling programs that existed more than a decade ago. ...
- Keyshot Render. ...
- Blender. ...
- vRay for SketchUp. ...
- Adobe Photoshop. ...
- zBrush. ...
- FreeCAD. ...
- Renderro.
Blender comes with a powerful unbiased rendering engine that offers stunning ultra-realistic rendering.
What is 3D realistic rendering? ›3D rendering is a computer graphics process that uses three-dimensional data and models. The goal is to create a lifelike or non-photorealistic image. 3D models are a digital file of an object created using software or through 3D scanning. 3D rendering is also a form of virtual photography.
What is photo realistic 3D rendering? ›Photorealistic rendering is a digital process using a 3D CAD model within a software package to create a digital image of the model. The result is a rendered image that is hard to distinguish from a photograph of a real-life object.
What are photorealistic 3D? ›What is photorealistic 3D Rendering? Photorealistic 3D rendering is the process of obtaining an image of the model using a computer program. The secret of this process is that pictures look so similar to those captured with a traditional camera that it's hard to distinguish from “real” photography.
What affects rendering speed? ›Rendering Time
Just as a faster CPU and more RAM help your computer run faster and smoother, video cards with faster GPUs and more onboard memory will render graphics faster and more efficiently.
Will more RAM increase rendering speed? ›
RAM doesn't really affect rendering speeds all that much. The CPU and GPU are the ones mostly responsible for this task. However, if your computer does not have too much RAM — let's say 4GB — and you increase it to 16GB, you may notice a difference in rendering speeds.
Does graphic card increase rendering speed? ›GPU rendering uses a graphics card for rendering in place of a CPU, which can significantly speed up the rendering process as GPUs are primarily designed for quick image rendering.
How do you reduce noise in Enscape? ›If the noise appears too distracting you can try and disable global illumination in the Settings window, however the quality/accuracy of reflections will decrease a lot. Check out our Knowledgebase and FAQ! If you have any issues, don't hesitate to send in feedback via the Enscape Feedback Button.
How do I save render settings in Enscape? ›Saving Preset Options
If you want to use the Settings Presets in another CAD project, then you can save the Settings Presets out to a file via the Save as file… option. These files are always saved as *. json files and the Save As dialog allows you to choose the location to save to.
How to Render in SketchUp. Add light sources to your model to brighten up your project. From SketchUp, go to Extensions -> Enscape -> Enscape Objects. Keep your model clean by taking out extra geometry and materials, since the lighter your model is, the better it will perform in both SketchUp and Enscape.
What is specular Enscape? ›Specular – This value controls the amount by which light is being reflected when hitting a non-metallic surface at a steep angle, as opposed to light that's hitting it rather from the side. If you're not too familiar with this setting, it's best to leave it around 50% for realistic results.
How do you hide lights in Enscape? ›There are a couple of different tricks to turn lights off, you can set the Light Brightness in the Advanced tab of your Enscape Settings to 0%. If you want to turn of individual lights, you can do this by hiding the geometry or the assigned layer.
How do I edit Enscape materials? ›To replace a material hover the mouse over any material listed on the left hand side of the Material Editor dialog and the material Type symbol will change to a meatball menu (3 horizontal dots). Clicking on the meatball menu will reveal 3 menu options, one being Replace with Enscape Material.
How old is Enscape? ›Enscape is a commercial real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin. It is mainly used in the architecture, engineering, and construction fields and is developed and maintained by Enscape GmbH, founded in 2013 and based in Karlsruhe, Germany with an office in New York, USA.
Which is better Enscape or Twinmotion? ›Enscape has the best integration. I really enjoy being able to do everything inside rhino, no need to export or manage link and materials in an outside application. Twinmotion uses a direct link but it is not a very seamless experience, specially if you do lots of modifications in the model.
Is Enscape easy to use? ›
Enscape works seamlessly with Sketchup, Revit, Archicad, and other BIM tools. Enscape is very easy to use and implement in the workflow and you can make a rendering without going through post processing in editing software.
Can you turn off the sun in Enscape? ›Z , you can head over into the Atmosphere tab of your Enscape Settings and turn down the "Sun" brightness through the dedicated slider: This will disable sunlight and the corresponding shadows which would be cast.
How do I change the sun position in Enscape Sketchup? ›Solar angle – Press Shift + U or I to adjust the Solar angle. Solar rotation – Press Ctrl + U or I to adjust the Solar rotation. Reset Sun Position – Press the Home key to reset modifications made to the sun position.
How do I change the color of my Enscape light? ›Simply use the SketchUp "Paint Bucket" and color the Enscape lights with the color of your choice accordingly.
Can you make it rain in Enscape? ›Creating rain in Enscape
The rain is done by making a bunch of regular planes standing on the ground, distributed around evenly. I've played a lot with the texture itself, as you have to get the transparency, the scale and the amount of droplets right here.
Enscape reusable white studio | Modulus Render - YouTube
How do you make fog in Enscape? ›- [Instructor] Fog settings can be found underneath the Inkscape tab, and your Visual Settings. Then, there's an Atmosphere tab. Underneath the Atmosphere tab, this is where you have your Fog Intensity as well as your Fog Height.
Is Enscape like Lumion? ›Key Difference between Enscape vs Lumion
Although both software is used for the same type of purposes, some special features make them special in their work, so let us look at these special features too. Lumion has become better with progressing rendering processes over the years and has better rendering quality now.
Enscape is a real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin for Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad, and Vectorworks. It plugs directly into your modeling software, giving you an integrated visualization and design workflow. As an intuitive design tool, it requires no prior specialized knowledge to use.
Is Enscape part of Revit? ›Enscape™ is a real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin for Autodesk® Revit® (also for Rhino, SketchUp, Archicad, and Vectorworks). It plugs directly into your modeling software, giving you an integrated design and visualization workflow across all project phases.
What is the most realistic render? ›
- Blender – Cycles.
- Maxon – Redshift.
- OTOY – Octane.
- Chaos Group – V-Ray.
- Chaos Group – Corona.
- Autodesk – Arnold.
- Pixar – RenderMan.
Lumion helps architects place their designs in the context of a real-life scenario.
Is Lumion better than V-Ray? ›As for the timing, lumion is generally speaking faster than Vray, one render takes seconds to minutes while Vray take a bit longer in render if you want higher quality and this is due to the fact that the render in Lumion is by default, while the one with Vray is personalized according to the needs of users.
Which software is used by architects? ›CAD software is widely used in the architecture industry. AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D CAD software trusted by millions for precision drafting, design, and documentation.
What is 3D architectural rendering? ›Architectural rendering is the process of creating two-dimensional and three-dimensional images of a proposed architectural design. The goal is to illustrate a lifelike experience of how a space or building will look before it is built, accurately representing design intent.
Which is better corona or Lumion? ›Corona Renderer and Lumion both meet the requirements of our reviewers at a comparable rate. When comparing quality of ongoing product support, reviewers felt that Lumion is the preferred option. For feature updates and roadmaps, our reviewers preferred the direction of Lumion over Corona Renderer.
How can I improve my rendering? ›- Enable Multi-Frame Rendering. ...
- Optimize RAM Reserved for Other Applications. ...
- Turn on Cache Frames When Idle. ...
- Use GPU Acceleration. ...
- Upgrade Your Graphics Card. ...
- Use Solid-State Drives. ...
- Clean up Compositions. ...
- Be Selective with Effects.
How to make Ultra REALISTIC renders in Lumion - YouTube
How do you brighten Enscape? ›The Ambient Brightness slider in the Image tab of the Enscape Visual Settings dialog can be used to brighten a scene. Not only that, but the occluded regions remain darker to emphasize the geometry and depth.
Which is best rendering software? ›- Unity.
- Blender.
- 3ds Max Design.
- Maya.
- KeyShot.
- Cinema 4D.
- Lumion.
- D5 Render.
What affects rendering speed? ›
Rendering Time
Just as a faster CPU and more RAM help your computer run faster and smoother, video cards with faster GPUs and more onboard memory will render graphics faster and more efficiently.
RAM doesn't really affect rendering speeds all that much. The CPU and GPU are the ones mostly responsible for this task. However, if your computer does not have too much RAM — let's say 4GB — and you increase it to 16GB, you may notice a difference in rendering speeds.
Does graphic card increase rendering speed? ›GPU rendering uses a graphics card for rendering in place of a CPU, which can significantly speed up the rendering process as GPUs are primarily designed for quick image rendering.
What is a realistic focal length in Lumion? ›For most scenes, try starting with a focal length of 35-50mm as this is known to closely resemble the field of view that the human eye has.
How do you render high quality in Lumion? ›The largest render resolution in Lumion is Poster resolution (7680x4320 pixels). 1.1: Render the Lumion image in an uncompressed file format (e.g. . PNG or . BMP) so that there are no compression artifacts as can occur with JPG.
Can I turn off shadows in Enscape? ›In the Visual Settings to into the atmosphere tab and set the Sun Brightness to 0% - alongside you can also enable White Background in the top area of the same tab. This will basically disable our shadows (usually caused by the sun) and you'll only see a type of ambient occlusion in the scene.
How do you reduce noise in Enscape? ›If the noise appears too distracting you can try and disable global illumination in the Settings window, however the quality/accuracy of reflections will decrease a lot. Check out our Knowledgebase and FAQ! If you have any issues, don't hesitate to send in feedback via the Enscape Feedback Button.
What is the most realistic render? ›- Blender – Cycles.
- Maxon – Redshift.
- OTOY – Octane.
- Chaos Group – V-Ray.
- Chaos Group – Corona.
- Autodesk – Arnold.
- Pixar – RenderMan.
- SketchUp.
- Revit.
- Archicad.
- D5 Render.
- Blender.
- Enscape.
- Lumion.
- V-Ray.
1. Blender. There's no complete list of rendering software without Blender on the list. There's a good reason this is the renderer of choice for so many architects.