Revit and Unreal Engine: Real-Life Architectural Visualizations

Course details

While Autodesk Revit is an excellent 3D modeling tool for architects, rendering 3D models within the application can be time consuming and complex. Unreal Engine gives architects the ability to move this process out of Revit and create architectural visualizations that showcase how their designs would look with real-world lighting and materials. In this course, discover how to transform your Revit designs into highly realistic images and videos using the power of Unreal Engine. Instructor Shaun Bryant covers how to prepare Revit for Unreal Engine, set up 3D views in Revit, and export the Revit views for Unreal Engine. Shaun then steps through how to work in Unreal Engine, including how to handle your model geometry, work with materials and lighting, and add camera views and natural daylight to your scene. To wrap up, he shows how to render your deigns as architectural stills and videos.

Concepts

Introduction

An overview of architectural visualization (arch viz)
What you should know
Using the exercise files

Arch Viz in Unreal Engine

What is Unreal Engine (UE)
Why do architects use arch viz in projects
How can Unreal Engine assist an architect
The UE interface
Other useful UE courses in the library

Getting Revit Ready for UE

Installing COINS
Sectioning the Revit model with COINS Section
The Datasmith Export tool in Revit 2021
The Datasmith workflow - A quick heads-up

Using Hide_Isolate

Using Hide_Isolate in the Revit views
Removing non-necessary Revit families

Setting 3D Views in Revit

Setting up Revit 3D views for export
Setting up a 3D Structural Envelope view
Setting up an 3D Internal Envelope view
Setting up a 3D Furniture view
Sectioning the 3D views with COINS Section
Setting up 3D export views as a template

Exporting the Revit Views

Exporting the Structural 3D view
Exporting the Internal 3D view
Exporting the Furniture 3D view
Checking the Datasmith files open in Unreal Engine (UE)

Working with Model Geometry in UE

Setting up an appropriate folder and filenaming philosophy
Setting up your units and scale in UE
Bringing in the Datasmith files
Aligning the Revit model positions in UE
Resizing the post-process volume
Organizing UE content with subdirectories

Using Meshes, Materials, and Lighting in UE

Using the Static Mesh Editor
Working with textures and basic UE materials
Applying materials to the Revit assets
Using pre-lighting
Using secondary lights
Building a lighting preview

Applying Cameras and Visuals in UE

Applying specialist effects in UE
Introducing camera views and natural daylight in your UE scene
Building a lighting preview

Architectural Visualizations in UE

Rendering architectural stills in UE
Rendering architectural videos in UE

Conclusion

Next steps