Hello all! Long time no see!

I’ve just managed to unearth myself a bit from the pile of work that buried me lately.
Here`s the deal for today`s post : I’m going to talk a bit about my personal projects using Revit and will suddenly bring a point of view (mine) about the visualization industry which will most likely be relevant to you.

My brain is a tough customer: it needs purpose to learn. No purpose, I’m no better than a donkey.
From my Autodesk career perspective, I decided to force me into learning Revit by self-building my own house, starting by the plans. (I could put it the other way too and I don`t really care where`s the truth, I’m always playing these tricks on me anyway.)

We’re about 3 years since the construction began and we’re currently giving the finishing touch.

Where Architecture work stops / Where visualization artistry begins?

I began studying volumes and look with 3ds Max. I’m a developer and not a modeler mind you… Max’s technical depth made my progress slower than I wanted. I tried Revit. As many who are trying Revit for the first time, I was just blown away by the sheer productivity of this software. I hit the render button and got a first image out. I got excited and created wall sweeps, gutters, soffits and all the pizzaz that help make a rendering realistic. What happened exactly? I thought I’d be able to get a decent visualization out of Revit and reality hit me instead.

1. Hell broke loose the moment we had to move a wall. Too many constraints got my scene unwieldy.
2. Some walls did not connect well in the stairwell. Adjusting all of them was a bitch. (If the wall composition and thickness don`t match (concrete, external insulated walls, internal gypsum walls), you’re in for a lot of fun)
3. All “accessories” are problematic. I could never choose the right wooden staircase, the right side board, the proper lights, etc

I think my mistake was to try to do visualization when what I really was after were plans and schedules.
What have I hit just there? Ah yes, it`s the line wall that separates architecture from visualization. What happened?

I wisely chose to stay on the architecture side of the wall until

1. I learn to better organize my scene and do and manage constraints that survive my wife attempts at re-dimensioning every wall in the house.
2. Have a real need for visualization to justify fighting with Revit`s solids or go in Max to finish modeling/adjusting everything
3. I get all accessories I need from fabricator or seek. (and I don`t want to model them or pay for content, I’m just jazzing my look)

What does it means to me? I got to see my house done for real before I managed to get something my wife would congratulates me for out of Revit or Max.
What does that means to you visualization artists? No one`s gonna steal your job just yet. (Hurray!)

Here are some pictures, enjoy.

initial massing in Max
(OK don`t laugh. I'm a developper)
I got the city signoff on my project using this.

still in Max. I never finished the side building.  
The plans we're needed right away, so I switched to Revit

I Revit model imported in Max, fooling around with Louis Marcoux anaglyph techniques
click on the image for a wider picture.
Grab that blue/red pair of 3D glasses you don't use.

Finished work ~2009