Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Forums: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit
3D Studio Max Plugin (Export Script Plugins developed by [gk] and KilaD; Integrated Plugin developed by Karba)
Forum rules
Please post only in English in this subforum. For alternate language discussion please go here viewforum.php?f=18

Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby SamuelAB » Thu May 19, 2022 2:23 pm

SamuelAB Thu May 19, 2022 2:23 pm
I'm having issues converting lights from Revit FBX files. Using Octane 2021.1.4 - 12.16 in 3ds Max 2022.

The 3ds Max Octane "Convert All" tool does nothing to regular lights from Revit. I have to convert them to VRAY lights first using the VRay tools before Ican convert them to Octane lights.
When I convert the lights from Vray to Octane, they lose their shape. For example, I have 2x4 volumetric lights that gwet converted to Octane point lights.

-Why can't Octane convert FBX lights without the additional step of converting to Vray lights?
-Why does Octane lose the shape of the lights when it converts from Vray lights?

----

Regarding the materials of FBX from Revit, Octane is incapable to recognizing or converting the 3ds Max "Universal Materials" or "Autodesk Generic" materials. This is very frustrating, we have to use Vray to convert our materials so we can then convert it to Octane. Could you not just do you own material conversion support without relying on Vray materials?
User avatar
SamuelAB
Licensed Customer
Licensed Customer
 
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:25 pm

Re: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby neonZorglub » Fri May 20, 2022 3:39 am

neonZorglub Fri May 20, 2022 3:39 am
Hi SamuelAB,

Thanks for pointing out those problems.

Basically, when 3dsMax import an FBX, it creates 3dsmax specific objects from the fbx data (mesh, materials, lights, etc..)
So there is a first conversion happening here, unrelated to Octane Max plugin.

Then, Octane plugin may recognize those objects that are now 3dsmax objects, and can convert to Octane when those are supported.

3dsMax may not recognize some of the FBX features, and create objects of a wrong type (for example what was a light in the original software may end up as a simple mesh, from the export to fbx and import from fbx to max)
I guess VRay tools might recover some of those features, and re-create proper lights, materials, etc, that can then be converted to Octane..


One thing you could try is to import the FBX with Octane Stand-alone.
There is a specific FBX importer in Stand-alone that could read some features more accurately.
If this works better, you could export the result as an orbx file, that can be loaded in 3dsmax with an Orbx proxy object..

Could you post some FBX sample files ? maybe with screenshots of the original software (Revit) ?
And also corresponding max files after conversion with VRay ?
That would be very helpful for me to implement a better solution.

Thank you
neonZorglub
OctaneRender Team
OctaneRender Team
 
Posts: 892
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2016 10:08 pm

Re: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby paride4331 » Fri May 20, 2022 10:35 am

paride4331 Fri May 20, 2022 10:35 am
Hi SamuelAB,
Octane Render 2022.1 has a new Standard Surface Material node according to the Autodesk Standard Surface specification; so in the future we should be able to convert Autodesk Standard surface to Octane Standard Surface Material automatically.
Regards Paride
2 x Evga Titan X Hybrid / 3 x Evga RTX 2070 super Hybrid
User avatar
paride4331
Octane Guru
Octane Guru
 
Posts: 3686
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:19 am

Re: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby SamuelAB » Wed May 25, 2022 12:28 pm

SamuelAB Wed May 25, 2022 12:28 pm
neonZorglub wrote:Hi SamuelAB,

Could you post some FBX sample files ? maybe with screenshots of the original software (Revit) ?
And also corresponding max files after conversion with VRay ?

Thank you


Playing around, I've (re)discovered a few things.
If I export the FBX from Revit, the IES definitions are lost. The solution is to link the Revit file into 3ds Max to not lost this definition.
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ar ... p/11192149

I've attached:
-A FBX export from Revit, which will have the improper/lost IES data
-A 3ds Max file from a linked and binded Revit file, this will have the proper IES lights
-A 3ds Max file from a linked and binded Revit file, that was then converted to Vray lights using the Vray converters

I an ideal world, I'd like to convert the IES files without having to use the Vray Converter first.

---

Paride has pointed out in 2019 that Octane use EITHER IES lights OR shape lights. (viewtopic.php?f=27&t=70378&start=10)
In reality, all realistic lights are BOTH IES and Shape lights. This is the case in Revit, if a light does not have a shape and and IES light, it's determined to not be realistic, more like a fake cartoon light to be ignored by lighting designers.
It would be great if you could combine both IES and shapes into the conversion process and in Octane in general, if it's not already been done.
Attachments
Sources.zip
(5.25 MiB) Downloaded 104 times
User avatar
SamuelAB
Licensed Customer
Licensed Customer
 
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:25 pm

Re: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby SamuelAB » Wed May 25, 2022 12:30 pm

SamuelAB Wed May 25, 2022 12:30 pm
paride4331 wrote:Hi SamuelAB,
in the future we should be able to convert Autodesk Standard surface to Octane Standard Surface Material automatically.
Regards Paride


Fantastic, thank you Paride!
User avatar
SamuelAB
Licensed Customer
Licensed Customer
 
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:25 pm

Re: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby SamuelAB » Tue May 31, 2022 5:04 pm

SamuelAB Tue May 31, 2022 5:04 pm
Here's some illustrations of more tests with light conversion:
Convert.jpg

Convert2.jpg


There's a few issues shown:
-The lumen value gets converted to some non-lumen "power" value. It would make more sense to keep lumen as lumen, because this is what the lighting industry uses to talk about light intensity.
-The shape is lost and converted to a point/circle light instead. It's unclear if changing the size of the circle changes the resulting intensity.
-All lights pointing on the side or above now point downwards!

Also, there's no way to check the accuracy of the light intensity. From a professional perspective, it seems very wrong. It seems like the resulting light intensity in Octane is way too bright, to the point of making the sun look dim. The fact that Octane does not use lumen, but power is just more reason to not trust the lighting power data.

I hope the team can work on improving the accuracy of light conversion, this is very crucial for architectural and lighting visualization. Also if this kind of errors are fixed, we could build a really good pipeline to go from Revit to Octane on a massive scale.
User avatar
SamuelAB
Licensed Customer
Licensed Customer
 
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:25 pm

Re: Converting Lights and Materials from Revit

Postby paride4331 » Wed Jun 01, 2022 2:53 pm

paride4331 Wed Jun 01, 2022 2:53 pm
Hi SamuelAB,
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=64872&p=329709#p329666
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=64872&p=383392&hilit=+lumen#p383392
You can set the Light conversion values in Octane preference.
Regards
Paride
Attachments
01.jpg
2 x Evga Titan X Hybrid / 3 x Evga RTX 2070 super Hybrid
User avatar
paride4331
Octane Guru
Octane Guru
 
Posts: 3686
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:19 am

Return to Autodesk 3Ds Max


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests

Fri Mar 29, 2024 11:27 am [ UTC ]