So who is employing BIM then?

[robman321]

I agree some of the points made here regarding the implementation of BIM...it is here and it now, unfortunately, visualization professionals will have to adapt to this paradigm just like design professionals are having too. The reality is that, there is always resistance to change with respect to innovation. I for one do not want to stop using Vray but it has become increasing harder to justify wasting so much time (over & over again) reapplying autodesk materials that are accurately applied and would otherwise render just fine using Mental Ray in 3ds Max only because Vray will not render this materials... We need to accept this BIM Revit (Autodesk Materials) workflow and be able to apply a Vray solution to the problem... WHAT IS CHAOSGROUP doing to resolve this issue?

[m_hinks]

We've just started a very large development with 40+ images from a leading archtects (who are trying out Revit for the first time internally!) where the model has been supplied from Revit in stages as FBX files. I now know why people on this forum and elsewhere do not like Revit exports!! The files imported to 2012 very quickly and with no flipped faces etc. The files are very nicely named, and use instanced geometry everywhere (to the point of irratation!), and keeping applied materials does make the convertion to Vray fairly easy and quick. BUT the model is SOO heavy and 2012 can not display it smoothly even with very new graphics cards, and with shitty nitrous turned off. Editting the model is not really an option.

I agree with robman321 that its very tempting to stick Mental Ray and hit render, job done. The architects have done some pretty good internal renders in hours by using metal ray. Just dump the new model in and render through existing cameras, and lighting.

I think Vray might need to work on a conversion tool for Revit models/materials pretty soon. The time "wasted" this week for me is verging on insane, and hard to explain to the client and internally!

I think the nail in my coffin last night was the news that the models we had been cleaning etc all day is getting updated with "minor" design changes tomorrow!!! Today will now be a repeat of yesterday, what fun! TFIF!

That said, just upgraded to 2012 and Vray 2.1 and its very pleasing! A collegue was jumping with excitment to get it installed! Cant say the same about 2012, another shit upgrade with more bugs than fixes. The SP1 has not really helped the viewport issues. Sticking with 2008 where possible.

Mark

[trixian]

Not sure what BIM means where you guys are, but here in Norway it is an acronym for Building Information Model, and has basically nothing to do with rendering. My experience is that only a handful of people (mostly engineers) actually understand what it means and what it is for, and they are mostly interested in interchange of data in large databases connected to the various BIM parts.
The rest of the people throwing the word around are usually architects and to a certain degree landscapers (lately) and a few other professions, where they seem to think it is only for xref'ing in models for collision control (architects even sometimes decide to boolean out internal wall structural models from their wall models like H and I bars with super detailed bevels and stuff so the poly count is insane).

My experience so far with receiving models where BIM was a part of the project is that it just gets even more messy than before. The guys exporting from Revit will export out absolutely everything in their file, so even simple models make 3dsmax grind to a halt, and as mentioned in this tread, just ads even more cleanup duties for us to waste time on.
One of the biggest sinners when it comes to this is actually Autodesk. The way block instances are imported into max is a disgrace, and if done badly enough in revit\archicad etc. can make the file completely impossible to edit in max.

On the other hand, something that absolutely will start to eat into our livelihood is realtime viz through apps like Twinmotion2, Lumion and Lumen, but there is no reason why we should not be supplying these things too. At least with Twinmotion2, there is still plenty room for us artists to do our magic and put the simple stuff architects or others less versed in the visual arts to shame.