The post Holiday Rendering Competition: Win Big with Your Most Festive Image! appeared first on Enscape.

Since its inception, Enscape has been known for its precision and simplicity, delivering offline-rendered image quality at real-time speeds. With its latest version, 2.6.1, released on November 12 2019, Enscape is now one of the first rendering engines for architects to support NVIDIA’s revolutionary RTX technology, which sets the new standard for real-time rendering.

In this article, we’ll look at how Enscape applied ray-tracing techniques in its real-time rendering engine in the past; how the addition of NVIDIA RTX technology now allows Enscape users to render with even more detail and accuracy than ever before, and what one renowned architectural firm thought when they tried out the impressive new rendering capabilities.

Achieve high quality reflections at any time of day. Project credit: tas_1985

Laying the Groundwork

In contrast to many game engines, we here at Enscape already realized the value of showcasing ray traced lighting and reflection calculations and have done so in our real-time engine. Everything we see in the real world is a result of light interacting with the objects in our view. Ray tracing techniques emulate this effect: an algorithm simulates light rays, tracing them from the imaginary eye, or camera, to the light source. As this is fundamentally similar to how light behaves in real life, it can achieve amazingly realistic results.

It was, however, computationally taxing  to run so many calculations in real-time. Tracing rays for every frame was resource intensive and required a great deal of optimization work in other areas. To achieve real-time framerates, it was necessary to partially scale back reflection quality during camera movement and the amount of geometry visible in reflections. But now, with the release of Enscape version 2.6.1, thankfully this is no longer the case.

Crisp, accurate reflections with one click. Project credit: tas_1985

Enscape + NVIDIA RTX = A Winning Combination

For Enscape, the advent of NVIDIA RTX  technology means for the first time we will be able to achieve physically accurate reflections and diffuse, indirect lighting. RTX will dramatically enhance the Enscape experience, bringing about even better performance, light transport and reflection quality.

NVIDIA RTX allows Enscape to build on our current foundation, making it possible to ray trace more geometry in a higher resolution, at exactly the same frame rate. RTX’s hardware acceleration provides us the ability to significantly speed up our lighting  and reflection calculations. The faster Enscape can calculate, the more accurate the reflections and indirect lighting will be. The way you use Enscape will not change; the results you get, however, have the possibility of being more realistic, with no extra effort on your part.

Flawless performance, even in your most epic projects. Project credit: tas_1985

Revolutionizing workflows for Turner Fleischer Architects

Fully realistic reflections have traditionally been an inherently difficult topic for real-time renderers. For developers, this has been complicated by the fact that glass  is a highly important and often used design element; designers expect sharp and correct reflections. Now, RTX gives us the power we need to offer both the performance Enscape is known for and do so with highly realistic reflections.

This has come in handy for Toronto-based firm Turner Fleischer Architects. The renowned firm has always chased cutting-edge technology to convey their designs. As Turner Fleischer Principal Steve Nonis says: “Enscape has radically revolutionized the workflow and client offerings at our studio. The increased speed and enhanced quality of our renderings facilitates a totally new way for us to design, in realtime, with immediate feedback. Design is always an iterative process, but Enscape has made it a dynamic one at Turner Fleischer: the tools we use can now keep-up with our creativity, allowing quick decision making and letting our clients instantly see the impact of their choices.”

Trying out the new NVIDIA RTX technology with Enscape was a no-brainer. “With the addition of RTX to this mix, we can now add to the accuracy, quality and depth our visualizations, with accurate reflections, particularly on glass surfaces, bring static images to life,” says Nonis.

The NOBU Project by Turner Fleischer Architects and Teeple Architects Inc.

Impressive reflections in this towering Turner Fleischer project

The post Enscape + NVIDIA RTX: Even More Realistic Visualizations appeared first on Enscape.

Overland Partners – An Enscape Success Story

For over thirty years, Overland Partners has been blending art, technique and technology to foster community and potential across the globe. Founded in 1987 in San Antonio, Texas, the firm has been recognized time and again for its innovative and sustainable design. It regularly places among the top design firms in the United States, and has developed and supervised projects across the US and around the world. Through its design of museums, corporate headquarters, homeless shelters, universities and more, Overland has aimed to not only provide shelter, but also articulate the story of the community and further the collective exchange. And for the past few years, they have been able to use Enscape to achieve this goal.

In-House Communication

Overland Partners - Hemisphere Project

For Overland, incorporating Enscape into their workflow has above all cultivated internal communication. „We discovered Enscape about two years ago and we have not looked back since,” says Daniel Carpio, Overland’s Director of Technology.

Previously Overland’s workflow had been a longer, more demanding process. Carpio integrated Enscape into the design process and noticed that he was able to achieve maximum benefit through minimal changes. “You don’t actually have to change your workflow that much,” he says. “… Enscape easily plugs in and ties to all the softwares that we use every day.

This smooth integration has allowed Overland more effective internal communication, leading to more time for design.  As Overland Senior Principal Bob Shemwell puts it:  “We find that we can get to decision points earlier. We find that we can extend the length of time that we’re spending on design.” And this breathing room during the design process has wide-reaching benefits. Problems might not always be evident on a floor plan, or in a CAD software like Revit; in Enscape, however, it’s possible to recognize right away if a stair is too close to a wall, a light fixture is inconveniently placed, or a pipe is coming out of a wall. It cuts down on the reaction time and allows Overland to solve problems before they actually become problems.

Simple, Effective Presentation

Beyond the benefits to the internal process, Enscape has facilitated better communication between Overland and their clients. Presenting a design in a way that allows the client to fully understand the work is crucial to a project. “You have to curate the experience for the client so they don’t feel like they’re going to look foolish,”  Shemwell says. Enscape removes the need to explain floor plans in detail to clients who most likely have little experience reading them. As Carpio puts it: “They finally have a clear understanding of the reality of their project.” 

Overland Partners - Hemisphere Project

This clarity is often the deciding factor for the client. Still renderings can give an impression of the overall project, but the live Enscape walkthrough allows Overland to communicate the work in different atmospheric settings. For the client that will actually be living or working in the space, this is the most essential part of a design presentation: seeing the materials used, the light conditions and the general feeling of the space. “[Enscape will] allow us to put all the correct materials on; it’ll allow us to show the client what the bedroom will look like at a certain time of day,” details Steve Fong, Overland’s BIM Manager. “All these things are something that we can now study visually, that we could not do before and this is all within the last few years; this is something that’s very new to architecture.”

Joining Forces

Over the past years, a fruitful partnership has developed between Overland Partners and Enscape. When Carpio and Fong first heard about Enscape, they were wary of putting all their eggs in one basket. However, as soon as they began their trial period, they were convinced. “We could not believe what we were seeing,” Carpio says. “It was doing everything it said and more.”  Since those early days, Overland has worked ever more closely with Enscape and both sides have seen the benefits. “With Enscape we feel like we have a developer that works for us. They listen to us, they surprisingly implement all of the things that we asked for” says Carpio. “It feels like there’s this great partnership that we have with Enscape and I really, really value what they are doing to the AEC industry.”

Looking Forward

Overland Partners - Hemisphere Project

As Overland Partners continues to develop projects across the globe, Enscape is there to streamline their design and presentation process. “It’s a fundamental problem of the human condition,” says Shemwell, “…trying to communicate ideas effectively and for us Enscape and VR in general are one of those things where it creates the most equal experience for a client and a creator.” Whether it is facilitating internal communication, or clearly communicating a design to the client, Enscape supports Overland where they need it the most. As Shemwell puts it: “It’s technology, but, ultimately, it’s about people.”

Visit Overland Partners  on their Social Media Channels!

Facebook  | Twitter  | Instagram  | LinkedIn 

The post Overland Partners – An Enscape Success Story appeared first on Enscape.

How to Add Panoramas to Your Workflow

When you think about it, panoramas are some of the most multifaceted tools when it comes to presenting your project to clients. It’s easy to underestimate how many ways they can be applied and how effortless it is to integrate them into every step of your workflow. They’re a great addition to still renderings, giving your clients the ability to literally take a look around. For a tutorial on how to create Enscape panoramas, take a look at our Knowledgebase article.

Everything associated with the panorama is simple: they are easy to send, access, and view. Panoramas can often be a happy medium between still renderings and a full 3D walkthrough. Viewing them doesn’t require high powered hardware; you can have a VR experience using a smartphone. It’s effortless to upload them to the cloud and share them via weblink or QR code. Integrating panoramas into your building plans, presentations, or promotional material couldn’t be easier. For this post, we gathered examples of how creative Enscape users get with their panoramas. Check the exciting use cases to get inspired on how to add panoramas to your next project.

The Planning Process

Many Enscape users add panoramas to every step of their workflow, starting during the planning phase. Before you even begin construction on a project, you can show your client exactly what the end result will look like. It just takes a few clicks to export a panorama that you can send to a client in seconds. Export any view in Enscape as a panorama: forum user Paul Russam (David Maxwell Architects) detailed his workflow for exporting all of his panoramas from one project in a recent forum post.

First he starts Enscape and surveys his model for the best views of the project. He saves these views and names them “Pano-01, Pano-02, Pano-03 etc” for easy reference. Paul then renders his panoramas in two steps: first the outdoor scenes, then the indoor scenes. This process allows him to tailor his exposure settings for the first the outdoor scenes, then the indoor views, for the best result.

Get an overview of your created panoramas in the Manage Panoramas window

Example of a stereo panorama created in seconds

Using a workflow like Paul’s will leave you with a collection of panoramas which are a great way to present your project to the client. Oftentimes you’ll be faced with the common problem: how to present your project to the client dynamically without extensive and high-powered hardware? When you meet with a client, you don’t always have the option of bringing the hardware necessary to show a live 3D walkthrough or use VR. But in these cases, you don’t have to compromise. Panoramas can elevate the presentation to a memorable experience for both you and the client, anytime, anywhere.

Use your cursor to pan around the image

The great advantage of panoramas is that they provide you with the opportunity of a VR-like experience using minimal hardware. Travel light by saving panoramas on a tablet and showing them during key points in your presentation. You client can swipe around the panorama using their finger, allowing them to focus on the areas that are most important to them. Or view the panoramas on any laptop, navigating with the cursor. Alternatively, upload your panorama to the cloud and download a QR code. You can add these to posters and quickly scan them at the right moment, provided you have internet access, of course.

Provide a VR-like experience without the hardware; just pack your phone and your cardboard device!

Another great tool to use in combination with stereo panoramas during presentation is a cardboard device. This adds an interactive, and therefore memorable, element to the presentation, with no extra fuss. You might not always be able to bring your full VR setup to client presentations, but you always have room for a cardboard device. It assembles in seconds; after that you simply open the panorama on a smartphone and enable cardboard mode by tapping the glasses icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen. This gives your client a fully 360° experience of their project in seconds.

Between presentations, sending panoramas is a great way to keep your client up-to-date on you progress. This is in no small part due to how easy it is to distribute panoramas. You can of course send your client the image file to view on their computer, but you can also simply send a weblink that they can open on their smartphone and view anywhere. Enscape user Steven Garubba says that he sends panoramas to his clients so that they can “get a good idea of the space that [he] just designed for them.”

They can easily view it on their phone and quickly get back to me with new ideas/changes without having to be on a computer which makes the process much faster.

The opportunity for immediate feedback is what makes using panoramas like this so powerful. You have the ability to give your client an impulse of where the project is heading, and immediately react to their response, saving you not only time but also headaches down the line.

The Construction Phase

It can be easy to write off panoramas once you leave the planning phase and enter construction, but a survey of Enscape users on our forum shows that this is where you can really get creative. This benefits not only your client, but also the workers. This is where panoramas distributed via QR code can be most useful. Once you have your floorplans ready, navigate you model in Enscape and export panoramas of key areas. Then simply upload these to the cloud and download the dedicated QR code. Adding this QR code directly to the floorplan can bring clarity to the design and help you avoid miscommunications about the direction of the project.

As Steven Garubba puts it:

I plan to place QR codes right onto the construction document seeing that the field loves to see the space before building it out and it generally gives the workers an end result to work towards.

Adding panoramas to 2D plans brings your project to life like never before. A 2D plan can convey the basic facts of your project, but it can’t tell a story the way a rendering can. Check out this interactive plan created by Space Architects for a recent project:

Adding a QR code to a 2D plan brings your project to life like never before.

Credit: Space Architects

Combine the detail of a 2D plan with the imagery of a 360 panorama viewed immediately on a smartphone for a clear, comprehensible overall representation of the project. Printing QR codes in brochures to send out gives your project an even greater reach: anyone with a smartphone can see your idea in seconds.

Enscape user dsmith utilized QR codes during an on-site client presentation for memorable results with little effort. First, he used Revit with Enscape to develop “certain areas of the building that were of significant importance to the client (reception areas, classrooms).” For each important area he then created an informational poster, which showed the area in the floor plan and also provided the dedicated QR code for the panoramic view of that area.

Add QR codes to your construction site walkthrough for an immersive experience

Credit: Noviun Architects

The client could then walk around the building site and scan the QR code with their phone to immediately see the impression of what the finished product would look like. This approach allows a client to clearly see what the area will eventually look like, even if large parts of the design are still missing on-site. As dsmith put it:

This was particularly useful for giving an idea of space before any partitions were installed on site. It worked really well and all the clients were extremely happy with the final outcome.

Forum user Gadget used a similar technique in his own office. His company, Thistle Windows and Conservatories Ltd, created a custom showroom to present projects to clients and used QR codes during the planning phase:

During the development of the showroom, QR codes have been printed out, laminated and placed at key areas within the showroom so that the people working on it have a good idea of what the end result should look like.

The end is the beginning (Marketing and Promotion)

Panoramas can benefit your firm beyond the development of specific projects. They can also be an invaluable tool to convey your ability to potential clients. Collecting panoramas of past project is a great way to immediately showcase your design style. The most straightforward way to do this is to host panoramas of your past projects on your website. Check out the bottom of our Knowledgebase article on panoramas for guidelines on how to do this; you’ll find it under the heading “For Software Developers”.

One firm using this technique to showcase their designs is David Maxwell Architects. In the Portfolio section of their website , they use a mix of hosted panoramas and still renderings to show the kinds of stunning projects they have worked on in the past.

Host panoramas on your website to give potential clients an overview of your work

Another easy way to host panoramas and reach a wide audience is via Facebook’s 360 photo upload. It is just as easy as uploading a normal photo to Facebook, but allows the viewer to pan around the image with one click or tap. It couldn’t be easier to share your work on your timeline to reach an even wider audience. Just upload the panorama as you would upload a normal picture and Facebook will automatically recognize it as a 360 photo. You can then set your starting view and post to your timeline with one click!

Render interactive panoramas in seconds

Post interactive panoramas to Facebook in seconds

A great way to take your QR codes up another notch is to personalize them to fit with your corporate identity. The QR codes that Enscape generates are functional and effective, but sometimes you might need something less nondescript. In this case, online QR code generators are perfect tools. Simply upload your panorama to the cloud to assign it a weblink. Then pick your favorite QR code generator.

Create QR codes to share your panorama

Brand your QR codes with your company color or logo

As far as the free sites go, I find QR Code Monkey incredibly versatile and easy to use. It took me just a few clicks to create the above branded QR codes. Stick with your company color, or even add in your logo. Drop in the URL from Enscape and these personalized QR codes will link directly to your panorama.

One last way to integrate panoramas into your marketing materials is by creating a panorama tour. This is obviously also great for client presentations or during the planning stage, and hosting a panorama tour on your website makes a great first impression on potential clients. Not only does this give a similar effect to a real-time walkthrough, but many softwares and services allow you to also annotate the panorama tour; the viewer can then click selected elements and get more information.

There are a lot of different services out there that allow you to create such tours. Many are only available in a paid subscription, but create such beautiful tours that it might be an investment worth considering, especially if your firm creates such tours frequently. At the top of the list are 3DVista , RoundMe , krpano , and Modelo . Check out this pano-tour our forum user Nuge created using Modelo.

3DVista: Consider investing in a paid service to create high-performance tours

Modelo: Consider investing in a paid service to create high-performance tours

There are also two great free tools that allow you to create panorama tours at no cost. The first is Pannellum , a versatile tool: on the one hand you can use it to simply annotate single panoramas, to add more detail or information. On the other hand, you can create linked tours to give the viewer a full experience of the project. It is perhaps a little complicated at first to get the hang of, but the site offers lots of documentation and a detailed tutorial to get you started.

Open source tool Pannellum creates detailed and dynamic pano-tours

My new favorite tool, which I learned about from our forum user xxl, is marzipano . It’s incredibly intuitive; just drag and drop several panoramas into the webviewer and set the starting view. Then you can link the panoramas together and add info spots if you want to.

Create pano-tours in minutes for free with Marzipano

Conclusion

As you have seen, the ways to integrate panoramas into your workflow are almost endless. This underrated tool can enhance your project presentations, offering a near-VR experience with just a smartphone and a cardboard viewer. Between client meetings, it’s the easiest way to share updates with clients who might not have the graphics card to handle an executable standalone.

Beyond the planning stage, you can easily view panoramas, even on the construction site via QR codes. Personalize these to fit your company image, or use the Enscape-provided codes for even more ease. Printing these codes in your marketing materials or uploading a panorama to your Facebook page allows you to make an impact on even more potential clients than ever before. Long story short: adding panoramas into your workflow takes little effort and yields big results. Can you ask for more?

If you’re new to Enscape: the panorama export is included in our 14-day free trial. Sign up now and test it out!

The post How to Add Panoramas to Your Workflow appeared first on Enscape.

Best Practices: How to use Web Standalone Export for presentation

You already know and love the executable standalone; it allows you to package your Enscape model and share it easily. But it requires a certain level of hardware, and your client might not have the powerful graphics card required. With the web standalone, this is no longer an issue!

1. Why A Web Standalone?
2. Export And Manage Your Web Standalone
3. Conclusion

Enscape’s web standalone removes the requirement for high end graphics cards, as the standalone is rendered in a web browser. All you need in order for it to run is an internet connection. Just like with the executable standalone, it only takes two clicks to export your project. The uploaded standalone can be accessed instantly via a web link. Send your model to clients instantly, or export web standalones to use during client presentations, even if they do not have a high-end graphics card: the possibilities are endless!

Why a Web Standalone?

You might be wondering what the actual benefits of the web standalone are, and when it might be beneficial to use it versus our executable standalone. In this case, it comes down to what your goals are. Both the web standalone and the executable standalone offer a 3D walk-through of your rendered Enscape project. But the web standalone is, in some cases, easier to share.

The great benefit of the web standalone is that it removes the previously required high end graphics card. You might have top of the line hardware, but your client possibly does not. If they have a standard laptop, they might not meet the system requirements needed to run the executable standalone. However, the web standalone can be run on any computer with a WebGL2 compatible browser. All you need is an internet connection. You can send it to anyone and they can immediately open it.

Along these same lines, the web standalone is great when you want to quickly send your client an updated model for approval. You don’t have to worry about how to get the file to them; simply email the client the web link, and they can view the standalone immediately. Not only does this save you time, it might help you and your client catch some errors before they happen.

The web standalone is also perfectly suited for client presentations. Your office computer is probably able to run Enscape with no further issues, but the laptop you take on the road might not meet our system requirements. In this case, the web standalone makes it easy to still dazzle during a client presentation, as all you need to run them is an internet connection. Take your hard work with you and convince the client of your vision.

Sample Project Residence (Revit)

Sample Project Villa Hanoi (SketchUp)

Export and Manage Your Web Standalone

Exporting the web standalone is the same process as exporting the executable standalone, with the added bonus that you can manage your web exports directly in Enscape. Enscape needs to be running to export the standalone, so first click the start button. Then, simply click the Export Web Standalone button.

Export the web standalone with two clicks

Once the upload is complete, your default browser will open the standalone. The view you had active prior to export will define the start position when you open the web standalone. The settings you had active prior to exporting will be included in the standalone. It is not possible to change settings in the web standalone, beyond adjusting the time of day.

You can manage your uploaded standalones in the Manage Uploads window. Click the My Uploads button in the Enscape ribbon to open the window. Here you will find not only your created panoramas, but also any web standalones you have uploaded.

The My Uploads button in the Enscape ribbon

Uploaded standalones can be managed easily

Clicking on any web standalone automatically opens it in your default browser. You can also delete any standalones you have created by hovering your mouse over the title and clicking the red X.

When you open the web standalone initially, you will see a loading screen featuring the Enscape logo.

The web standalone loading screen

The web standalone is a streamlined version of our executable standalone. The navigation controls are the same ones you are familiar with from Enscape. They are detailed in an instructions panel that appears automatically when you open the standalone. You can hide the panel simply by using the H key on your keyboard.

The web standalone has the same controls as Enscape itself

The web standalone can only run if the browser you are using is WebGL 2 compatible. As such, the web standalone will not be able to run in Internet Explorer or Edge; we recommend using Chrome or Firefox. Currently you cannot adjust settings or export favorite views with your web standalone, but these are features we hope to include in the future.

Conclusion

You work hard on your models, and you want to be able to quickly send them to clients for approval. You want to be able to show your model off during a client presentation, but don’t have a laptop with a high-end graphics card. The web standalone solves these problems in two clicks.

It couldn’t be easier to export your model, which is immediately uploaded and available via a web link. You can send your model is seconds, and don’t have to worry whether your client can view it and whether they have the right hardware. Take your model with you to client presentations and for on-site reviews. It’s not just about convenience. The web standalone can of course help you save time, but it also allows you to catch errors and avoid potential extra expenditure. Straightforward and user-friendly, the web standalone will change the way you share your projects!

The post Best Practices: How to use Web Standalone Export for presentation appeared first on Enscape.

Icon Asset Library

Let’s take a look at all of the features included in the Asset Library. The Asset Library can be opened via the Enscape dropdown menu or via the Asset Library icon, depending on your CAD program.

The Asset Library will open in as a separate window and show all available assets grouped by category. Click on a category to see the available assets. When you hover your mouse over an asset, you will see its name and a short description. At the top left you can also search for specific assets by name.

The main view of the Asset Library

Hover over the asset to view a description

Find assets by name in the search bar

Favorited assets are grouped together

Click just once to add an asset to your floor plan

The vegetation will appear as low-res geometry

Turn a remote terrace…

...into an intimate place to linger.

Place an asset on a face with one click

Continue clicking to place more of the same asset

Combine different assets to make your scene dynamic.

Carefully arrange figures to mimic real-life interactions

Assets in Rhino are shown as low-res geometry

A fall morning created in Rhino

Enscape assets represented in ArchiCAD view

Mix and match assets and backgrounds to create scenes.

The post Best Practices: Asset Library appeared first on Enscape.

You’ve probably seen it before, that rendering that at first glance fools you into thinking it is a photograph of an actual room or building .

Just by viewing your project in Enscape, you can achieve fantastic results, but how do you take your project to the next level, to amaze your clients with the authenticity and atmosphere of the scene? As beautiful as your building is, you’ll be hard pressed to inspire your client’s imagination if all the rooms are empty.

Choosing this content can be overwhelming, simply because there are so many different sources. And acquiring the content can get expensive, especially if you need a lot of it. But if you know where to look, the right elements don’t have to cost an arm and a leg – in fact, they don’t have to cost anything at all!

This blog post will summarize some of the best sources out there for free elements to add to your architectural project: from furniture and skyboxes to textures, and everything in between! Create an emotional experience for your clients without breaking the bank!

Overview about free resources for architectural projects:

1. Free Textures
2. Entourage and Accessories
3. 3D People
4. IES Lights
5. Trees and Vegetation
6. Skyboxes
7. Sound Files

The right textures can take your rendering from lifelike to astounding. And there are a lot of resources out there were you can find high quality, free textures that will take your model to the next level. Let’s take a look at some of my favorites.

Why textures are important to architectural design:

Let’s take a look at what these textures can do. The ground floor of this beautiful Revit project already catches the eye, but free textures can make it pop even more. I downloaded just four free textures from the above websites, a wood floor, a plaster texture, a wallpaper and some tiles, and quickly applied them. Take a look at the results: in just a few minutes, the project already looks much more inviting! Applying textures, in this case especially the wood floor texture, gives the room a more authentic feel. And the tile backsplash in the kitchen livens the scene up immediately.

A living room and kitchen area without any applied textures.

The same space with five textures applied to the walls and floor.

1. CC0 Textures   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
At the top of the list is CC0 Textures. All of the available textures and maps are licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 License, so you use them however you like, even commercially. The textures are available at high resolutions, many with sizes of up to 8192px, allowing for detailed surfaces.

2. 3D Textures   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
3D Textures is the website of João Paulo, a freelance designer and 3D artist from Portugal. He offers free seamless textures with diffuse, normal, displacement, occlusion, specularity and roughness maps. The quality is great, and you have the option to download all of the maps together in a ZIP file, or just download the one you need.

3. 3DXO   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
3DXO has around 600 free textures to choose from. Their website is incredibly easy to navigate: find what you are looking for through a keyword search, or browse their extensive categories list. With one click you can download a ZIP file containing diffuse, bump and specular maps.

4. Poliigon   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
The vast majority of the textures at Poliigon.com are not available for free; in fact, they only have 54 textures available free of charge. However, the textures they do have are high quality, and spread across a wide range of categories. You need to register an account to download the free textures, but it’s relatively painless when you consider how nice the textures are.

5. Textures.com   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
Textures.com has a huge selection of textures across a wide variety of categories. The only drawback here is that you have to register an account to download the textures, and you are restricted as to how many you can download per day. When you have registered your account, you receive 15 credits every 24 hours, and with these credits you can download small and medium sized images. Every night at midnight, your credit number resets itself to 15.

6. ArtchViz   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Facebook Account Required
ArtchViz has around 200 textures available on their Facebook page for free download. They mainly have wood, marble, and flooring textures, but they are high quality, seamless images. Additionally, the company frequently updates it’s page with new textures. You do have to have to be logged in to a Facebook account to download the textures, but beyond that there is no additional sign-up required.

3D models, entourage elements and RPCs are invaluable for creating realistic renderings, and they will take your projects to the next level. This covers everything from plants to trees, knick-knacks, furniture, people, and everything in between. Your project will impress based on its architectural beauty alone, but when you add these extra elements, your clients will really be able to see themselves in the scenes!

Why entourage and accessories are important to architectural design:

Let’s use the above resources to keep developing our Revit model! It can take a little work to find the right elements to add to your space, but if you invest the time, you can enrich your model and your client’s experience immeasurably! In the below pictures, I have added some furniture to the model to make it more realistic.

Furniture already transforms the space, but what really elevate a scene are the little things that make up daily life, the glasses and books and vases that make a space look lived in: entourage. It is important to take a little time and care when placing your entourage. Try to skew and rotate the objects to make them look more natural; almost no one lives in a home that is always perfectly in order!

An empty architectural space becomes…

… a realistic living space decorated entirely with free models.

1. SketchUp 3D Warehouse   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
The SketchUp 3D Warehouse almost doesn’t need to be mentioned here, as it is already so well known. It houses an enormous library of free content, with varying quality. A lot of users complain that overall, the quality of the models in the Warehouse is not high enough, however I have had a lot of success by searching for collections, instead of models. I also wanted to emphasize for Rhino and ArchiCAD users, that you can download and use the models from the 3D Warehouse, too! Both Rhino and ArchiCAD support .skp files. You will find a little bit of everything here: furniture, cars, light fixtures and much more!

2. ArchiBase Planet   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
I have to say right at the beginning that archibaseplanet.com  is not the most appealing website you will ever see, design-wise. However, this is something I can personally get over pretty quickly, as the amount of free, quality models is just amazing. Sure, there are a lot of banner ads, but the categories are easy to navigate and each category has hundreds of models to choose from. There’s almost 300 models in the fireplace category alone. Best of all, you don’t have to register to download the models!

3. Cgtrader   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
Cgtrader.com is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, they have hundreds, maybe even thousands of lovely 3D models available for free. You have to register an account to download them, but after that you can choose from up to 10 different file formats and download the models with one click. On the other hand, you can’t filter out the paid models. If you search a category or keyword, you can check the box for “Free”, but you will still see models that require you to pay. For example, I searched for free plant models, and only 15 of the 30 shown options were actually free. But if you can get over this, you will find nice, high quality models!

4. pCon.box   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
This website is quite possibly one of my favorites on the list, simply because it is just a really slick tool. At box.pcon-solutions.com you will find brand-specific 3D models of mostly office furniture. You don’t have to sign-up an account to view and download the models. The very cool thing about pCon.box is that you can immediately view and adjust the model in a 3D modeling space. Not only that, but you can immediately customize your models to the fabric and materials you want to use. And, you can add multiple 3D models to the modeling space, arrange them how you would like, and export them as a group.

5. Bimobject   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
If you are looking for manufacturer specific BIM models, look no further than bimobject.com. They have models from over 1000 brands, organized in a pretty smooth category system. You can navigate by object type, brand, or even file type. You do have to register an account to download anything, but this is a small price to pay for the amount of quality models made available. And even better, bimobject has apps available for SketchUp, Revit and ArchiCAD, which are free to download and use, so you don’t have to manually download the models from the website: you can drag and drop them right into your project!

6. Modlar   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
Modlar.com is another website that provides manufacturer-specific 3D models, free of charge. You do have to register an account, or log in using your Google, Facebook or LinkedIn account. You can browse models by category, brand or project type (residential or commercial). What is particularly cool about Modlar is that you can save, or essentially bookmark, 3D models to download later. Not all models are available in all file types, so sometimes you have to search a bit to find what you are looking for; however, even if your desired model isn’t available for your CAD software, there are plenty of great alternatives.

7. RevitCity    (Revit) – Sign-Up Required
RevitCity.com is similar to the SketchUp 3D Warehouse, in that the content is user-generated, and therefore the quality can be hit or miss. On the other hand, the amount of content specifically for Revit is overwhelming, and there are some cool features, like being able to comment on models and start conversations with other users. You can also rate the models. To download, comment or rate, you have to register a free account.

Adding 3D people to your scene can really be the icing on the cake, especially in still renderings. Your office might be perfectly decorated, but until there are workers milling about, the scene lacks that certain something. Take the scene from one your client likes, to one they can imagine themselves in. Finding quality 3D people can be challenging, so check out some of the sources below as a jumping off-point.

Why 3D People are important to architectural design:

One last step is to add some 3D people to the scene. I just quickly copied and pasted some characters out of the Enscape RPC sample project, and check out the results! Carefully consider which people models to add to your project. In the best case scenario, you want it to look like they are interacting with your scene, not just dropped into it. To maximize this effect, look for models that are naturally placed, for example, holding a phone or taking a step.

Placing RPCs turns this from an empty house…

… to a family affair.

1. 3D Warehouse and Archibase Planet (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
To repeat two of the websites named above, the SketchUp 3D Warehouse  and Archibase Planet  both have a number of people models available, though in both cases, you might have to search a bit until you find the right, high quality ones.

2. RenderPeople   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
Render people mainly offers paid 3D people, but have also made several test models available for download. They are available in a variety of file formats that will cover SketchUp, ArchiCAD and Rhino users.

3. Human Alloy   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
Human Alloy also offers mainly paid content, but they have made a couple of their models available free of charge in a variety of file formats. You do have to sign up for a free account.

4. RPC Content for Revit (Revit)
If you are looking for free, high quality RPC content for Revit, specifically for 3D people, you might be looking for a while. There are few free resources that reach the quality of Archvision. You can, however, try out a free RPC Entourage Starter Pack  if you don’t already have an Archvision subscription. Additionally, there are several human models that are shipped with Revit which look great in Enscape; check out Dan Stine’s previous blog post  about this. Or, if you are feeling creative, you can follow Dan’s instructions here  and create your own RPC content. Maybe the quickest way to add RPCs to your Revit model is to use our free RPC test project . It has a selection of ten 3D people to choose from.

Adding IES light profiles to your fixtures is a subtle but effective way to make your model even more authentic. IES stands for Illuminating Engineering Society, which created a file format to transfer photometric data via the internet. Today the format is widely used by lighting manufacturers. The great thing about IES lights is that they represent realistic light  emission patterns based on manufacturer specifications; it’s the digital version of a real world light. This means that if you know which lighting product you are going to use for a project, you can check whether there is an IES profile available for that product, and give your model a huge dose of reality. IES light files are created and made available by many major lighting manufacturers and can usually be downloaded from their website at no cost. IES files can be used in any of the CAD programs supported by Enscape.

Why IES Lights are important to architectural design:

Here is what our developing model looks like in the evening and at night with some added IES lights. I don’t have to tell you that the biggest difference is that you can now actually see the model after the sun has gone down. But much more importantly, carefully placing your lights adds accuracy to your scene. If you are designing a new home for a client, they won’t just want to know what it will look like during the day. Using IES profiles, you can give them an accurate picture of the atmosphere in their new home at any given time.

Your room can’t make an impression in the dark.

IES light profiles let your model shine at any time of day.

1. Phillips   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
Obviously one of the leaders in the lighting industry is Phillips, who have developed an extremely handy and extensive database of IES profiles. You can access them all for free using their Philips Photometric Database. If you know which product you are using, you can search for that specific IES profile. However, what is so great about the tool is that you can search by light fixture, and see which lighting options are available for that fixture. Once you have selected your product, you can download the IES profile directly to your computer.

2. American Electric Lighting   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
America Electric Lighting joined the Acuity Lighting Group in 2001, and you can find IES profiles for their products on their website. They offer well over 1000 IES profiles. You can either find the specific profile you are looking for and just download that file, or download a ZIP archive of all available files.

3. Lithonia   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
Lithonia is another member of the Acuity Lighting Group, and also provides lighting for everything from commercial buildings to residential projects. Just like American Electric Lighting, Lithonia lets you download individual files, or their whole archive as a ZIP file.

4. Erco   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
The German company ERCO is one of the leaders in the field of architectural lighting using LED technology. On their website, you can search their product catalog and download ZIP files containing IES profiles for entire product families.

5. LA Lighting   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
LA Lighting is a great resource for commercial and industrial lighting. Browse their extensive catalog, and then download the corresponding light profiles for over 200 light fixtures directly from their website.

Trees and vegetation are important to ground your scene in reality, inside and out. Whether it is placing potted plants in the lobby of an office building, or adding trees to the exterior of your model, vegetation makes your scenes more dynamic and authentic. We are so used to seeing nature elements in our everyday lives that it is immediately apparent when they are missing from a rendering. Take a look at some of the websites below and find the plants that are just right for you.

Why trees and vegetation are important to architectural design:

As you can see in our model below, adding tree and vegetation especially to the outside of your model can make all the difference. It’s rare to see a house without some form of landscaping in the real world, which is why our model looks so stark without any plants by taking the time and adding some of the models from the Enscape RPC test project, I can give the model a welcoming yard that makes the rendered image much more dynamic.

Without trees, this scene is rather stark…

… but, add a little vegetation, and it really blooms!

1. SketchUp 3D Warehouse   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
Obviously there are hundreds of vegetation models in the 3D Warehouse, but I wanted to emphasize those by user SkapeUp . He originally posted in the Enscape Forum in 2017  that he had made some plants specifically for use in Enscape, and they really look great! He now has nearly 100 2D and 3D vegetation models available.

2. Cgtrader   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
Cgtrader was also already mentioned in the section about entourage, but I wanted to repeat it below because it has some really nice vegetation models, especially houseplants. Once again, you have to search a bit to find your desired file type, but with close to 1000 free models available, there’s something for everyone.

3. SketchUp Texture Club   (SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
SketchUp Texture Club also has a nice selection of free textures and entourage, but I wanted to specifically mention their vegetation collections. They have six collections available for download, with a wide array of variety. There is a really nice palm tree collection, and a collection that has some bare trees, if you are going for a more wintery effect. You do have to sign up to download the models, but by doing this you will also get access to their free textures, so it’s worth a look.

4. Polantis    (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD) – Sign-Up Required
Polantis has over 100 trees available for download in many different file formats. What is so great about the vegetation available at Polantis is that most of the models available are for specific types of trees. So if you are looking for a baobab tree, a California buckeye, or a maidenhair tree, look no further than Polantis. The drawback is that you have to register an account to download the models, and you can only download three models a day, so you’ll need to practice patience.

5. Enscape RPC Test Project   (Revit)
The easiest way to add vegetation to your Revit model is to use our free RPC test project. Just copy and paste the trees and plants you like directly into your model. There are nearly 100 models to choose from in a variety of sizes, colors, and types. No sign up required!

If you want to vary the background in your model, the easiest way to do this is to use a skybox in Enscape. You can load it right into your model via the Atmosphere tab of the Settings menu: Skybox as a background. Skyboxes loaded into Enscape must be either in Longitude/Latitude (panorama) or cross format. For more information, check out our Knowledgebase article  on this topic.

Why Skyboxes are important to architectural design:

Take a look at our model with two different skyboxes applied; just that little adjustment changes the atmosphere completely! The generic Enscape sky is a nice backdrop by itself, but if you have a specific location in mind for the building, using a skybox can transport your client there with one click. Even if you are not aiming to represent a specific location, you can use skyboxes to lend a certain atmosphere to the rendering. Use a forest skybox for a more intimate, rustic feeling, or any residential street to ground the scene in reality.

Use the Enscape sky for a more universal look…

… or add a skybox to place your model in a specific location!

1. Enscape Backgrounds   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
You can download a collection of 12 skyboxes directly from our website. They are HDR backgrounds in cross format, which can immediately be loaded into Enscape.

2. Textures.com   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
Textures.com doesn’t just have a lot of high quality textures, they also have HDR panoramas available. They have a nice selection available, though with your daily free credits, you are only able to download the smallest image size.

3. Texturify   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
On Texturify you’ll find both sky background and environment panoramas. The environment panoramas are great if you want to set up a scene to make it look like your building is situated along a city street, or a more exotic location. You can download high quality panoramas without registering and with just one click.

4. HDRI Haven   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
HDRI Havenis one of my favorite resources for free high quality panoramas. They have everything from urban backgrounds to countryside scenes. All of the panoramas are free and available in varying qualities, from 1K to 16K.

3. sIBL Archive   (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, ArchiCAD)
The sIBL Archive has upwards of 100 free high quality panoramas available for immediate download. You don’t need to register an account, just choose your panorama and with one click download a ZIP file containing varying resolutions of the image.

6. Make Your Own!
If you didn’t find a skybox from one of these sources, or if you are going for that extra level of realism, consider making your skybox! Enscape supports Skybox image files (*.hdr, *.bmp, *.jpg, *jpeg, *png, *tif, *.tiff, *.tga) either in cross or panoramic (Longitude/Latitude) format. Panoramic skyboxes should have a resolution ratio close to 2:1. You can, for example, take a panorama of the site where your future building is to be situated to show your client exactly what the view from their future office will look like.

The elements discussed above are all great for still renderings, but sound sources are the way to really make your model pop during a real-time walkthrough. In Revit and SketchUp, you can add a sound source to your model in just three clicks, and immediately boost the authenticity of the scene. Add crown noises to a shopping mall, conversation to a restaurant, or make music come out of a record player in the living room. You can use any MP3 or WAV file for your sound source, but most people probably don’t have an MP3 of rain sounds or a crowded room. Luckily, there are great websites out there where you can find just such sounds for free.

Why sound files are important to present architectural design:

Placing an Enscape sound source takes just a few clicks, and takes the live walk-through of your model to the next level. Learn more about placing sound sources here  in our dedicated Knowledgebase article. During your live walk-through you will then be able to create the exact atmosphere you are looking for. Add the sound of soft rain to create an intimate space, or footsteps to enhance your crowded shopping center, or airplanes flying overhead your future airport terminal. If you are viewing the model in VR, you might even forget that the project hasn’t been built yet!

Where to find free sound files:

1. FreeSoundEffects.com   (Revit, SketchUp)
This website has both free and paid sound effects, but their free ones are definitely worth a look. You don’t have to register an account, and can choose between MP3 and WAV formats. They have a lot of specialized sound effects you might have difficulties finding on other site, like office sounds or airplanes passing overhead.

2. SoundBible   (Revit, SketchUp)
SoundBible.com is another site with a lot of variety. You don’t have to register to download the files, which are all available in MP3 and WAV formats. You can preview the sound directly on the site, and they upload new files every week. You’re sure to find what you’re looking for here.

3. freesound   (Revit, SketchUp) – Sign-Up Required
At freesound.org, you can download hundreds of sounds for free; they have all been released under Creative Commons licenses. If you are not sure what you are looking for, you can browse by keyword or tags. There’s a little something for everyone, from city street recordings to sounds of crickets chirping in a meadow. All the files are free, though you do have to register an account to download anything.

Manage your resources effectively!

One thing to keep in mind before you begin to browse through the websites we have summarized above is how to manage all of the files you will end up downloading. Between testing out materials, and seeing which chair looks best at the kitchen table you picked out, you can end up with a lot of files floating around on your computer. Here’s some tips on how to organize your resources so they don’t end up lost in your Downloads folder.

First, decide which elements you need for your project. Depending on the effect you are going for, you might not need to add all of the elements discussed above. Next, create a resource folder list to house all of your files. You can think of it as your personal library. Expand this collection even further with each project you work on. With a nicely organized list, you’ll never have to search through your Downloads or Documents folder again; all of your free resources will be right at your fingertips!

Refining and enhancing your model with the five elements discussed above can make all the difference between a happy client and an amazed one. After all, you don’t simply want them to like your model – you want them to see themselves in it. Adding some furniture and decorations, 3D people and the right background will make your clients think they are looking at a picture of the finished product. And this wow-effect doesn’t have to be expensive: in fact, as you have seen, it doesn’t have to cost a penny! Elevate your project with these resources, and improve your time-management by organizing them effectively.

So here is our finished model, before and after! In just seven easy steps, and using completely free elements, we took it from ordinary to extraordinary!

A beautiful, but empty architectural space is transformed into…

… a vibrant, lived-in house!

The post Free resources for architectural projects appeared first on Enscape.

How do you elevate your model, and create an experience the viewer will never forget? Lighting is crucial to creating not only realistic scenes, but also to leaving a lasting impression and conveying a certain feeling. All lights are not equal, and it is not surprising that many users are in the dark about which light best suits their needs. This post will provide an overview of the lighting options available via the Enscape Objects window in SketchUp: spot light, sphere light, rectangular light, disk light and linear light.

The aim is to provide you with useful information and helpful tips to take your scenes to the next level. For a more focused, but equally illuminating discussion of lighting techniques in SketchUp, take a look at Dan Stine’s blog post on the topic. He recently also wrote a similar post for Revit users. Let’s get started!

There are five different lights you can add via this window:

• spot lights
• sphere lights
• rectangular lights
• disk lights
• linear lights

Once you successfully add a light to your project, you will be able to fine-tune various settings for the individual lights in this window. In addition to lights, this window also allows you to add sound sources and proxies to your model.

Let’s take a closer look at the five different lights you can add in SketchUp. All of the lights can be placed with the easy 2-Click System; even if you’ve never placed an Enscape light before, you can learn it in seconds! It is important to note that while Enscape has a good performance impact in relation to lights, real-time rendering can’t process an unlimited number of light sources. How smoothly your project runs comes down to a combination of your hardware, the size of your project, and the number of lights. The number and intensity of your light sources will impact the performance greatly, especially if the lights overlap.

A spot light is fairly self-explanatory; it functions similarly to a spot light in real life and provides a very direct source of light. A spot light is a cone of light which emits light from a single point in one direction (Image 1). By changing how wide the cone angle is, you can control how much of your scene is actually illuminated. The width of the cone can also determine whether the light is hard or soft.
Practical uses for spot lights include store displays, desk lamps, street lights or stage lighting. They can also be used in a scene to create dramatic lighting effects, as they are useful for creating an obvious falloff from light to dark.

Placing a Spot Light

To add a spot light, select it in the Enscape Objects window. I’m going to place a spot light in my project to add a bit of drama to a rooftop terrace. There is already geometry in place representing light fixtures along the edge of the roof.

1. Light cone of a spot light

2. Placed spot light and Objects window with adjustable settings

A spot light can be placed with four clicks: two to determine the endpoint and two to determine the direction of the light cone . Click once to place the endpoint of your light. You can then decide whether to slide the light along a certain axis. Do so and click again to affix the light source. On the third click, you will have the opportunity to determine the point you want to illuminate. Adjust to the desired point and click one last time.

You will see the light represented as geometry in SketchUp (Image 2). As soon as you have placed the spot light, you will be able to edit two settings in the Enscape Objects window: Luminous Intensity and Beam Angle. The Luminous Intensity slider allows you to adjust the brightness and maximal range of the light, measured in candelas. The Beam Angle slider controls the width of the beam, in degrees. If you have an IES profile you would like to use, you can load it via the Enscape Objects window by clicking Load IES profile.
Check out what our spot light looks like on the roof (Image 3). Kind of lonely, right?

3. Single spot light

4. Four spot lights placed using Copy/Paste

Copying ensures that lights that should look the same have identical settings, without any extra effort (Image 4). You can also group your light geometry together with the components or fixtures they are placed in. This way, you can quickly place lamps that already contain a light source. Just select the elements while holding the Shift key, then right click on one of them and select Make Group.

Let’s take a look at the sphere light next. In its default state, the Enscape sphere light is a point light, which sends light out from a single point in space, equally in all directions. In this way, the effect it gives is similar to a common incandescent light bulb. Sphere lights are useful not only because they can simulate light sources like light bulbs or candles, but also because they can be used to light areas with a gentle falloff in all directions.

Placing a Sphere Light

Most sphere lights can be placed with just two clicks. The scene below doesn’t currently contain any light sources (Image 5). But say I want to place a sphere light into the lamp next to the couch, so that the room will be illuminated even if I change the time of day to night.

5. Empty light fixture in SketchUp

6. Placed sphere light at night

Click Sphere in the Enscape Objects window. Click once to place the endpoint of your light, then click again to place the light (Image 7). You will now see the light source geometry in the lamp (Image 8).

7. Placing the endpoint of a sphere light

8. Sphere light geometry

When you have placed the geometry, you will again be able to edit the luminous intensity, to avoid being blinded by the light. With the sphere light you also have the option of adjusting the Light Source Radius slider. This controls the size of the source in meters, though this is only visible in reflections.

Now that the sphere light has been placed, the lamp will appear to be on at night in Enscape, as you can see above (Image 6). The sphere light effectively mimics how this type of lamp would light a room in reality.

Next up are two similar lights: the rectangular and disk lights. These are area lights; this means that they do not emit light from one, infinitely small point in space, like the spot or point light. Instead, they emit light across their surfaces uniformly, resulting quite literally in an entire area of light. Because an area light emits from across its entire surface, it tends to produce light that is softer and more subtle than other lights. It produces a diffuse light with softer, less dramatic shadows (Image 9).

Because of this, an area light has ample uses. Perhaps the most tangible use case example of an area light is to create a florescent light fixture, like the ones you find in any office building. Similar practical applications include light banks, backlit panels, and florescent tube lights, but they can also be used for more atmospheric lighting, for instance light shining in through a window.

9. One rectangular area light illuminating a dining room

10. Light beam of a rectangular light

Because these two lights are so similar, I will mainly refer to the rectangular light in the below examples. The only difference between the two is the shape of the beam.

You can place the rectangular light using the same 2-Click system described above for spot lights. The beam, however, looks different from a spot light. Check it out below. As you can see below, both ends of the beam are rectangular, and the face from which the light emits covers a much bigger area than a spot light, which ends in a single point (Image 10).

Placing the rectangular light allows you to adjust three settings in the Enscape Objects window (Image 11). The first is Luminous Power, which controls the brightness and range of the light; it is measured in lumens. Additionally, you can define the Length and the Width of the light source in meters via the Objects window. The maximum size for a rectangular light is 3 meters by 3 meters.

11. Rectangular light window

12. Editing a placed rectangular light

Let’s take a closer look at the controls you have in regards to editing your lights after placing them. Double clicking on the light will enable the edit mode (Image 12).

By clicking any of the red squares located along the edges of the rectangle (1), you are able to adjust the width or length of the area light, just like in the Enscape Objects window. The advantage of doing it by hand is that you have the ability to match the size of the light exactly to the light fixture you want to place it in, especially if you don’t know the measurement of the fixture in meters.

Clicking the middle red square (2) will allow you to move the face of the light source around, if you decide it should be placed a little differently. You can also move any of the lights by selecting it and clicking Move Light in the Enscape Objects window. You can adjust the angle of the beam by clicking the square at the end of it (3). Clicking the magenta square (4) will allow you to rotate the face of the light source.

So what else can you use rectangular lights for, other than the practical uses of filling light fixtures? Obviously it is worthwhile to light your model meticulously, so that when you are showing it to a client, you are prepared for any eventuality. The client might want to see what the house looks like at night, and if you haven’t added lights, there won’t be anything to see.

But even with Enscape’s easy 2-Click system, it can take some dedicated time to light a model, especially if it is very large. Area lights are perfect if you want to take a quick screenshot of your model at night, but don’t have the time to add too many lights.

Take a look at our model below (Image 13). It currently only has the lights we added on the roof and in the living room. It’s pretty hard to see anything at all.

13. Exterior view at night

14. Exterior view at night with four area lights

Now take a look at this second screenshot (Image 14). In this one, I have added four rectangular lights, one each in the bedrooms and kitchen. Looks a lot better, right? And it took no time at all to get this image ready to screenshot.

The fourth light in Enscape’s arsenal is the linear light. It resembles a fluorescent tube in shape and can only be scaled in length, which can be adjusted in the Enscape Objects window or by editing the source itself (Image 15 and 16). Again, you can also set the luminous intensity of a linear light.

15. Geometry of a linear light

16. Adjustable settings for a linear light

The linear light can be placed with two clicks, like the sphere light. After you place it initially, you can define the length and rotate it to fit the scene. The placement of your linear light will affect where the light shines: the shadows along the length are soft, while the shadows on each end of the light are somewhat more focused. Below I have placed a linear light in our SketchUp model to show you what I mean (Image 17 and 18). Most of the light is emitted along the length, rather than from the ends of the light.

17. A long linear light

18. Light emitted by a linear light

19. Colored linear lights in SketchUp

20. Rendered view of Image 19

Here I’ve added some linear lights to the pond in our model for a glowing effect (Image 19 and 20). You can use this feature to achieve a more decorative effect, like the one above, but also to add realism to your model. If you are trying to match your 3D model to a real-life lighting concept, you can use the paint bucket tool to mimic the crisp white of an LED lamp, or the yellowish glow of an incandescent bulb.

You can then check the box next to Self-Illumination to make the material emissive. Use the Luminance slider to adjust the emission intensity; the maximum intensity is 100,000 candelas. You can also assign a color to the material.
Check back to the blog soon to see a dedicated blog post on emissive materials!

However, do not forget to check out this wonderful Video from The Rendering Essentials about Interior Lighting and Colored Lighting:

You can implement and combine the Enscape lights I have presented in limitless ways to take your model to the next level. Whether you are shooting for extreme realism or dramatic scenes, light is one of the easiest ways to achieve your goal. Place a few, quick sources to light up the rooms in your model for a screenshot. Or, take the time to develop dedicated lighting for each room; this will wow your client during a walk-through presentation. Your models are already stunning by themselves, but adding lights elevates the experience for the viewer.

The best part is that integrating lighting into your workflow doesn’t have to be complicated, if you follow the tips you have learned in this post. In fact, you probably knew how to do all of these things already, before reading the post. Now just apply that to your Enscape lights! Place your lights just in front of your geometry with the quick 2-Click system. Duplicate identical lights quickly by copying and pasting them. Double click a light to edit it immediately, and use the ESC key to abandon changes if you make a mistake. If you prefer, you can use the native SketchUp tools to rotate or move your lights. And, don’t forget to add some color with the paint bucket tool!

However, don’t take my word for it: to test out Enscape lights yourself, just download our 14 day free trial here. I’m sure you will find it enlightening!

The post Best Practices: Lighting in SketchUp appeared first on Enscape.

Best Practices: How to use executables for presentation

Perhaps the most important part of an architect’s process is presenting a design to the client. This is what all your hard work is leading up to, and a good presentation can make or break your client’s approval. But 2D plans don’t exactly paint a picture in the mind, your CAD software is lost on your client, and you don’t want to overwhelm with too many static renderings.

What you do want is to offer your client an effortless, yet unforgettable experience, which allows them to focus on the details that are important to them. This is just what Enscape’s standalone export (executable) offers: complexity without complication.

One little file offers endless possibilities. The standalone can be used as the basis for a formal presentation, or sent during the design process for quick evaluations. It allows you to catch problems earlier by communicating the design to the client more often. There is no software to learn and the client can open the standalone on their own hardware, as it does not require an Enscape subscription to run. These benefits and many more will be covered in this post.

It couldn’t be easier to export a standalone model of your Enscape simulation. It takes just two clicks: one to start Enscape, and one to export the model. All of the fine-tuned settings you had active prior to exporting will be included in the standalone. After this, the possibilities are endless. You can keep the file for your own records, or send it to a client for evaluation.

How to export a standalone file in the Enscape menu

The beauty of standalone files is how easy they are to run. The machine on which the client wants to view the model must meet Enscape’s system requirements . however, no additional software of any kind is needed! The EXE provides the same experience and quality that Enscape does, but does not require Enscape, Revit, SketchUp, ArchiCAD or Rhino to run. This is what makes the standalones such an excellent tool for client interaction. And the Enscape controls  are incredibly intuitive; all instructions are listed right on the screen.

Upon opening the standalone, you will find that it has an integrated settings menu which allows to adjust the standalone like never before. These are limited to necessary, yet useful functions, and are incredibly simple to adjust. Of course, any settings you had active prior to exporting the model will also be active in the EXE. The adjustable settings offer you and your client the ability to spontaneously view the model under different conditions in a way simply not possible with static renderings. Let take a closer look at all the available settings.

You can easily pin and unpin the Settings menu in the standalone file

The tab to open the Settings menu is located on the left side of the screen, about one third of the way down. When it is hidden, you will only see a translucent bar. Hover your pointer over the tab, and it will automatically expand. If you click the pin icon, the menu will stay open while you move around. Click the icon again, and the menu will close.

In this menu you can turn virtual reality, light view and white mode on and off, and adjust the rendering quality and the thickness of the outlines.

Like so many things in Enscape, it only takes one click to enable Virtual Reality in the standalone. The machine that the model is being viewed on must fulfill Enscape’s virtual reality system requirements . Enscape currently supports the following head mounted displays: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality Headsets such as the Samsung Odyssey. The software needed to run Enscape with the individual headsets (Steam, Steam VR, Oculus runtime) is also required to run the standalone in VR. But as soon as this is set up, you can enable virtual reality and allow your client to explore the project like never before!

Virtual reality with just one click – also in the standalone

Virtual reality in the EXE looks exactly the same as running VR natively in Enscape. After setting up your hardware and enabling VR, you will be able to navigate the Virtual Reality Settings menu, which allows you to turn white mode on and off, adjust the thickness of the outlines and set the time of day, all from inside VR. Additionally, you can access your favorite views and turn the minimap on and off. Enscape also supports taking screenshots while in VR. You can either take a snapshot of your current view, or frame up a screenshot using a virtual camera. Screenshots are queued and rendered upon leaving virtual reality. Giving your clients the opportunity to view the model in virtual reality creates a commanding and distinctive moment they will never forget.

This is now one of the most useful adjustable settings: You can define the rendering quality from within the standalone, and change it freely. The same four options are available as in the native Enscape:

You can choose the best rendering quality for the given hardware equipment

This is a powerful setting, especially in relation to client interaction. Enscape has certain system requirements necessary to run, and client machines don’t always have top tier graphics cards, as they simply don’t need them. This is often an issue that does not arise until the client tries to open the file. With this new setting, there is no need to export a new EXE file; the client can simply adjust the rendering quality to find which setting allows them to run Enscape fluently.

Adjusting the rendering quality can go a long way towards viewing the Enscape model on machines that might not be meant for running such a demanding program. This feature is also especially useful for early stages in the project when high quality graphics are secondary. You can also use this feature in conjunction with virtual reality. Toggle the slider to find the quality that works best with your headset and hardware. This allows you to spontaneously switch to virtual reality, without having to switch machines.

Enabling white mode  will display your model void of any materials. Depending on where you are in the design process, you might want the client to simply focus on the architectural forms of your project, and not worry about colors and materials just yet. This is what white mode is perfect for. It displays a work in progress clearly as an unfinished model, rendering everything with a uniform white color. Try combining white mode with heavy outlines for a stylized, graphic look. Adjust the thickness of your outlines in white mode or normal mode via the Outlines slider.

You can enable white mode from within the standalone and adjust outlines.

If you’d like to show your client a light analysis of the model, you can do this by enabling light view. This option will display how many lux are falling onto each surface. Enable light view and adjust the time of day to see how your model interacts with the light at any given time. The time of day feature is unchanged in the new version of the standalone, however, in combination with the new features, changing the time of day can drastically affect how your client sees the project. Simply hold the shift key while clicking the right mouse button, and keep an eye on the bottom right corner of the screen; you will see a clock that shows the exact time.

On the right side of the standalone screen, you will find the Favorite Views menu. It can be opened in the same way as the Settings menu: by hovering your pointer over the translucent tab. This feature simplifies moving around your model, and makes it easy for your client to find certain views. Clicking on the thumbnail preview will smoothly transport you to that location in the model. The animated transitions allow you to keep an overview of your location within the project as a whole. A double click will transport you directly to the desired spot.

Defined views will be automatically included as thumbnail images.

The views you wish to include in your standalone must be designated before it is exported. But, again, this only takes one click. Simply decide which views you would like to include and mark them as favorites by clicking the star next to their name in the Enscape view drop down menu.

When you have done this, these views will be automatically included as thumbnail images in the expandable sidebar menu. Please note that while the Setting menu is always included, the Views menu only appears if views have been designated prior to export. You can either click on the thumbnails, or use the Page Up and Page Down keys to switch views, even when the menu is not open. The possibilities for client presentations with this menu are endless. The views are exported with your time of day settings in Enscape, so you could for instance save different variants of the same view to quickly show one area in your model in different lighting situations.

The most straightforward application of the standalone export is for presentations. In a formal client meeting, the standalone simplifies your presentation down to the most salient features, delivered in a stunning display. You can use it to avoid overwhelming the client with your CAD software; streamline your delivery by only having one window open. During formal presentations, you can use the favorite views to choreograph your proposal, only showing the client the preselected views you want them to see. Alternatively, you can explore the whole project in the standalone, and leave yourself room for spontaneity in your pitch.

Between formal presentations, standalones are a straightforward way to give your client updates on changes or developments inside the model. Simply send your client the EXE file, and allow them the freedom to explore the model at their leisure. This is constructive for both sides, because it allows you to catch problems earlier by communicating the design to the client more frequently.

Documentation also becomes effortless through EXE exports. It is the simplest way to track changes in your project, and be able to access earlier versions for comparison. Enhance your workflow by periodically saving your model, enabling you to revert to it for reference without having to search through your CAD program. Leave your client with an unmistakable record of your work, even after the project is completed. Here you can check the other available export options .

Any settings you have active prior to exporting are included in the EXE – and this includes your customization features . You can define your own loading screen, overlay image, window icon and caption text. In the standalone, the overlay image and loading screen are particularly effective.

Insert the logo to cultivate your company’s corporate identity

Use the overlay image feature to add an image to your screen. This could be your company logo, or the name of the working architect. Use a personalized image for the loading screen. The customization settings are a great way to bring your standalone in line with your corporate identity.

Both features can be easily defined in the Customization tab of the Enscape Settings menu. Simply select an image by clicking the folder icon. If you decide you want to remove any of the customization features, simply uncheck the box next to the feature.

Now that you have spent some time getting to know the standalone and all of its features, you have perhaps already seen how this tool can benefit you personally. Document your design process without interrupting your workflow by saving standalones along the way. Send your client more frequent updates, and offer them a way to better understand their project. Engage your clients more fully during meetings by breaking away from typical presentation displays. In short, make the design process easier for you and your client.

The beauty of Enscape has always been its simplicity, and the standalone is no different. Just a few clicks, and your clients can explore their project in a way simply not possible with static renderings. Without software to install or programs to learn, they can focus on what is important: your design. And you can offer this opportunity in less than a minute; a small EXE with vast potential, a world of possibilities in one click.

The post Best Practices: How to use executables for presentation appeared first on Enscape.