Autodesk 256B1-05A761-1301 - AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite 2010, User Manual

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Migrating Plants
Many Revit 2008 plant families were defined using AccuRender procedures. In Revit Architecture 2009,
render appearances for plant families are defined using RPC files. There is no one-to-one strategy for mapping
Revit 2008 plants to Revit 2009 plants.
When you open a Revit 2008 project in Revit Architecture 2009, existing AccuRender plant families will
have their Rendering Appearance Source parameter set to Family Geometry. When you render an image,
the plants do not display.
If you plan to render images containing plants, you must do either of the following:
■ Manually replace each 2008 AccuRender plant family with a 2009 RPC plant family. See Placing Plants
and Entourage in a Project View on page 1213.
■ Open the 2008 plant family in the Family Editor. Select Settings menu
➤
Family Category and Parameters.
For Rendering Appearance Source, select Third Party, and click OK. In the Family Type, for Render
Appearance, specify an RPC file for the plant. Save the plant family. See
Specifying a Render Appearance
for an RPC Family on page 1207.
Migrating Decals
When you open a Revit 2008 project using Revit Architecture 2009, any decals in the project are automatically
upgraded for Revit Architecture 2009. If you specified any special attributes for the decal using Revit 2008,
those attributes are not retained. Instead, Revit Architecture 2009 provides a more accurate rendering of
decals.
For more information, see Decals on page 1215.
Migrating Rendered Images in a Project
Revit Architecture 2009 does not automatically re-render images in a migrated project. To update a rendered
image using the new rendering functionality, you must re-render the image.
Before rendering an image, verify that the following conditions are met:
■ Materials use the desired render appearances. See Migrating Render Appearances for Materials on page
58.
■ Existing lighting fixture families have been migrated. Migrating Lighting Fixtures on page 60
■ Existing light groups have the desired settings (on/off or dimming) in the view. See Migrating Light
Groups on page 60.
■ Any exterior lighting scheme uses the desired sun position. See Controlling Lighting in a Rendered Image
on page 1228.
■ Plants are updated to use new RPC render appearances. See Migrating Plants on page 61.
For instructions about rendering an image, see Rendering an Image on page 1220 and Rendering Best Practices
on page 1233.
Performance of the Rendering Engine
In Revit Architecture 2009, the mental ray rendering engine is designed to produce more photorealistic
rendered images than in Revit 2008. It provides renderings of comparable quality to AccuRender in a similar
amount of time.
Rendering Enhancements | 61