Physically Based Rendering in 3D in AC27

[Florin Luca]

Hi everyone,

I have a generic white surface and here are the 3D views with and without the new Physically Based Rendering option. I like the softness of the new rendering option, but why the difference in color? The lights settings (sun, ambient) have not changed between these two shots - bright white, or close to. How can we control the light color?

Any thoughts?

 

 

[DGSketcher]

I am seeing the same thing it was reported during Beta and no-one at GS seems to want to provide an answer. That may be why it is still buried in the "Experimental Feature" section of the WE.

I just love all these new features that become experimental and then take years to fix if ever...

[Florin Luca]

Yeah, that's too bad. I don't have to use the new feature. But I noticed that the color issue affects BIMx on any of my devices, too: desktop, iPad, iPhone. And that is for BIMx models I saved in previous AC versions, which looked good in the old BIMx app.

It seems as someone at GS doesn't like white color, so I guess we can have any color we want as long as it is not white! 🙂

Seriously, tho, it is a problem. I need certain surfaces to look white not that nausea-inducing beige. I can't say to the client, well, look at this but imagine white!

[Roland Szabo]

We adjusted BIMx's colors to provide the most realistic shading possible without hardware-intensive real-time light calculations significantly reducing 3D performance. The yellowish tone imitates warm sunlight, matching the standard sunny outdoor scenes, while the opposite side is darkened to reflect the building's geographical orientation (which was missing from older BIMx versions, see this article). Therefore, white surfaces cannot be perfectly white, just like in reality. There is room for improvement in white balance, we'll consider your feedback with the team, thanks!

For more accurate color representation, I recommend putting e.g. redshift renderings to layouts. Feel free to open a new topic in the BIMx Forum to further discuss its visual quality (e.g. the new dynamic skybox). Any suggestion is welcomed in the Wishes forum. 

[Florin Luca]

Roland, I was with you until that bogus "surfaces cannot be perfectly white, just like in reality"! You guys need to get out more often! I understand about falling in love with your idea, but leave at that and own it. Look at the difference in those two images I posted: I have never seen a white building looking like the first image.

Other than that, thank you for replying.

[tjmillar]

In the attached image, the grey walls are set to white, without a texture and the white wall has a a white texture applied. It's a workaround that might work for white walls, but I can't apply a texture for every surface color in my library, so it seems I'll have to go back to the basic engine. 

[Florin Luca]

I tried your idea, but my colors still come out as in the pictures in my initial post. I made the sunlight as white as I could, nothing. I give up! Not exactly the most important issue for me 🙂

[tjmillar]

My screenshot was of the 3D modelling window, it wasn't a render. I found this thread when I was looking for an answer to the problem of white walls being mid-grey within the 3D window, it wasn't a rendering issue (yet!) for me. I really like the look of the physically-based rendering in 3D that you get when you check the box in the experimental features panel of the work environment, but the interior white walls are so dark and so mismatched with the texture colors that I've had to give it up and go back to the old standard.

[Florin Luca]

My pics at the top of this thread are also from 3D window, not a render. I liked the new feature’s soft shadows and all that (just see the difference looking thru the glass door), but the off white color rendering kills it for me.

[jl_lt]

We say that all the time when showing Archicad raw models to unsuspecting clients: "Just Imagine it, but prettier"