displacement in archicad

[Anonymous]

Because of the low poly count of Archicad 'forms'/planes and the difficulty in getting quality displacements, is it fair to assume that when exporting to Artlantis or Maxwell that is a waste of time using bump maps? OR am I missing something?
The textures I am refering to are things like recessed mortar on a brick wall, shadows that follow the contour of a cobbled road or ridges on a tiles roof (where one tile is on top of another).
It seems Lightworks can do limited displacements but not in the other programs.

[Dwight]

Yes, a waste of time.

Displacement is determined by the surface material values.

You can't really expect, when transferring between programs, much more than the image map information to transfer.

LightWorks has pretty good displacement control, but when talking Maxwell lingo it can only order eggrolls. Do you not have the export plug-in from Archicad-Maxwell?

The way to work between programs is to only use tagging information. You should rely on material definitions established in each program using common names.

[Anonymous]

Hi Dwight

Yes I do have the plug in and have used Maxwell for a while (using materials made in Maxwell), I really like the program, but its archilies heel has caught up with me and I can't wait for the renderings. Its a shame really because it produces very nice renderings.
I have only used the demo version of Artlantis and may purchase it soon, based on your recommendations and the speed, size, quality etc of the renderings.
Although Lightworks may not produce the quality of shadows/radiosity the displacement may be something that I can't leave behind. I still have more information I am squeezing out of your book as well.
Your opinion about the displacement was what I was thinking, just needed confirmation.

Thanks

[Dwight]

Lots of other applications can make better imagery than Artlantis can, but none do it with as little practice and such consistently high rendering speed.

I find it somewhat ironic that users whinge about technical image quality when the real failure of architectural illustration is composition and entourage placement.

Artlantis has a great collection of entourage that speeds me along in my work. It has been fun to seen the adaptive lighting work - whenever you add more energy it sort of balances the surface reaction.

As for displacement in Artlantis, see this:

http://www.artlantis.com/index.php?page=tutorials/index&file=402_us.swf


Do get the demo......

[Anonymous]

I have already downloaded the demo and it has now expired. I like it a lot.
I agree completely with you in relation to composition and it is part of the learning curve, like all aspects of illustrative work, but I tried to keep my question as precise as possible, it doesn't mean I'm not aware of the importance of composing a scene.

[Dwight]

Present company excepted, of course.

It is just something i see all the time: Some schmuck with no artistic inclination is all superior about his exquisite rendering with no thought to the story it tells.

I was doing a night rendering of a grocery store recently and created a gathering of employees on smoke break. There's story....