The Revit Clinic

What happened to Background images?

We hear this question a lot.   The functionality to use a background image while rending use to be available in earlier versions of Revit.  The new Mental Ray rendering engine includes the ability to create a generated sky and sun but if you need to show a specific background or site the ability to add an image is no longer available.   

There is an alternative that you can use to get a background image in your rendering.  You can export the Rendering to a TIFF format which exports the sky as a separate alpha channel.  This makes replacing the sky in an image editor much easier.  You can use Photoshop of GiMP or any number of other image editors (some free, like GiMP: http://www.gimp.org/ ) that read and write the TIFF file format. 

This can be a little bit extra work and requires another program (which I always hate).  There is a way to get around this problem and do this all inside of Revit.

Revit Clinic Tip:

1. Export your rendering in Revit to the TIFF file format.
2. Go to View -> New -> Drafting View to create a new drafting view.
3. In the new drawing view import the background image you would like to use for your rendering. File -> Import/Link -> Image…
4. Place the background image in the drafting view.
5. Go to File -> Import/Link -> Image… and now import the TIF rendered image into the drafting view.
6. Place the image on the over the top of the background.
7. You may need to adjust the background image to be the correct size and use the crop region for the view to show only what you want.

Welcome to your neighborhood Revit Clinic

Welcome to the Revit Clinic.  My Name is Harlan Brumm and I am the Global Technical Lead – Revit for Autodesk Product Support and I will be the primary contributor to this blog.

A little bit about me:

I am 26 years old, married, and live, work, and play in New Hampshire and New England.  I’m originally from Wisconsin and am a big Green Bay Packer Fan (Don’t ask about the New York Jets and Brett Favre). I worked in the AEC industry (both Civil and Architectural) prior to joining Autodesk, but technology and CAD and BIM has always been my passion.

My daily focus is making sure that our Product Support staff has the highest level of technical knowledge so that they can resolve any problem.

In my spare time I teach AutoCAD and Revit at the Boston Architectural College and enjoy technology and sports (and really anything related to those two things)

About this blog, its name and purpose:

Where do you go when you have a physical problem?, A Doctor.  Where do you go when you have a BIM problem?  Well, I’m not a doctor, but I hope that you will start to come here.   I will be focusing this blog on the Autodesk Revit platform of Products, Revit Architecture, Structure, and MEP and trying to prevent BIM problems and provide you rehab if they happen.   

I have to admit, I won’t always know the answer to your problem.  I am more of a generalist, like your family physician, but like a good generalist, I know who to send you to, so I may refer you to a specialists or I may even recommend another hospital (blog or web site).

There will be others who contribute to this blog along the way.  Think of them as the other doctors, radiologists, or therapists that can help provide you the care you need.   

The goal of this blog is provide what a good clinic provides.  I want to prevent problems from occurring, and provide rehab if they do.  In case of emergency you can always break the glass and contact your Autodesk reseller or Autodesk Product Support, but the goal of this blog is to prevent those emergencies from occurring.

Think of us as your neighborhood clinic, walk in, ask a question, and let us make you well.