Real Time Archviz | Did I Find The Perfect Workflow?

OTHER RESOURCES
Insider's Guide To a Career in Arch Viz bit.ly/3HBB3ol
All Free Project & Model Downloads bit.ly/3HBB3ol
Free Project Model From Video: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
Free Furniture Models Collection: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
SOCIAL
Follow me on Instagram / learnarchviz
COURSES FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO
3ds Max Poly Modeling Course: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
3ds Max + Vray Ultimate Exteriors: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
3ds Max + Vray Advanced Interiors: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
Unreal Engine: Advanced Real time for Archviz: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
Twinmotion: bit.ly/3HBB3ol
Lumion: bit.ly/3LKBvlR
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:10 What Every Good Archviz Workflow Needs
01:24 Do We Still Need Vray and/or Corona?
02:48 Elements of a Perfect Archviz Workflow
03:43 Modeling Software
05:10 Advanced Offline Render Engine
06:00 Quick Real time Solution
07:50 A High-end, Powerful Real time Solution
09:50 Vray to Twinmotion Experimentation
13:30 Twinmotion Results
14:00 Vray to UE5 Experimentation
18:40 UE5 Results
18:58 Vray to Vantage Experimentation
21:40 Vantage Results
22:00 All results side by side
22:10 My Final Thoughts. What Do You Think?
DESCRIPTION
I have been exploring a lot of questions about realtime archviz workflows lately, mostly driven by viewers and students. There are a lot of new products out there, and people (myself included) want to know which one is best to choose. In this video, I talk about "the perfect workflow" and what it might look like. I discuss the parts of my professional workflow that are well established, and then explore some of the other parts that are more up for grabs. In those areas, mostly the quick real time solution for archviz, I do some experimentation and put different options to the test against a typical Vray rendering.
As you will see in the video, some software is better at mimicking the Vray results than others, but is that even the point? Each software has its pros and cons, and I see uses for many different software programs in my workflow. Some of it comes down to what we are trying to accomplish, and what the demands are on us as archviz artists. It is not the same for everyone. We will explore all of this!
As always, I think experimentation is great fun, and I find the results very insightful, but I want to know what you all think. As much as anyone else, I too am looking for my perfect solutions. I share a lot of my thoughts about it in this video, and I hope you will share yours with me too (in the comments).
Also, I plan to do a deeper dive into these different software solutions, especially if people find them useful, so make sure and subscribe and let me know what you would like to see more of.

[@Learn-archViz]

What do you think of my workflow? What does yours look like? Do you agree with my analysis of what every good workflow needs?

[@Learn-archViz]

@@mirela3d430 Wow! Thank your for your insight. So, are you still doing game development, or are you doing more archviz now?

[@mirela3d430]

Hi Adam! I have been learning a lot from you, starting with Vray in Max course and the overall rendering settings of lighting, cameras, camera settings and post-processing - thank you for the great teaching and insights! Thanks to your analysis I can be confident in my workflow choice as you explain and show what each programs does. I'm from Games Development background and have been working with Unreal Engine for many years and couldn't agree more with you that it is the high-end solution to any need, it's the way ahead especially with the introduction of UE5 and the RTX GPUs. I have to admit that I really enjoyed working with Vray in 3ds Max following your course but being already experienced with UE, and since the launch of Datasmith, 3ds Max - Datasmith - Unreal Engine workflow just flowed-in, and I'd use it for 2D, 360 or any motion capture. And the Megascans material and assets library and foliage packs at the UE Marketplace are straightforward to use so that saves a lot of time too. Setting up the lighting in UE, especially daytime summer, is challenging but like you said there is a learning path, and getting all the settings to work right.

[@mirela3d430]

@@Learn-archViz Since I completed your course a few months ago, I have been all focused on archviz, but both are to go along! Once I feel comfortable enough with the photorealistic lighting, I will get back to composing stylised scenes with the archviz models.

[@guillaumevandermaas9316]

Hi Adam, could you try D5 Render, or give your opion

[@Learn-archViz]

@@guillaumevandermaas9316 I did that video already. Check out my channel.

[@TroyHomenchuk]

love the exploration. very helpful. thank you.

[@BDS_Emilia]

I started working with UE5, and with all the updates it become easier to get same results like 3DS can do, plus the next update for UE 5.1 will be game changer :)

[@babugeorge7413]

Greatly appreciated... still the realism of vray vantage is amazing. Thank you ..

[@marcosmanilla9383]

Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@BOPISbewitya]

Currently I do the modelling in sketchup. Then switched to 3ds max to tweak and put the objects that are furnitures and such detailing. Render it in corona. Im currently practicing fstorm and im loving it. Part of me wants to learn UE5 archviz too. I found an amazing course to buy.

[@pixeldunevisualization7458]

Great vid Adam!

[@tigrankhachatryan1468]

Thanks for the video!

[@nikolatesla5308]

i love your video thanks for this bro

[@alexandrocastagnet4879]

Thanks for this video

[@olarenders9202]

cool video! i had in my mind this idea of "battle of real time renders" for a while but never got to it. I have to try Vantage, looks like a great workflow.

[@Learn-archViz]

I gotta say, it is a lot of work. There are so many options, and so many more things I could cover. This just kind of scratches the surface, but I am getting a lot of feedback which is what I was hoping for. Thanks for watching.

[@cgimadesimple]

Great!

[@JaySchram]

I completely agree with your assessment. I think Twinmotion is the fast sweet spot, however you completely overlooked D5 Render. It looks as good as V-ray. You really need to include it in this round up.

[@cesarfernandez4309]

I'm surprised i don't see Blender here as far as modeling and also rendering its AMAZING!

[@Learn-archViz]

Totally. I have mentioned many times that it is for sure an option. I will admit it is not my specialty, but I know a lot of people who swear by it, and I have seen a lot of good work produced from it.

[@kenjammin]

Sketchup to Twinmotion for me. I know some Rhino, but felt that Sketchup has far more features useful to me such as Geolocation and Layout without knowing Grasshopper. Last night I took the terrain map from Sketchup and textured it in TM.

[@alainbernoty8478]

I explored Unreal a while ago, getting into twinmotion with pathtracer lately, but Im really interested in UE5! Weirdly enough, I haven't tried Vantage yet... Anyway, great stuff as always, thank you!

[@edemduku3391]

some questions: how many 3d and 2d softwares do you use for arts/designs? please name them. what are some of the tools you do use too? do you use a pen or display tablet?

[@alainbernoty8478]

@@edemduku3391 well, I mainly use 3dsmax for 3d modeling and vray for rendering, AutoCad for architecture, sometimes Revit, and of course photoshop and aftereffects. I'm exploring Twinmotion and Unreal now for realtime rendering and VR!

[@DAVIDPRETA]

I use D5 in the past few months, and it's pretty impressive.

[@Learn-archViz]

I plan on doing an exploration on that too! Stay tuned.

[@craver3d278]

I have also starting using d5 after using lumion and enscape for many years. I’m very happy with the results and quickness

[@aminesetada1410]

i'm still using Chaos Vantage because i'm using a lot of archiviz animation.. but with UE5, i'm switching to it.. it's more powerful and i can get maybe same quality for free !! i don't know about Nvidia Omniverse how the workflow works, not testing it yet ^ ^ thank you for your vidéo

[@bluecubestudiosltd]

Great, GREAT video Adam!! Really interesting, and like you say there is no ‘perfect’ one size fits all workflow. At Blue Cube Studios, we switch between Vray, and Unreal depending on the requirements of the client. Vantage may well be the sweet spot for faster iterations when clients need a quick back and forth. Haven’t tried it yet but will definitely give it a go. Would you say it’s good enough for rendering conventional 3D walkthroughs at 1080p ?

[@Learn-archViz]

For stills, it is completely capable because it is using the Vray GPU Engine. Renderings generated look basically identical to what they would if they were rendered in Max. With animation, I have to do more testing, because my initial results gave me flickering on very bright specular highlights. For a quick animation, though, it could be amazing! I have been using it as a real time preview window while modeling, and it is very nice. It is a great way to render/model in a creative way with instant feedback. I'm all in on integrating Vantage to my workflow for sure.

[@adrianm6953]

Hi Adam. Really like to video. Thank you for the comparison. I have a question though. Is there a way in which I can bring people animation from twin motion to unreal engine? thanks again

[@ivanaramburo4030]

Thanks Adam for the Video really enjoyed the info, but I also wanted to give my two cents. I went to school for architecture, but I'm looking to jump into the archviz world, trying to decide what software's to master, I'm leaning Towards Blender 3D and Unreal Engine for rendering, Follow up with some Photoshop, As much as I do want to learn 3ds Max and v-ray because it suits todays standards better, it seems that the future is bright for blender and Unreal, and might be the future for archviz what's your opinion on that and what's your opinion on which is the best work flow? There is also Rhino that seems very nice to use and one that I've used in school.

[@carvingtheway]

The foggy effect csn b achieved as well in Twinmotion

[@jamesonvparker]

Hi, I wanted to ask you. Is there a way to export detailed construction models from something like revit to unreal. I mean something that includes all the studs, etc. I’m asking for realistic destruction simulation reasons.

[@tayayoung6031]

For us, we do a lot of animations - drone overlays etc which takes an eternity to render in vray (or costs a lot with the cloud) Unreal is invaluable for animations

[@Learn-archViz]

I do a lot of that too. Have you found a good workflow that enables you to render it using Unreal instead? If so, that is awesome!

[@tayayoung6031]

@@Learn-archViz Yea, between Datasmith, some helpful plugins (ultra dynamic sky, shift lens camera, etc) it's pretty quick to set up a scene. Still using 3ds max to build everything (except materials are done in UE). Forest pack objects come in just fine with datasmith. Wrote a material in UE that simulates the forest pack random material for cars. It seems better to do vegetation in unreal using the foliage tool though. And with render passes enabled you can render just your arch without background so you can comp it onto drone footage.

[@Learn-archViz]

@@tayayoung6031 That is awesome! I have wanted to figure something like that out, but haven't jumped into it yet. Good to know that it is achievable.

[@richardakwuma-eagboja2900]

Can you try or experiment with D5 render and give your thoughts about it? Cause its sure looks a bit better than Enscape, but will love to see your professional opinions or thoughts about it

[@Learn-archViz]

I think I will. I have had multiple requests for that. I better check it out.

[@vahidkhodajooyan2749]

i work with and learn these software s to people : 3dsmax , Revit , Corona , Enscape , Lumion , Vray , Vantage , D5 . My Best choice is 3DsMax + Vray but for rendering animation i use Vantage because i had created my seen with Vray and sending the Vray scene to Vantage is the easiest and best workflow. but when i use revit for modeling , i have to use Enscape or Lumion or D5 to render because also its best and easiest workflow. Finally because UE is really hard to be perfect on it, for someone who works with Vray , Vantage is the best, and someone who doesn't works with Vray, D5 is the best! because of quality of rendering.

[@peterbowen3100]

I've ditched V-Ray in SketchUp, now to exporting SketchUp models to Twinmotion, because of Quixel Megascans Intergration and the speed of the rendering with an RTX card. I still use 3ds Max or Houdini if I want to model something more complex and then import FBX direct into Twinmotion for rendering.

[@Learn-archViz]

Oh, interesting. So am I correct in thinking that SketchUp still wouldn't have the proper tools for super high detail poly modeling, or other things like that?

[@armannasr3681]

Do you add trees from twinmotion? I came to find that twinmotion trees are not great.

[@Learn-archViz]

@@armannasr3681 I have done several scenes in the past with foliage and trees. Not the best looking. I haven't experimented with this much in the latest version, though. I have seen landscape designers using Lumion quite a bit for its extensive foliage library.

[@armannasr3681]

@@Learn-archViz exactly. I think the only advantage Lumion has to the rest is the amazing grass material and trees and foliage., but I don’t know if you have seen megascan trees, right now they are only available as early access for UE. If they happen to become available for Twinmotion, I think that would be a game changer. (Considering by then Twinmotion will support materia id channel)

[@Learn-archViz]

@@armannasr3681 I have seen them, but not experimented yet

[@guillaumevandermaas9316]

Hi Adam, could you try D5 Render, or give your opion

[@I3ordo]

Vatnage: the live link with 3dsmax seems to be the most practical way but i wonder if it allows to partially utilize the gpu... i would not prefer to use 100% of the gpu power and get sluggish OS experience...

[@venezuelalibre2502]

Hi Adam, you should try D5, the latest version is probably the best out there in real time rendering

[@Learn-archViz]

I did make a video about that after this one, although it probably wasn't the latest version. I did like D5

[@big-kinoko]

Currently vantage is not support any bump from 3ds max so my client asking why the floor so gloss instead of much rough surface, so I have to learn Twinmotion from now。

[@guitop]

As i was saying in another vid i am going on vantage simply because it works really well with 3DS Max / Vray GPU. I can switch to one or another depending of wha ti need to do. My boss wants a camera ? I do a quick link Max / Vantage and show him what it will do. I need to iterate on colors : same. If suddenly i need to have more control on post-production, for the same project : Vray GPU for the passes and then after effects. Other solutions needs a learning curve or is simply to long to setup. UE5 is not developped for that. It's great if you intend to make a demo "game" of your scene, like enabling clients to change colors etc on an application. With vantage, my setup in Max is good enough : one click and i have my render updated, and if i need more options i can swap to Vray GPU. Vantage is fast and easy to use, answering many needs in my "archviz" field : aviation.

[@Learn-archViz]

All great points that are hard to disagree with. I especially agree that something like Vantage will be popular, mostly because of ease of use, convenience, familiarity, etc.

[@joyddeyto5345]

all of it has an advantage and disadvantage, but if you have a high end PC for this tools you'll enjoy all

[@Learn-archViz]

Great point! I totally agree that they are all good for different things, but there is no doubt that you've got to have the hardware. Otherwise, they can just be frustrating.

[@Elorigendelego]

Hi fríend You think unreal and revit skate and twinmotion is the Best for work? Speed and vray use for more especific work?

[@mypd1422]

our company is still with Blender, but the latest twinmotion is very interesting.

[@Learn-archViz]

So, what do you render with in Blender? Twinmotion can be a very good tool for taking a basic Blender model and turning it into a more polished rendering, or better yet, a full VR walkthrough.

[@mypd1422]

@@Learn-archViz Yes, we use blender for modeling and realistic rendering.Yes we also use twinmotion as well for walk-throughs and vr for presentation purposes.

[@joyddeyto5345]

I like Twinmotion a lot but i cant' animate escalator, so i use Lumion for this

[@Learn-archViz]

@@joyddeyto5345 Lumion is really solid. It still can't be exported as a VR walkthrough, though, right? That is kind of a bummer for me. Enscape and Twinmotion are good for this.

[@armannasr3681]

I have recently come to start using D5 Render. I think the quality of raytracing is good, the library is very rich. Twinmotion is not a viable option for me until they add the material id channel export.

[@Learn-archViz]

I want to do a video on D5 too. I think a lot of the real time renderers could use better support for various render channels.

[@skyheart125]

Thank you for showing us your workflow.. I'd appreciate though if you used some real archviz scene like a whole kitchen, or bedroom and make a real good comparison. Since you are talking high end, we want to see some serious high end output these softwares can give.. In my opinion , some people are best moved by still images. I would always prefer five still images highlighting the best part of a project than give away the rest of the area by doing a walkthrough out of it.

[@aethylwulfeiii6502]

I have been finding issues with Revit and Twinmotion, which is the absolute fastest workflow, if not for one minor bug with Datasmith. Certain objects will import over with the wrong coordinates, for example a wall could come in with the wrong z axis value and be floating up in the air by 3 meters. Very stressful.

[@Learn-archViz]

Does it have to do with XForms that need resetting in Max?

[@archcast5550]

Harder to learn better results.. hmm sounds like my worflow.. because I am broke and low budget I use Linux in Blender with quixelbridge and then transfered to linux powered Twinmotion using Gltf and turning on path tracer. and post production in Darktable. I get to save from from license fee and spend it on hardware. Life is hard for a penguin lol

[@AntonioRotainterior]

What do you think about Rhino and VRAY? Do you think is a powerful tool too?

[@Learn-archViz]

Totally. I've seen pros use this workflow

[@Miguel-ym3bu]

Would love if you tried out D5 renderer and gave your opinion on it!

[@Learn-archViz]

You're in luck! kzbin.info/www/bejne/op60aYZoqrOGaKs

[@Miguel-ym3bu]

@@Learn-archViz thank you!!

[@Apheleion]

question will vray materials in 3ds max transfer in UE5 and convert to pbr materials for UE5 walk around, I know vray can be pbr but its like its own form of pbr and not true pbr like in unreal or substance programs.

[@Learn-archViz]

If you use Datasmith, they come across very nicely without needing to change anything. They are also setup so they use UE5 shaders, but all the controls are setup to look sort of like Vray, so it will feel quite familiar. It works great, IMO

[@Apheleion]

@@Learn-archViz tyvm for the rapid reply and answer

[@StevieMoore]

Did anyone ever figure out how to import Chaos assets into Twinmotion?

[@djpowerwashing2964]

top left is best.

[@jeremyramsay3593]

Adam, did you ever find out if 3D Max Vray materials import into Twinmotion? I can't find a straight answer anywhere.

[@Learn-archViz]

Yes, that has been working for me via Datasmith

[@Learn-archViz]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXSsYqavgJWerassi=OjdAhGTXfRIsXlKp

[@jeremyramsay3593]

@@Learn-archViz Hey that's brilliant, thanks fella.

[@mxmillo]

Skydomes and pathtracing doesn't work in VR mode.

[@filipskrzat]

There is also D5 render

[@Learn-archViz]

Yes! I did a video on it finally, based on many recommendations. I like it!

[@eyouelkassahun369]

What about D5 why isn't any one talking about it?

[@Learn-archViz]

Well, lots of people have mentioned it, so I'll make a video soon

[@mxmillo]

He'll no...Corona is the bomb...once I started using it I jumped off the Vray ship. Started using vray again because of Vantage and the need of creating quick animations. Surprised you haven't mentioned Enscape. Currently the best quality in the real-time arena for the amount of time it takes to render out.

[@Learn-archViz]

I did mention it, but I have not explored it. I am aware of how good it is at getting good results with very little effort. I definitely need to get into it more, but I can only fit so much into one video. I see lots of people who prefer Corona. The results between Vray and Corona seem very similar to me, but I can't speak to which one is better to use, because I haven't used Corona enough. Do you find it way easier/better to use? It will be interesting to see if Vantage will work with Corona in the future, and also what Chaos will do with Enscape.

[@mxmillo]

Ya...posted before hearing you mention it.

[@mxmillo]

Corona is much easier out of the box. Faster denoising. If you have a computer with lots of buckets then it's almost as fast as gpu rendering. Only drawbacks are slow for animations and does not work with Vantage. Hence the need to use vray. Cosmos library and decals will be included in the next ver.

[@Learn-archViz]

@@mxmillo Nice! Yeah, Cosmos is a pretty big deal, so that is cool.

[@Learn-archViz]

@@mxmillo It definitely needs its own video

[@aliosso23]

Unreal 5

[@Nykr]

0:43 ehh?

[@Learn-archViz]

What?

[@armannasr3681]

isn't CPU rendering dead anyway? The last engine that was using CPU rendering was v-ray and now even in V-ray the GPU rendering is faster than CPU Rendering for the same scene.

[@Learn-archViz]

The results are not exactly the same, though. I still use CPU rendering for my most polished static renderings. Maybe others have completely abandoned it? I'd be interested to know.

[@armannasr3681]

@@Learn-archViz hmmm. Is the results worse in GPU? Cause you can do RTX bucket rendering with GPU now in vray and the results have less noise, maybe I am wrong though.

[@guitop]

@@Learn-archViz Totally abandonned CPU on my side (2 years already), but i dont do animations anymore. Most comon materials are supported by GPU rendering, it's rare i need the use of something not supported. And if i need it, well i just use tricks to simulate that thing. The Nvidia ai denoiser is a game changer for that GPU switch.

[@Learn-archViz]

@@guitop Thanks for sharing. I need to investigate this more.

[@chetanfanse9270]

Real-time is future but not useful at the moment. It looks good But not accurate, Give results fast but not perfect. And I prefer perfection in my render. I choose corona.

[@mxmillo]

You probably had to regrab bitmaps

[@Learn-archViz]

What do you mean by that? Did I miss a step? The same datasmith file worked perfectly in UE5. I thought that was kind of strange.

[@mxmillo]

My workflow from max to TM is normally export files as fbx...I then import using the by material option. Materials come in but sometimes I need to reattach bitmaps and set the texture quality in TM.

[@Learn-archViz]

@@mxmillo Yeah, I have usually done the .fbx workflow too. In this case, I wanted to test Datasmith's ability to translate all my Vray materials and such. It worked perfectly for the material I created myself, but came in blank for any cosmos objects.

[@Jordan-dr9hq]

Add Rhino to your modeling software. Combined with Blender, this combo is affordable and and can do everything. Sketchup belongs in the trash, and it’s offensive what they charge

[@Learn-archViz]

I have not used Rhino much at all, but I have seen really good things about it, and created with it.

[@lasereye159]

Fuck that, use unreal

[@Learn-archViz]

Ha ha! Great program, but it depends on what you're trying to do, IMO

[@thundermax8229]

@@Learn-archViz Use unreal bro My suggest

[@Learn-archViz]

@@thundermax8229 I do, but not for everything

[@isabelakendall4652]

😻 ρ尺ｏΜ𝐎ᔕᗰ