3ds Max Lighting Analysis called 'Gold Standard'

Well, many people I've talked to over the past year have asked just how accurate the lighting system in 3ds MAX Design. I haven't been able to give a great answer to that question until now. As reported on by Ten Links, a joint venture between the National Research Council Canada (NRC), Harvard University and Autodesk. Their test results and published white paper can be found here: 3ds Max Design Exposure feature is as good as gold
Needless to say, Autodesk got it right for once!

Link an FBX file like a DWG file in 3ds MAX Design 2009

Like most of the stuff Autodesk takes a first stab at, there is usually more to be desired. The best I can offer for a temporary workaround is the following:

1. Export from revit to fbx.
2. Import fbx into max scene A and save
3. Create a second file in 3ds max - we can call it scene B
4. Use the option File-> Xref Objects to bring the 3ds max file scene A into scene b. Bring all objects in - filter out unneeded ones
5. While they are selected create either a group or selection set for control later on
6. Add all entourage to scene B, change colors or materials as well if needed in MAX.
7. If the design of the building changes in revit, follow steps 1 & 2 again only erase the existing geometry before re-importing the model.

I know its not ideal, but better than nothing and sets it up like a linked autocad file. If you are looking for changes made in max to go back to revit you will have to wait. If you recall, this was not possible with autocad files that were linked either.

Lighting Analysis in 3ds MAX Design 2009

Since its release, many have asked me what level of accuracy the Lighting Analysis tool in 3ds Max Design can be held to. The most comprehensive documents I've seen recently are a couple white papers posted to Autodesk's Design Visualization webpage. Autodesk worked with BNIM Architects to develop a workflow based white paper which thoroughly describes the process to effectively use this tool.

Daylight Simulation Basic's
Daylight Simulation Advanced

Poking around in the future

So I've been huddled in front of my laptop for the last few weeks poking around with some of the new features in 3ds MAX 2009 (beta). I've attached a couple images I've done in 2009 to this post so you have an idea of what's to come. Please keep in mind that these images were done with the fine tuning settings cranked way up - render times therefore were over an hour on my dual core laptop running 4gigs of ram.

The image that is lighter in overall color the geometry was already created for me, I did however setup the light, materials and render settings. The darker image is of our corporate lobby in CM - if it looks plain, well I would agree. In my opinion neither of these are done and there are plenty of things I would like to tweak, however if I kept doing that I'd never have something to show you! Please click the image for a full size version of it.