Who Knew? Where to find the Render Tool in Revit 2010 and 2011

This week a friend of mine scoured the online Revit help searching for the location of the Render tool in Revit 2010. He found a reference to a teapot button but nothing that specifically stated where to find the alleged teapot. He cracked and contacted me. I showed him that the render tool is conveniently placed... once you know where to look.

Setting Up a View for Rendering in Revit

Create a Perspective View Using a Camera

Make a plan view current where you would like to place a camera. You can place cameras while in an elevation or section view but it is difficult to figure out where your camera is actually being placed in space and predict the appearance of the resulting perspective view.

Navigate to the camera tool on the ribbon at the View tab > Create Panel > 3D View pulldown > Camera.

Confirm that Perspective is checked on the Options bar and specify the camera height by adjusting the reference level and offset from the reference level to suit your needs.

Click a location in the current view to place a camera. As you move your cursor away from the camera you will see a red triangle indicating the camera view area. Drag your cursor and click to specify the target location of the camera view.

A new 3D perspective view will be created with a default name of 3D View 1. Rename the view to something more meaningful either by using the Element Properties dialog in 2010, Properties in 2011 (#1 in the image at right) or by right-clicking the view name in the Project Browser and selecting Rename.

Adjust the Camera View as Required

If you are using Revit MEP you may wish to change the Discipline property of the camera view from mechanical or electrical to Coordination (#2 at right) to display architectural elements in a fashion similar to your MEP components rather than as half-toned, hidden-line objects to clearly view all objects. However, doing so is not required to create a rendering that displays all visible components in the materials assigned to them in the camera view.

Tip!  You can leave Revit MEP light source objects (the yellow meshes that represent the shape of the light coming out of fixtures) visible in a camera view. They do not render.

Use the parameters in the Camera category of the Element Properties (2010) or in Properties in 2011 dialog to adjust your rendering settings, adjust your eye elevation (camera elevation) and target elevation (#3 at right).

Adjust the appearance of the camera view within the perspective (camera) view itself using the View Cube, the Steering Wheel, (the Walk and Up/down tools are great for adjusting your camera view) or by holding down the Shift key and middle mouse button. 

Move the camera position by right-clicking on the camera view name in the Project Browser, and select Show Camera to display the camera, target and  go back to the original plan view or any other view to select and drag either the camera or target to a new position.

Tip!  Changes made to the orientation or position of the camera in a perspective view are considered temporary until the view is saved.

Start Rendering

Once you are satisfied with the view and ready to begin rendering, click on the illusive teapot button, officially named the Show Render Dialog button found on the View Control Bar as shown in the image below.

The teapot button is only available on the View Control bar when the currently active view is a perspective (camera) view. Click on the teapot and the Rendering dialog will appear where you will have the opportunity to review and adjust the rendering settings. When ready to render, click the Render button at the top of the dialog to generate a rendered view.