This topic lists frequently asked questions regarding the Accelerated Revit Graphics Tech Preview.
We are making incremental refactorizations or improvements to each component comprising the in-canvas Revit graphics. Whenever an entire workflow could be entirely captured in the accelerated state, then we would remove the tech preview umbrella. In the end, the accelerated state will become the new standard and Revit would look just as normal, only much faster, crisper in some cases, using better and better your hardware resources. We do not plan to create a separate type of view or visual style that is accelerated.
No, this does not mean that Revit will be able to export to the USD file format as part of this work. The Universal Scene Description is not only a file format itself, but a method to draw scenes. The USD file format is an XML-like format that describes the geometry, annotations, title block and all other graphical elements that may be displayed in the canvas. However, to make Revit as performant as possible, we are refining how Revit handles its data and not using the file format directly. Due to these additional optimizations, a direct export of the Revit model to the USD file format is not currently on our roadmap.
Open USD is a system designed for creating, organizing, and reading detailed descriptions of 3D scenes. It includes both Hydra and USD schemas. Hydra is an open-source, high-performance rendering architecture that efficiently renders USD scenes. The USD schema organize the information about a 3D scene, including details about objects, properties, and arrangement. Hydra can use a USD file as input, but it can also interpret other types of input. This means USD describes and manage the scene, and Hydra transforms that description into a high-quality visual image. Put in less technical words, it is a kind of language used by Revit to "speak" to the renderer, which then translates these instructions for the graphics card, which is ultimately responsible for making all the calculations and displaying them on the screen. The renderer is a component that takes the Revit model data and other in-canvas graphics and generates a visual image from it, essentially translating the mathematical description of a scene into a picture you can see on the screen, accounting for textures, lighting or any other visual elements you have added.
Yes, Autodesk is a contributor to Pixar's OpenUSD project, particularly in the areas of the Hydra rendering framework and the Storm renderer. See this link for a summary of the most significant contributions, as well as this blog post on the Vulkan contribution to Storm.
No, the Accelerated Graphics Tech Preview follows the system requirements of Revit.
For an optimal experience using the Accelerated Graphics Tech Preview, we recommend you to use at least 64 GB of system RAM and a graphics card with 8 GB of RAM. Using a graphics card with less than 4 GB RAM will likely lower the benefits of this tech preview.
We don't recommend this experience, because an integrated graphics card is only suitable for displaying basic graphics. This covers simple tasks such as: 2D drafting and annotations, basic 3D modeling with minimal complexity, viewing and editing small to medium-sized models without extensive graphical demands.
Still, when relying on an integrated graphics card, make sure it is configured to use as much system RAM as possible. Please consider that this RAM is also used by other software and processes running on your machine in the same time with Revit.
You can refer to this Microsoft forum thread for additional details.
If your computer has both integrated and dedicated graphics cards, then please check out this article about optimizing your hardware to run Autodesk software. Additionally, you can further look into optimizing your virtual memory, especially the swap file and ensuring it is stored on a fast SSD or hard drive.
One more advice here is to make sure that when running Revit on a laptop, whenever you are performing tasks that are more graphics-intensive, make sure it is plugged in, so that all hardware components run at the optimal level of performance.
As for any hardware component, in the case of system memory, the basic system requirements should also be met and the best practices should be followed to ensure there is adequate available RAM on the machine that is running Revit so that the amount needed does not exceed what is available.
Enabling the Accelerated Graphics Tech Preview in multiple views may increase memory utilization, so additional capacity is recommended. When working on complex models with the Accelerated Graphics Tech Preview, we recommend using 64 GB of system RAM, or more.
Besides the graphics card and the system RAM, there is the central processing unit (CPU). One important benefit of the Accelerated Revit Graphics Tech Preview is that it reduces the load on the CPU by moving operations on the GPU. This allows your computer to run more efficiently other processes.
Please refer to this page offering more guidance about hardware components.
We currently don't recommend using the Accelerated Revit Graphics Tech Preview on Parallels Desktop for Mac or other virtualization solutions.
The minimum required version of DirectX 11 applies. Higher versions will also work as designed. The current tech preview does not leverage additional features of DirectX 12.
Currently not, so this feature will not be available if Revit does not detect a graphics card, but providing software rendering is something on our roadmap.