The Women of Revit

Here's an interesting rendering I did a while ago:

From Revit goodies

This is one the medical science rooms in the building I've been working on. I wanted to show a human figure to compare the feel and scale of the space, so I loaded an "RPC Female," put her by the sink, and rendered the image. Something about the scene is kind of evocative. Is she lost in a memory? Is she mentally preparing herself for her first day of class? Is she tranfixed by some unspeakable act just out of view? With a half-dozen characters and a complex building model, I could write and illustrate a novel. 

Who was this person? Why was she dressed this way? She looks like a grown up version of Anne of Green Gables. RPC stands for Rich Photorealistic Content, licensed in this case, by Archvision. Or maybe we bought her. Packages of a dozen RPC people start at around $400. Well worth it for Revit, in my opinion. Interestingly, this RPC woman, I can't remember her filename so let's call her Anne, is not a 3d polygon. When I look at this in a non-rendered state, she's a cardboard cutout. What is really interesting is that when the rendering rays shoot through her or by her, she tells the rays how to react depending on the ambient light, other light sources, etc, so in the final rendering as you can see here, if you look at her sleeve or cheek, the light is falling from the right direction, and you can't see it here, but she does cast a shadow.*

The way they get these RPC people is that they photograph real people. They do it from numerous angles and use specialized software so that when you place one of these people in your model, they look correct and in perspective and shaded correctly from any view. If you browse the website offerings, its kind of surreal and amusing. From "College Students Vol.1": 

Sixteen young adults representing a variety of ethnic backgrounds make up this very popular collection. From carrying books and backpacks to just hanging out, these RPCs will add great variety and interest to any scene of any campus.

The company also offers a middle east collection ("in modest clothing"), a ("terrific-looking") African-American offering, a parks and rec group ("Everybody's kung fu fighting at the local park."), and even a collection of traveling Asians ("The world is a very big place and people from every corner of the world can be found everywhere.")

I think we can all learn a good lesson from that last line. 

*Interestingly, however, they don't reflect. You can't see her reflection in the glossy tile behind her, although you can see the reflection of sunlight on the floor. They're kind of like vampires. It's especially eerie in the bathrooms, when they're standing by a mirror that doesn't reflect them. Actually, Revits current rendering engine won't trace the rays more than two bounces for mirrors. So a mirror reflecting a mirror only shows darkness. There's also a slightly errie sense from rendering an image standing in front of a mirror. The photorealistic image makes you feel like you're standing there, but the mirror only reflects the wall behind you.