Improvements to Physically Based Rendering

Archicad’s native Physically Based Rendering engine in 3D views ensures more realistic visualizations while you model - without having to create a rendering.

Archicad 28 brings new enhancements to this experimental feature:

Procedurally generated sky

Simulates light scattering effects in the atmosphere to generate a physically based sky dome. Surfaces in shadow reflect the diffuse illuminance calculated from the sky.

pbr_sky2.jpg 

pbr_sky1.jpg 

Sun altitude 35°

Sun altitude 10°

Improved ambient occlusion

Using a low-discrepancy sequence, the new algorithm distributes samples in a more efficient way, getting rid of artifacts in undersampled regions.

ao_compare1.png 

ao_compare2.png 

Ambient occlusion - before

Ambient occlusion - after

Shadow mapping

Shadow mapping produces much faster results than shadow volumes, with soft shadow edges. Perspective warping optimizes the shadow map so that objects closer to the camera take up more space (in the shadow map), thus getting rid of perspective aliasing almost completely.

NFG_ShadowVolume.png 

NFG_ShadowMapping.png 

Shadow volume

Shadow mapping - producing soft shadows

With this approach, billboard shadows work as expected (previously was rectangular shape).

Automatic exposure control and bloom

The tone mapper now adjusts exposure (semi-)automatically, similar to real life cameras. High luminance regions generate a “blooming“ (a.k.a. “glare”) effect.

autoexpo.jpg 

bloom.jpg 

Exposure adjusts automatically

Bloom effect

Exposure adjustment is more noticeable when in 3D explore mode, as it adds a half-second delay. Bloom may be stronger or weaker depending on the camera’s location in the scene.