Enscape

Enscape is a visualization plugin for real-time rendering and virtual reality. It installs inside design programs such as Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad and Vectorworks and shows the model live in a separate window. Move a wall or swap a material in the design program and the Enscape window reflects it straight away.

Using it during design

Enscape’s biggest strength is that it puts visualization inside the design process rather than at the end of it. There is no need to export the model or build a scene in another program; the architect sees light, proportions and materials while designing. In client meetings the model can be walked through together and alternatives compared on the spot. Stills, videos, 360-degree panoramas and VR headset experiences all come from the same environment. You can even send the model as an explorable file to someone who does not own the software.

Where it stands out

Design stages that need quick feedback, interior studies and meetings where decisions are made with the client are where Enscape is used most. Its default settings are kept simple, so it is quick to learn. For tightly controlled marketing images some teams switch to an offline render engine. Graphics card power directly affects how smoothly you can navigate and how good the image looks. We explain how it works and what hardware it needs in our article on the Enscape render engine.