In this deep dive, Chaos 3D Artist Boyan Petrov demonstrates how to harness Enscape and Veras as a singular, connected workflow. He demonstrates how to use AI to rapidly iterate on creative ideas, validate material choices, and breathe life into a project before you even finalize your 3D geometry.
Key takeaways:
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Rapid creative exploration: Use Veras to generate multiple mood variations from simple Revit massing, allowing you to settle on a visual direction in seconds rather than hours.
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Precision material reference: Leverage AI to recognize and place specific textures directly from reference images, ensuring your final render matches your initial intent.
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Instant PBR generation: Eliminate the manual labor of building materials by using the AI Material Generator to create full diffuse, normal, and roughness maps from a single flat image.
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Scalable realism with Cosmos: Use the multi-asset brush in the Cosmos library to quickly paint varied, randomized foliage and environments that feel grounded and natural.
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AI-enhanced storytelling: Close the loop by returning to Veras for final image enhancements and AI-driven animations, such as seasonal transitions and cinematic camera movements.
Jump to a design phase:
Today, I'm building an architectural project from scratch. We're using Veras, which is part of the Enscape Premium suite, to rapidly explore ideas and then move directly into Enscape to finalize the design. By the end of the video, you'll see why the connected workflow is the most powerful tool an architect can have. Let's get started. 🚀
Initial AI conceptualization in Veras
First, we'll load a screenshot from the viewport into Veras to help us find an overall look for the image. We can open Veras from the Chaos toolbar. On the right, we can see several presets powered by the Nano Banana AI model. Once we've selected one, head over to the compose menu to upload reference images and fine-tune the prompt.
From here, we can refine the text to guide the AI with our design intent. Use a reference image to steer the style and atmosphere. By uploading references that reflect our desired mood, we're providing the AI with a visual roadmap to follow, ensuring the final output aligns with our vision.
Using material and style references
We can also use textures as a reference. Create a new slot and switch the mode to material reference. I upload textures for the concrete wall and the wood panels. In most cases, the AI automatically recognizes where the materials belong. But we can always specify their placement in the prompt if needed.
Set the resolution to 2K for better visual clarity, and choose the number of variations to generate. Creating multiple options helps us compare ideas quickly and select the strongest direction. All the images we have ever created will be stored in the gallery, where we can mark our favorite ones. After we have chosen an image, upload it to the workspace by using the icon in the bottom corner.
Refining AI outputs and editing
To make further adjustments to the image, go to the edit menu. Notice that the window frames were generated as wood rather than black metal. I'll use the selection tool to isolate the frames and describe the adjustment in the prompt field.
In this case, I'll generate just one version. Veras is a tool to quickly define our mood, materials, and lighting before we start working on the 3D scene. With a clear visual direction established, let's move back to Revit and run Enscape to refine the scene in real time.
Real-time rendering in Enscape: lighting and mood
Let's start with the lighting, as it's one of the most important aspects of a scene, defining the mood and how the materials will look. From the view manager, create a new view. From here, we can give it a name, and from here, we can make changes to the sun's position. We can lower the altitude value to bring the sun closer to the horizon and create a sunset effect.
The 'Azimuth control' is responsible for the horizontal rotation of the sun. So let's adjust both settings until the light matches the mood in the reference image. When we are ready with setting up the sun, make sure to apply the settings to the newly created view. Now we can continue with material creation.
Generating PBR materials with AI
Instead of manually building materials from scratch, we can generate complete PBR materials in seconds with the AI Material Generator. I will use the same texture references from earlier. You can use any image that you have created yourself or found on the internet. For the best results, ensure your source images are flat and not distorted.
Let's open the pattern utility and select the area we want the AI to use. We can place it by hand or use the smart pattern, which will automatically find the best tiling region. Finally, from the settings, we can set the resolution to 2K. Then press generate. Within seconds, a tileable diffuse texture, a normal map, and a roughness map will be generated, along with a preview.
On the left side, we'll find interactive settings to adjust the intensity, the normal map, and the roughness of the material. We can also change the preview model to a box or a cylinder, which can be rotated within the view.
Also, we can test how the materials look with different tiling values. Download the material and give it a name. It will automatically be imported into the Enscape project library. Let's apply the material to the wall and see how it looks.
Fine-tuning materials in Enscape
I'll reopen Enscape to see the results. If you need to adjust the texture, you can do so directly in the Enscape Material Editor. Currently, the scaling is too small. By opening the texture, we get access to the tiling settings. Higher values scale the texture, and lower values make it finer.
After setting the desired scale, make sure to turn on the 'Use Albido Texture Values' option for both the normal and roughness textures to maintain consistent scaling. Now that the lighting and materials are finalized, we can add foliage to bring the scene to life.
Adding foliage and using Cosmos
Let's start by adding grass to the ground. In the Enscape Material Editor, open the material we applied to our ground and change the material type from generic to grass. Right away, the whole surface will be covered in grass. And from the material settings, we have the option for adjusting the height and variation.
Now, let's add some bushes and trees from the Cosmos library. Open the asset library and select multi-asset placement. At the bottom, choose the brush option. In the viewport, we can preview the size of the brush. If the brush size is too big or too small, we can change it using the slider.
Heading over to the Cosmos library, we have a great variety of models that we can pick from. I will head over to the download category and choose two bushes I have picked beforehand. The assets we selected are shown in the bottom menu. Paint directly over the ground to place them. If you need to correct some of the bush areas, you can use the eraser tool to remove assets.
In the distribution settings, you can change the density of the scatter assets to fit your needs better. Once we are ready, confirm the placement and apply changes. Using the same method, we can add trees surrounding the building.
In the randomization panel, we have options to adjust the scaling slightly to give more variation. In the tilting option, we'll tilt the trees in random directions, adding some randomness. This helps create a realistic look and feel.
Final AI enhancements and animation
Once the scene is complete, we can return to Veras for the final enhancement. This closes the loop between the AI concept development and the production-ready visualization. We can upload a screenshot directly from Enscape, but I recommend rendering in high quality first. This will give you better contrast and texture definition, after which you can manually upload the image to Veras. A higher-quality original image will yield better AI output.
Open the video menu to access presets designed to generate animations from a single image. This preset is for the transition between summer and winter. But we can change the keywords and set it to switch to another season, like autumn. While it's generating, I will choose another preset that will create a simple camera movement.
Continuous loop of innovation
By blending the creative speed of Veras with the real-time precision of Enscape, the design process becomes a continuous loop of innovation rather than a series of disjointed steps. This connected workflow empowers you to explore more ideas, refine details with higher accuracy, and ultimately deliver a more compelling story to the client.
If you’re ready to accelerate your own projects, the Enscape Premium package offers the full suite of tools used in this project to help you design better and faster.