10 Reasons D5 is the Best Revit Rendering Plugin
Jun 12, 2025
7 years ago, I wrote an article called Comparing 6 Revit Rendering Plugins. Enscape emerged as the winner for its simplicity and fun user interface. I still think Enscape is great, but D5 has eclipsed it. In this post, you'll learn key facts about D5 and what makes it so special.
Watch the video:
3 Key Facts about D5 Render
1- D5 has a Great Free Version
D5 free version is good enough for most users.
The PRO version includes more assets (10k+) and access to more AI features. The PRO version is priced at $38/month or $360/year.
Download here: https://www.d5render.com/
2- D5 Render is a Chinese Company
D5 Render is based in Nanjing, China. While they say they take data privacy seriously, keep in mind that Chinese law allows the government to request data from companies.
I feel comfortable recommending D5 regardless. However, if you are working on confidential, military, or government projects, you should review their policies and consider how and where your project data is stored.
3- D5 Syncs to All Major Modeling Apps
D5 is compatible not only with Revit, but also with Rhino, SketchUp, Archicad, Vectorworks, 3ds, Blender, and Cinema4D.
It isn’t just an “export”. You can sync and easily get the most recent updates from your 3D model.
10 Reasons D5 is The Best Revit Rendering Plug-in
1- D5 Looks Great Out of The Box
Many rendering tools require significant tweaks until you get an acceptable image. With D5, everything looks great right away. You can quickly generate a gorgeous rendering.
2- D5 Includes a Huge Collection of Gorgeous Materials and Assets
Even D5’s free version includes 2k+ materials and assets. The PRO version has 15k+ assets.
The collection is so good that you can stick to it 90% of the time instead of building your own materials.
3- D5 Environment Features are Mind-Blowing
Want a rainy sunlight rainbow mood? Do you want to see puddles of rain? What about traffic? Maybe you want to see the moon and Milky Way? All of that can be done in D5 in a few clicks.
The vegetation is gorgeous and easy to use.
4- Dealing with Revit Materials is Simple
D5 includes the option to split materials between different Revit categories. If you’ve been lazy about assigning materials in Revit and often use Default, you won’t suffer.
For example, D5 will consider the Default material from the walls category different from the default material for the floor category.
This way, you can quickly go from Revit’s materials to D5’s high-quality collection.
5- AI Atmosphere Match Can Replicate Specific Lighting
What truly makes D5 unique are the AI tools. They aren’t just flashy: they help you solve the boring parts so that you can focus on the creative aspects of renderings.
The first one is AI Atmosphere Match for lighting. You can upload a reference image, and D5 will attempt to recreate the same lighting “mood.” Here is an example:
Here is the resulting image from our project:
6- The AI Material Tools Save You Tons of Time
I’ve spent way too many hours fixing textures and trying to create bump maps in Photoshop. With D5, this is over.
First, it includes a tool to create seamless textures from an image. In this case, we remove the ugly seams from this brick image. If you have a low-quality image, you can magically turn it into Ultra HD.
AI can generate texture maps for you, including normal, roughness, etc.
7- Materials Tools Quickly Add Realism
D5 includes material features that instantly make everything look better. The first is Rounded Corners.
You know how some hard edges can feel blocky and fake in renders?
Activate Rounded Corners to soften them. You can control the radius for a subtle or more pronounced effect.
Another is UV Randomizer. If your texture tends to have visible repeating patterns and elements, this adds randomness.
Finally, use Triplanar Mapping to consistently control the scale and direction of your materials.
This is especially useful for complex geometry or surfaces that don’t align neatly.
8- Ditch Photoshop: D5 Post-Processing is Amazing
With Enscape, I used to spend hours in Photoshop adjusting colors and contrast.
D5 changes that. You can handle all the post-processing right in the app, including contrast, saturation, brightness, and white balance.
In the image below, you can see an Instagram-like filter applied in D5.
In many cases, you might not need Photoshop anymore. Or at least spend way less time inside of it.
9- AI Post-Processing Features Are Impressive
When the rendering is done, you can try AI Post-Processing. You can use AI to improve the realism of materials and the environment.
Start by using the AI Enhancer. You can select specific elements in the image to improve them. For example, we might use AI to improve the realism of the characters. Selected elements appear in purple.
10- Try Different Styles with AI Style Transfer
Another great AI post-processing feature is the AI Style Transfer. This allows you to pick a style, either stylized or realistic.
This is the cartoon style. Be careful, though: this might drastically change some aspects of the model. Keep your brain on.
Is D5 Better Than Enscape?
I am a long-time fan of Enscape. I have always enjoyed the simplicity and seamless connection to Revit. Getting a quality rendering is fast.
But since the Chaos merger, Enscape has been stagnating. It has gotten more expensive. The pace of development has slowed down.
When playing with D5, I was struck by how fun and pleasant the app is. It feels like the next generation of rendering is here. I had the same feeling when I first tried Enscape back in 2017.
Enscape still has an edge for fast rendering using Revit materials. But D5 is such a fun experience that you should try it out and see for yourself.
Get our Revit + D5 Mini-Course
Our new mini-course called Create Gorgeous Revit Images with D5 Render is out on Monday, June 16th, 2025.
It is led by Andy Christoforou, one of the world's leading D5 and Archviz masters. In 1 hour, you'll learn how to start from a Revit model and get a gorgeous rendering.
