Any architectural visualization studio appears with the help of two components – this is an understanding of art and knowledge of how to execute what was conceived in programs. If you work in the profession of archivist, then you need to know both components.
Nobody was as cool as Peter Guthrie, Ronen Backerman or the guys from Brick Visual or MIR.
This is what everyone strives for and constantly improve their buildings to achieve the best results.
But there are some points to remember on the way to perfection.
Treat your work like art.
If you are trying to achieve only a photorealistic image of a designed building or area, then this is not art, but simply a technical illustration.
To rank among the best, you must create a work of art. You need to tell a story as you work on your painting or visualization.
It is not enough to draw the building with maximum accuracy, you need to get people interested in what you are showing them. Try to make people want to buy the object that you show. Make them feel the atmosphere as if they are already in this place and work or live there.
Make the viewer believe it!
Move them inside the picture and make them feel the atmosphere of what is happening.
So… what’s the easiest way to create art?
1. Find inspiration
Using good photos when creating a render is normal. The best artists made their paintings from nature, memory and their own experience.
Collect references and examples that you like.
There are services for this: Pinterest and Beehance
In our studio, we collect pictures as an example of renderings, as well as inspiring photos that will help us in the future. If we are pursuing a realistic result, we refer to photographs and reality.
Take your photos!
Observe nature, different places and take photos for memory.
When we travel or walk around the city, we observe the area and take pictures of interesting objects.
The more your visualization conveys realism, the better it will hook your client.
2. Write a story.
Before starting work in our company, we ask 5 questions, Who, What, When, Where and Why?
The answers to these questions help us create a plan that will help us focus on doing the visualization.
WHO:
Who is the right audience?
The mood of a visualization created for promotional purposes should be very different from the mood created for legal purposes, such as civil design review. If it’s a render for a fundraising organization, it should be aimed at investors. If you are creating visualizations for a city, consider that the people you use in your images reflect its demographics.
For example, in one city only Chinese can live, in another a mixture of all ethnic groups. For example, when we work on cities like New York, we look at the level of population inhabiting them: whites, African Americans, Hispanics.
What:
What is the main theme?
When working on a large space, you can, you need to focus on the main elements, giving them more detail and image quality, thereby focusing the image.
When:
Determination of the most suitable day and season. Not every building needs to be shown at night!
Once we were asked to portray an elementary school at night. It did not look very good, even unsuccessfully. Another strategy is to consider whether some event that happens at a certain time can complete the space and the object. For example, in the same school, it is logical to depict the time when students go to school, or sit at their desks when a lesson is taking place. Than an empty school, with the light of night lights.
Where:
Many people may not think it matters.
But every time we receive a task, we go to the object (if it is in our city), if not, then we look at Google maps, photos of the area. We note the types of vegetation, car models, street objects, and other things.
It’s strange to see renderings, German projects that have Russian license plates, subtropical vegetation. It is very important to collect references and note such features of the area.
It’s not just how well you render your visualization that makes sense, but how accurately you convey the atmosphere of a given place. If you did everything right, the picture will look good from all sides. But if you inserted some ridiculous details into the image, the eye will notice it and feel it at the subconscious level.
Why:
This is the question that makes everything together.
Why are we building this project? What is its ultimate goal? Why should it exist?
Visualization should convey why this object should be in the place where it is being built.
3. Use the simplicity of the real world in your visualizations.
Even if we can do all sorts of cool things on PC, it doesn’t mean that we have to do them.
Our studio often receives files from clients where the cameras are set to 6mm, the sun is shining from the middle, and the light is off the charts. They often ask to make angles from the eyes of birds and a drone.
Let everything be simple!
Remember that you want to tell the story as a real person would see your project.
Composition, color theory and other artistic principles should help you with this.
Don’t go overboard with bloom, chromatic aberration, and depth of field.
Use photoshop according to the image.
Photoshop is a great tool that allows you to stretch the image to the maximum realism and take your rendering to the next level. But try to resort to it as little as possible and do it right away in high quality already in 3D.
A minimum of post-processing, a sign of skill.
Outcome: Art
Archivist artists live and die by their latest render.
Failure to follow the time can destroy the studio. No matter how big your orders are. Remember, you can never stop learning new things and growing in your profession.
Remember that you are first and foremost an artist and develop it in yourself.