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Efficiency is the key to reducing your working times. If you are really busy and are constantly doing architectural rendering jobs then this article could save you a lot of time and make you money! All of your resources such as your materials, maps, 3d models, plants and background scenery needs to be very well organised. I’m sure most of you have got everything loosely filed away in a reasonably coherent order. But what can really save you a LOT of production time is to take the next step and get all your resources “hyper organised” (yes I have coined this phrase as a loose definition for extremely well organised). It will take you quite a lot of time initially to set it up, but once you are organised you will save yourself days! I will now show you the extent to which I am talking about.

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Organise your 3D Library

Go through your entire 3d library and organise everything into a well defined group of folders. For example have a folder for chairs, tables, sofas, beds, windows, doors etc etc. It will also greatly help if you create a catalogue of each item within a collection (include an image of each specific item within a collection – that way when you are browsing through all your 3d models you will be able to see what each one looks like).

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Organise your materials

A really good tip for saving yourself loads of time is to go through all your previous work and choose all the materials that you like and save them. Then when you need that specific material in another project you can simply open the saved material and apply it – instead of going through the whole process of recreating it.

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Organise your maps

Again, go through all your maps and textures and organise them into a simple to use folder structure. Now when you are creating your materials you can quickly and easily navigate to each specific category. Eg.. if you are creating a wooden material – you can go straight to your “wood folder”.

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Proxy’s will save you a lot of time

If you are using a lot of objects like cars and plants in your 3d scenes, then it will help you to create proxy’s for all of them. Checkout our tutorial on creating Vray Proxy’s.

Once you have created the proxy’s you can simply drag and drop them into your scene. Again, organise your proxy library in an easy to use and understand folder structure.

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Distributed rendering

If you are using distributed rendering or network rendering, then you will need to have all of your 3d resources in a central location. Now this all depends on how your office network is setup….but basically you need to make sure that the file paths to each map or proxy etc are the same from each render node. This is important as if your render farm doesn’t have the same file paths to your resources as your workstation – your scene will render as if those resources were missing.

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Backgrounds

Organise all of your backgrounds and HDR images so that you can easily grab them and use them in a scene.

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Startup scenes and common scenes

A really good way to save a bit of time is to create a few generic startup scenes. If your like me then you will often start off your scenes with a specific set of settings for a certain scene. So create a few default scenes with all these settings already activated.

1. A standard scene – a basic scene with all your render settings setup for test renders – if you use vray then go through the render settings and make them how you like it!

2. An exterior scene – a scene setup for exterior 3d renderings. Go through the render settings, add a sun and sky setup, some background for reflections etc

3. An interior scene – a simple setup for an interior scene

Having these scenes saved and ready to go each time you start a new project will only save you a few minutes each time…but if you count how many minutes you will save over the course of a year or two…you will be amazed!

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Anyway, these are just a few tips that we use to save time and increase productivity and efficiency in the studio. I hope that helps!

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Above all, the most important thing to remember when hiring a 3d visualisation studio is that generally – YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR!

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You simply can’t expect to pay a minimal amount and get a brilliant 3d render.  Studios that charge more for their work generally do so because they are more experienced and produce higher quality renderings and 3d animations.  Making a great 3d rendering takes a lot of time and expertise – 3d architects who are capable of producing superb looking images deserve to be paid more. In the end, a better quality 3d rendering that looks fantastic and impresses buyers or clients is much more valuable than a rendering of poor quality. Therefore – you get what you paid for.

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It all depends on your budget and how successful you want your marketing campaign to be. If you want a highly appealing product you will probably need to pay a bit more for a quality 3d rendering studio. If your happy to settle for an image that just displays what your design will look like but probably won’t impress anyone – then you can shop around and simply look for the cheapest price.

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Now…onto the prices.

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In a recent worldwide architectural visualisation survey completed by cgarchitect the average price charged for an architecture still image is between $1000 and $2000 US dollars. Note – this is an average price – for extremely high quality 3d renderings you could expect to pay a fair bit more.  While a standard 3d animation fetches somewhere between $5000 and $10000. Obviously each studio is different and prices do vary. But generally the studios that are producing really high quality work are charging more.

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So that’s all well and good but whats the difference between a high quality image and a poor one?

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Below are some examples of some really high quality images. These are amongst the best you will find anywhere in the world.

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A high quality interior 3d rendering

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A high quality exterior 3d rendering

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As you can see these are very impressive and realistic images. And now for some pretty average 3d renderings!

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Poor quality exterior 3d rendering

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Poor quality interior 3d rendering

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Clearly the difference is HUGE. The high quality images clearly look more realistic and are much more appealing than the poor quality images. You could expect to pay around $500-1000 per image for these poor quality images (depending on where you go). And for the high quality it could be anywhere from $2000 to $10000 per image.

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Obviously each 3d visualisation studio is capable of producing a certain standard of work. Some are simply more experienced and more talented than others. You need to do your homework and compare prices and images from each studio you ask for a quote. Then choose the one that provides the best value for money! Simple. Remember – you get what you paid for!

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There are also many, many other programs to choose from which are very popular. And all of them have their positives and negatives. In fact a lot of the big 3d studios will use different software for different projects depending on their specific requirements. You might find that a certain scene rendered in mental ray will look much better or worse if rendered in vray.

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Based on a survey completed by cgarchitect in 2009, 83% of architectural visualisation professionals use 3ds max as their primary software and 72% use vray.

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Creating a 3d architectural rendering takes a lot of technical ability. It can take years to become proficient in certain modelling and rendering software. Creating a 3d rendering is a process of problem solving. You can see what doesn’t look good and you must think of a solution to make it look better. But in order to do this you have to know your software backwards and be able to recognise the cause and effect of changing certain parameters.

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But you could have all the technical ability in the world and still not be able to produce a great render. So what is it that makes all the difference? What makes some renders look amazing while others just look standard?

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It’s you – the artist.

Your background and your eye for detail. You can be a tech wizard but you still need to be able to make a decent composition. You need to be aware of the real world around you….because this is what we are trying emulate.

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The number 1 tip I can give to any up and coming 3d rendering artist is:

To study life. It’s that simple.

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The only way you can create a photo-realistic 3d rendering is to study a real photo! Or better yet – study real life scenery. You need to pay specific attention to detail. The detail in the lighting, the textures, the form and structure. If you look at any great 3d architectural rendering you will be amazed at the detail in everything from the textures and materials to the lighting and background.

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Study good architectural photography.

This will not only give you an endless source of inspiration for your 3d renderings but will help you to recognise good composition and lighting. You will learn about the point of interest and the rule of thirds. After all, the main purpose of an architectural visualisation is to visualise a building before it is built. Architectural visualisers are effectively virtual architectural photographers…except we have to build the building as well as photograph them!

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Attention to Detail.

The primary reason why most 3d renderings don’t look realistic is the attention to detail. You have to spend time on the details! You have to make sure your 3d modelling is spot on. Then your textures. You will  need to add detail to your textures…how often in the real world do you see spotless concrete or tiled wood grain?! Never. Pat attention to your materials and what elements of the scene they are covering.

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It won’t happen over night but if you are enthusiastic and passionate enough…it will happen.

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This article is not intended to be a detailed reference guide to getting started with  architectural visualisation…more of a quick start guide!

Firstly you are going to need a computer. The faster and more powerful it is the better. Because 3d rendering is very intense on computer resources I would suggest a quad core (the latest intel i7’s are good) and at least 6gb of ram. You should get a 64 bit motherboard and operating system too so you can take advantage of all that extra Ram. Another thing you should spend some money on is a good graphics card.

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Once you’ve got your computer all rigged up it’s time to start installing some software. There are quite a few to choose from in the 3d industry but by far the most common amongst 3d visualisation professionals is 3ds max. You should get the latest version. Then you will want to get a rendering engine, which basically models itself on real life lighting algorithms to emulate how light moves within a scene. This is what makes your work look realistic. 3ds max comes with a built in rendering engine called Mental Ray….but the most popular within the architectural visualisation industry is V-ray.

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Here at Jironomo at the time of writing we use 3ds max design 2010 and Vray 1.5sp4a (we usually update our software as soon as new versions become available). These are the core programs used to create our visualisation. However there are a plethora of plug ins and other software that we use in combination to get the job done. Some of the most common ones are Photoshop, After Effects, AutoCad, Illustrator, ArchiCad and many many more. But if your just getting started…3ds max and vray are more than enough to keep you busy for a few years!

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Now that your all set up and ready to get down to work its time to start learning how to use the software. The best way to do this is to do TUTORIALS! Start with the tutorials that come with 3ds max and go through them thoroughly. Then once you are confident with 3ds max move onto Vray. Read through all the documentation available on the Chaos Group Vray website. You should do as many turorials as you possibly can. The net is littered with thousands of site with an abundance of tutorials of info on 3ds max and vray. You can pretty much find an answer to any question you may have just by typing it into google. And if you still can’t find it.. jump onto a few forums on 3d visualisation websites and ask the communities there.

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Now that you are technically proficient its time to start getting creative! A good way to start is by looking at the work of some good architectural photographers. Study their photos and note how they work with light, composition and texture. It also really handy to have a bit of a background in photography. This will certainly help you to add realism to your 3d renderings. If your looking for some inspiration, check out some of the work on the various specialised architectural visualisation websites. There is some work out there you have to see to believe!

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From now on its just practice, practice and more practice! You find that with experience you will become much more efficient and you will know what works and what doesn’t. But just keep experimenting and testing until you find the perfect solution for the project you are working on.

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With the constant evolution of 3d rendering technology, it is quite a difficult task to keep on top of the competition. And with the increasing awareness of 3d visualisation as a career path, there are many visualisation studios cropping up all over the country as well as the world. To maintain competitive in terms of quality of work and pricing  is vitally important in creating a successful business. It is therefore necessary to keep a close eye on what is happening in the rest of the world. While Australia is definitely producing some great work…the Europeans are still leading the pack.

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There are some great architectural visualisation studios within Australia but there are also some shockers! 3d rendering is a very very difficult skill to master and takes years of experience to produce high quality imagery. The software alone takes years to learn! Australia has the advantage of having a strong and stable economy which allows us the opportunity to purchase the latest and greatest technology, which is very handy when 1 license for 3ds max can cost around $5K!

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At Jironomo we are constantly assessing our competitors and looking to the premiere European 3d visualisation studios for inspiration. Some of the work that is being produced around the world has to be seen to be believed. In some elite cases it is virtually impossible to tell real architectural photography from 3d. With the advent of new technology such as the GPU (graphics processing unit), which is set to revolutionise the architectural visualisation industry over the next 3-4 years, 3d renderings will become increasingly realistic to the point of being indistinguishable from real photos and film.

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Another trend in architectural visualisation and 3d animation is the rise of real time rendering solutions. Basically, you can make changes to your 3d scene and have the results rendered in your viewport in real time. This will lead to a much faster workflow and eventually higher quality visualisation. So get ready to see some pretty amazing work being produced in the coming years! This technology will significantly lift the standard of all architectural visualisation whilst keeping working time down…which should result in a win for clients – higher quality imagery at a low price in a faster time frame!

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Experience! The ability to be able to assess the project and the architecture and determine what will be the “money shot”.  A solid background in architecture and architectural photography is a great bonus in this regard. By studying the work of some of the great architectural photographers from the last 60 years it is possible to use specific techniques to create that magic image.

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Each building and scene is different and requires and individual approach. For every project there will be a different solution. And often projects require several solutions. It is essential to experiment with various angles before choosing the best one. Factors such as lighting and background are important in determining which perspectives will look the best. It is also very important to take into consideration the brief of the project, often 3d renderings will be used for building applications and a certain angle will be required.

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In general, the more interesting and aesthetically pleasing an image is – the more sucessful it will be in marketing a property. It is the design and the form of the building which dictates the position of the camera in most cases. And it is the skill and experience of the 3d visualiser to be able to realise the potential in each individual building.

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In the case of 3d architectural animations, it is more of a cinematic camera track that is used to express the design. In these projects a detailed storyboard is used to accurately plan each scene in the film. It’s in these projects that experience and talent really become necessary.

Firstly, its important that you have a clear, attractive and coherent marketing campaign aimed at a specific target audience to start with. Within this campaign you should ensure that all the various elements are matching and work with each other. For example, make sure the design of your website complements the design of your brochure and billboards etc. Use the same fonts and colour schemes.

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Once the style and design of the marketing material has been determined its time to start thinking about the 3d visualisation. Many people think that a 3d rendering is a 3d rendering and that it purely depicts the architectural design of a building as if it were in real life…. which is true, but…we are capable of much more than that! At Jironomo we work closely with our clients so that we understand what the intended purpose of the 3d imagery is. We then work out a solution that will achieve the best results for that intended purpose.

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Lets say a client comes to us and asks for a set of still images to use within their marketing and promotional material for a new project they are working on. The project is a funky, inner city, modern apartment building. They want to target young professionals who work in and around the area. Therefore it is necessary to tailor the 3d renderings to appeal to that particular target audience. There are many subtle ways to achieve this. A 3d rendering is like any art form…it can be styled in a particular fashion to achieve a specific point of view. I won’t get into the specifics of how this is done…as each project and target audience is different and requires a varying approach.

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Just like all forms of communication and advertising, 3d rendering can be stylised to achieve better results. A good 3d visualisation studio will understand the concepts of advertising and will work closely with their clients to create the best possible images. After all, the main purpose of 3d visualisation is to express a design in a manner that most successfully achieves the desired result.

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Here at Jironomo we like to know our competitors. Recently we researched all of the architectural visualisation businesses we could find within Australia. We limited our search to those that were reasonably easy to find using either online directories or a simple google search, which admittedly would have left out a few businesses but these days if you aren’t searchable on google your just not trying very hard! Anyway the purpose of our research was simply to check out the quality of the images being created in Australia by our competitors.

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The results were quite varying, we found that there were only a handful of companies in Australia that were producing really high quality work comparable to our own. The overwhelming  majority of the architectural visualisation businesses were producing fairly ordinary looking images! Which makes me think of how these companies are pricing their services. Surely they cannot get away with charging similar prices to the companies that are producing the genuinely high quality 3d visualisation?

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Which leads me to my next question: Is it better to get a high quality image and pay a bit more? Or to get an average image and pay less? Well, I think the answer lies in the results you want to achieve with your 3d imagery and your project in general. A high quality image simply looks better and appeals to more people. It instills confidence in not only the project but in the brand. For a slightly higher price a stunning image created by a reputable studio with experienced and talented artists will greatly outperform the results possible from an inferior studio.  At the end of the day, the extra money spent on a high quality image will come back to you tenfold in increased profits due to the quality of the visualisation and its ability to appeal to potential buyers.

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So my tip is to shop around a bit before committing to a 3d architectural visualisation firm and make sure you compare quality vs price. You can expect to pay a bit more for a much higher quality image. But make sure it is within reason. There are a few visualisation companies out there that sure, they create great work…but their prices are astronomical! It is possible to get a really high quality image without paying a fortune… just look at Jironomo for example!