Photo-Real Architectural Renderings

© Nor-Son, Inc. 2013

Photo-Real Architectural

Renderings

Bob Parker – Nor-Son, Inc.


No, Bob Parker!


Nor-Son, Inc.

• Nor-Son is a Integrated Construction

Services Company

• Homes, Hospitality, Healthcare,

Commercial

• Since 1978


My Work


My Work


My Work


My Work


• Technical Workflow

• Learn How to See

• Learn to be an Artist

• Become a Photographer

• Post Production

• Tips and Resources


Technical Workflow

• Optimization: To optimize render speed,

hide anything that is not visible in the

camera view.

• Exporting the camera view will mean only

elements that are turned on in the model

will be exported so you do not need to

worry about hidden elements coming out

in the export.


Technical Workflow

• Exporting to FBX: FBX is a format used by

Autodesk for better interoperability

between Revit and 3ds Max.

• To export to FBX, make sure the camera or

3D view is active and go to Revit Icon >

Export > FBX.


Technical Workflow

• Importing files into 3ds Max:

• 3D MAX Icon > Import >Link FBX and click

OK.

• Preset: Autodesk Revit FBX - Change

Combine by Revit materials

• Just know, there are other export/import

options.


Technical Workflow


Technical Workflow

• Import

• Link Revit


Technical Workflow

• Import Using Materials


Technical Workflow

• Pick Your Revit Camera


Technical Workflow

• Check to Keep Materials


Learn How to See

• Learning how to see like an artist is a

crucial step to improving your architectural

renderings.

• So how can we learn to see?

• It is a skill that can be taught, learned, and

developed.

• Our goal is to create renderings that are

representational.


Learn How to See

• To improve this skill, we must practice

observing objects as they are seen before

they are processed by the brain.

• Our minds are conditioned to “make

sense” of the objects around us.

• If you practice looking, and you’re clear on

what you are looking for ,you will begin to

see like an artist.


Learn How to See

• And seeing like an artist will lead to better

architectural renderings


Learn to be an Artist

• If an artist is successfully in welding all

three of these components (subject, form,

and content) in a work, they become

inseparable, mutually interactive, and

interrelated.

http://bobby-parker.com/architectural-rendering-blog/subject-the-what

http://bobby-parker.com/architectural-rendering-blog/form

http://bobby-parker.com/architectural-rendering-blog/contect-the-why





• The subject of visual art can be a person, an object, a theme, or an idea.

• Subject matter: Images or topics which comprise the subject matter of a work of art include but are not limited to:

• dreams, emotions, fantasies, figures (allegorical, mythological, nudes, single and group portraits), historical and/or political events, landscapes, religious events, still-life (flowers, interiors, tables of fruit).



• As a component of art, the word form refers to the total overall arrangement or organization of an artwork

• In a broader sense, form, in art, means the whole of a piece's visible elements and the way those elements are united. In this context, form allows us as viewers to mentally capture the work and understand it.



• The emotional or intellectual message of art is its content

• Content is idea-based and means:

• What the artist meant to portray,

• what the artist actually did portray and

• how we react, as individuals, to both the intended and actual messages.

• Additionally, content includes ways in which a work was influenced--by religion, or politics, or society in general, or even the artist's use of hallucinogenic substances--at the time it was created. All of these factors, together, make up the content side of art.



• One way to add visual interest in your

rendering is to compose the rendering

such that the major elements lead the

viewer through the rendering (fence or

road).







• Using contrast is another way to bring

your viewer to your focal point.

• Your eye is naturally drawn to the highest

contrast point in your rendering.







• The rule of thirds is a "rule of thumb" or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images.

• The guideline proposes that an image should be divided into 9 parts by 2 equally-spaced horizontal and vertical

• that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.




Become a Photographer

• Photorealism is the genre of painting

based on using cameras and photographs

to gather visual information and then from

this creating a painting that appears to be

photographic. http://en.wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/



• Most modern day rendering engines use a

physical camera.



• Aperture (f-number)



• Shutter Speed

• Shutter is the effective length of time a

camera's shutter is open



• Film speed (ISO): the measure of a

photographic film's sensitivity to light

• lower speed index requires more exposure

to light to produce the same image

density as a more sensitive film




Post Production

Post-production might well be the most

underappreciated part of creating 3D

visualizations. It gives you the power to

easily make some changes; put in the sky

you like, add some dirt, make the colors

more vibrant and even correct some little

mistakes in your 3D mesh.


Post Production

• Film Grain: When using old cameras with

film, there are pictures that often

show grain in the darker areas of the

image because the film won’t pick up the

details in the darker part of the image. This

effect can easily be achieved in our post-

production package.


Post Production

• Vignetting can have different causes in

photography. The main cause is using a

cheap lens / camera. Most of the time this

effect is unwanted, but sometimes it can

create an image that centers your eye, or

guides it to a specific part of the image.


Post Production

• Chromatic aberrations are caused by a lens that refracts the light spectrum in different ways on different places. Like with a prism, the light will disperse and fall on the sensor incorrectly. The effect will occur more on wide-angle lenses rather then tele-lenses.

• It’s is a very subtle effect and will pretty much only show up in the corners and on the side of the images (unless your camera equipment is really bad).


Post Production

• Color correction: This is where the fun

begins. Color correction. The most

common thing is to look at “lomography”

photographs; they have huge amounts of

saturation, produce those artifacts we

want to see, and still manage to look

stunning.


Post Production


Post Production

Make the effects subtle, but visible.

Chromatic Aberration

Noise

Vignette


Tips and Resources

• DSLR simulator

• Virtual DSLR camera simulator will help

teach you most of the ropes.


Tips and Resources

• Perspective

– create visual impact by moving the camera

left, right, above, and below

– beneath the subject it often makes them/it

appear more powerful to the viewer

– above the subject it makes them/it appear

more diminutive


Tips and Resources

• Use Shapes and Lines to Draw the Eye to a

Specific Point

• The viewer's eye doesn't magically end up

looking at one of the intersections in the

rule of thirds grid, it's just more natural.

• When you're composing your rendering,

consider the shapes and lines and where

they draw your eye


Tips and Resources

• Frame Your Subject with Objects

– If you have a boring subject, like an ordinary

house, a blank background (like a clear sky)

isn't going to be very compelling. Instead, try

framing your subject with surrounding

objects.

– for example, using trees


Tips and Resources

• Place your main light source over your shoulder

• Avoid placing your light source behind the camera

• Placed directly in front of the object will seem to flatten the object by centering the highlight, restricting the shadow area, and limiting the range of value that defines the object.


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources

• LightTrac is a must have tool for all

outdoor Architectural Illustrators.

Quickly determine at what time and

location the light conditions are perfect to

shoot your subjects outdoors.


Tips and Resources

• Blur your eyes, squint and try to see things

out of focus; this will help you think of the

objects in terms of spots, like a blurry

photograph, instead of the objects

themselves.


Tips and Resources

The composition should be simple, and it

should be about one thing, or concept

• When in doubt, keep it simple. Less is more.

• Take time to plan out your composition.

• interesting renderings have a harmonious

balance of opposites, such as cool and warm,

dark and light, thick and thin textures, detail

and ambiguity, and hard and soft edges.


Tips and Resources

• Have a basic layout in mind, vertical or horizontal.

• Have reference photos (BIG!)

• Removing objects can be as helpful as adding new ones (What is it?)

• Cast shadows are a wonderful way to explain form. A shadow gives solidity to the object casting the shadow, and the shape of the shadow can help explain other forms as well.

• As you refine a composition, pay attention diagonal lines and angles created by objects; try to make diagonals more interesting through a slight adjustment. Also avoid creating tangents (places where objects abut or overlap one another) that are visually confusing.

• Be open to removing something if it isn't working, even towards the end of the process. Fine tuning the negative spacing, as well as the way the various shapes overlap.


Tips and Resources

• www.extremetextures.com

• www.texturepilot.com

• www.gobotree.com

• www.texturer.com

• www.texturemate.com

• www.arroway-textures.com

• www.marlinstudios.com

• www.3dvalley.com/free-textures

• www.cgtextures.com

• www.textureportal.com

• www.3dtexture.net

• www.mayang.com/textures

• www.turbosquid.com/textures

http://www.extremetextures.com/

http://www.texturepilot.com/

http://www.gobotree.com/

http://www.texturer.com/

http://www.texturemate.com/

http://www.arroway-textures.com/



http://www.marlinstudios.com/

http://www.3dvalley.com/free-textures



http://www.cgtextures.com/

http://www.textureportal.com/

http://www.3dtexture.net/

http://www.mayang.com/textures

http://www.turbosquid.com/textures


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources

psd-manager™ 3 is the most advanced PSD

file exporter for 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design

available on the market. Now you can readjust

nearly everything in a rendering with

Adobe® Photoshop® or any another

application that supports PSD files. psd-

manager is the tool to help you save time and

money by integrating the tools you best know

and like.


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources


Tips and Resources

• Does this tricky “Gotcha” ruin the shading

and colors in your rendering?

This is an optical illusion that you

face in your renderings everyday.

In fact, both squares are the exact

same color.


The Digital Grunt

• Why is the color different here, than there?

• Can you do this rendering free? It’ll be a good promotional piece for you.

• Rendering’s easy, because the computer does all the work.

• You create such great renderings–you must have a great computer.

• Can’t you just Photoshop that?

• Your renderings are awesome! What software do you use?


The Digital Grunt

• Show us how you made it, so we can do it

ourselves in-house, from now on.

• Change this, and change that… “Why

doesn’t my image look as good as your

others?”

• We do our own renderings, but thanks!


The Digital Grunt

• By far, my favorite is, "I am going home for

the day, here are my sketches; I have a

client meeting tomorrow morning and I

need a rendering."


Thank You!

• Great renderings don’t just happen by

accident. They take planning, patience, and

a knowledge of all the tools at your

disposal.

If you have a question, or comment, please

email me.

You can Google: exterior renderings