Have you ever seen those realistic images of fancy buildings? Descriptive, very well detailed images that show you buildings that haven’t even been built yet? If your answer is yes, then you have already encountered architectural rendering, you just didn’t know about it!
Architectural rendering is honestly almost everywhere. You see it in architecture magazines; in real estate advertisement, you see them in architectural presentations and so much more! But do you know what it really is? If not, let us explain.
What is architectural rendering?
Like we just said, those images you see of realistic buildings aren’t actual pictures, but renderings. Now, we aren’t going to go into a deep explanation of what rendering is, since we do have a full-on blog explaining what this is, and the impact it has had on architectural illustration as well.
However, the basic concept of rendering can be defined as the process through which illustrators create three dimensional (sometimes two dimensional) images of an object, managing to create a visual representation of something that isn’t physically there yet.
When you translate this definition into the architectural world, it is pretty similar, only that it focuses on creating realistic, three-dimensional images of an architectural design, which can be anything from a building to a room, to a public place, etc.
Architectural rendering refers to the process these illustrators and graphic designers do in order to bring an idea to life and managing to show others how said building/construction is going to look like once it is completely finished.
Much like in regular rendering, architectural rendering is done through special computer programs that are specifically focused on creating and designing realistic images. Architects, graphic designers, and illustrators work with these programs to create an eye-catching, unique virtual representation of what their work will look like.
There are many, many benefits to architectural rendering and working with realistic images, but we’re going to mention just three for now:
It helps the architect, and their team develop ideas quicker and way more accurately. Having an actual image, a visual representation of how your project will look like helps tremendously when it comes to improving the design.
It helps you identify problems from a very early stage. As we said, it’s not the same discussing the outcome of an architectural project based just on words or hand-drawing images than seeing the outcome as realistic as it can be on a digital piece of art. Having this visualization will help you pint-point and identify problems almost immediately, allowing you to make any changes you require as soon as possible.
It improves your marketing strategy. There’s a reason why you’re constantly seeing these architectural renderings everywhere you go: Because they are eye-catching. Having these images will help you take your marketing and product advertising campaign to a whole new level.
So, if architectural rendering is so vital to any architectural project nowadays, what’s to come? What can we expect for the future of this craft? Well, it turns out; architectural rendering is expected to grow more and more during the upcoming years.
A look into the future of architectural rendering
We already mentioned how the rendering market is expected to grow exponentially, and how there’s no sign this will stop or that companies will stop using this method, and the same applies for architectural rendering.
The thing is, having an accurate visual representation of how a certain space is going to look like once it is finished, is extremely vital, especially for a field such as architecture! So it is no surprise that the future of this art form looks bright.
You see; architectural rendering isn’t just about how a building is going to look like on what it is now an empty piece of land, it’s also about showing the exact proportions of the building, how many floors does it have, how does it look integrated into the landscape; it's about seeing the interior, the lobby, the different apartments… architectural rendering focuses on bringing the very specific details of each and every space within a building to life in order to transmit these ideas to the general public, to sell them a dream.
Of course, architects and graphic designers rely on powerful and complex computer programs in order to be able to do this, and the whole future of architectural rendering falls into these programs. However, luckily for us, we can expect great things to come.
It is expected that these realistic images we see now, will only continue to get more and more realistic as time moves on and future generations of the programs we already use are launched. Meaning what looks real today, will look even better tomorrow.
However, we can’t just put the whole weight of this onto a computer program; we must give credit to the architects and graphic illustrators who have also become more dynamic and original in the way they create and present these visualizations, since it is thanks to them that “gamification exists” which is said to be the future of architectural rendering.
In case you aren’t aware, gamification refers to the application of typical elements found in gaming, to other areas, such as architecture. In simple words, rendering will no longer be about just seeing an image or looking at a video but will focus on submerging the people into the experience. This is becoming better known as Virtual Reality and is already being used in the field of architectural visualization.
To conclude, the future of architectural rendering seems to be going in a much more inclusive experience, in which the public will be able to interact, to some level, with the space the architect is designing. This next step will allow people to connect in a much better way with the building as if they were already there! We look forward to seeing what the future holds and how virtual reality will improve rendering and the overall user experience for everyone involved, from the architect and its team to the public.
Russell Thomas is the Founder and Creative Director at 3DAllusions Studio a subsidiary of 3DAllusions LLC which includes sites such as 3DAllusions and MrMaterials which are resources for the CG artist, helping them hone their craft.