this might seem like a dumb question and I’m just asking out of curiosity…
I have been working in design and (in recent years) post production for many years now, doing a lot of graphic design, image editing and CGI. I have never been involved with the commercial ArchViz scene, though, and have just done a few architectural renders from time to time, when I was asked by a client. So, given my personal approach (and the reality of my previous projects) I have starting wondering…
I keep seeing these amazing ArchViz projects and have started to look at what people in this business charge for a render. If I’m not mistaken (judging from a few surveys I found online), the current price level seems to start at around $100 per image and goes up to, say, $1500 (not counting the few agencies who ask a lot more than that). Now, I do realize that there’s a lot of competition in this field, but… REALLY!? Aren’t we looking at countless hours of modelling each single asset in such an image… the time for texturing, lighting, rendering, post production and whatnot not even included?
So, I started wondering… I do know that you can buy a lot of models, but I always thought this was an option targeted more at a lower-end market. After all, don’t the clients demand there to be a specific sofa in the render… a custom sideboard… a creative never-seen-before fireplace? Do the ArchViz studios really use these ready-made models exclusively? Buildings, cars, lamps… everything?
If so, then what is that industry really all about? Is it just… building the walls and windows, placing the available models, texturing and lighting the scene… and sending it to a render farm?
Don’t want to insult anybody. Just really curious.
yes u have to do allways something like tables and sometimes u have to retopo something but mostly r building the walls and windows lighting the scene and send it to a render farm
Well I think I speak for most archvis artists and the answer is NO. Most archvis artists do not model everything, they focus more on the actual architecture of the building/interiors than the supporting assets. But for focul elements like a unique looking chair or styalised lamp post, anything that you want to have a special look to then yes those are modelled by the archvis student or outsource the idea for someone with the skills to model. But it is good practice to model everything yourself. When I do any archvis projects I try to make everything for the project, during the project time unless my deadline doesn’t allow it. If I have a tight deadline I already have a pre-made asset library (made by myself) to add more objects to my scene and remove the negative space.
So what you want to know in a nutshell is ‘Yes you can used assets you haven’t made provided you have to right permissions to do so’ but I would advise making everything yourself, it adds a sense of character and shows who you are as an individual archvis artist.
Not insulting anyone. Majority doesn’t know about intricate works behind.
Since in general “archviz” service has been popularized, it’s true meaning is often lost, misused, misinterpreted & confused with the generic techniques as is ie. image/model bashing just because a building’s facade or interior is involved. Same happening to architecture as an art in age of capitalism.
While proper work is more about the design, the final look, culture & the living ambiance… story rousing emotions. Specifically tailored to fit the individual. Contemplating, communicating directly with an architect, thus striving to create real work of art by it’s own right, an architectural illustration.
The process.
Usually architects give main pointers (concept, mood board, plans, basic 3D / I. phase) or sometimes just a simple sketch on a paper napkin, with much expression, talk & gestures coming along. You will rarely get a color, material, surface and lighting studies to start from (is done in detail after the client gave the project green light, primarily based on visuals ).
On the other hand you can also get a highly complex model (large area master plan) from the studio. Then after adding all the entourage (greenery, urban assets, people…) to the scene you end up needing a decent machine(s) with at least 64GB of RAM and lots of CPU power.
Add some bad weather and tight deadlines to the mix, you’ll soon realize what miracles are made of - amazing individuals, great teams and lots of hard work. Big investments, high quality, higher stakes, higher risks… higher value.
No prejudice towards tools and instruments involved. One uses whatever one is able, to achieve the final goal.
customer decide what he wants in 3D and budget he can afford
then if it is simply min cost and very quick then forget the art it is more the min 3D to get the 3D model
but some other customer might want more elaborate photorealist model
then that where it can get expensive and time consuming !
other uses of 3D models
I work on one project now but not for the artistic point of view but more from a mechanical point of view
to see the feasibility if a process in 3D can be done.
and that can be challenging lots of modifications and interferences checking ect,
3D is very powerful for checking interferences obstructions
and can save time instead of working only with 2D drawings
Are u talking about exterior or interior. Basically interior decoration firms need to model most of the furniture specially royal or Italian furniture(I mean Classic type designs.) For modern design its all boxes and spheres(more concentrated on materials and lighting.
And again it is all depends on budget.:eyebrowlift:. Some companies have their own specific designs(eg: Office interior). But when client need it yesterday and designer need it day before ready-made models are becoming the only option.
Sorry about my English
I’ve done four Archvis jobs, all interiors. One was for a real estate company, which I wasn’t too happy with, since they couldn’t provide floor pans other than in pdf format. Otherwise, I’ve used architectural plans in dwg, imported them into a CAD program, cleaned them up and saved them for Blender use in dxf. That’s they way I prefer it, but your mileage may vary. The real estate agents wanted specific furniture models, which i partly modeled myself and partly downloaded from the furniture designers. It seems most upper end furniture designers provide 3D models, or at least good techical drawings these days. I see no reason not to use them. The other three jobs were for restaurants/bars, and were simply variations to aid in deciding between different solutions. The ideas/drafts themselves were made by interior architects/designers, but I’ve modified several of them due to aesthetical and sometimes practical reasons. Strangely enough, so many designers and architects really suck at rendering, so they’ve been pretty happy to get good looking interiors even if they didn’t exactly match their preconceptions.
We work more with infrastructure vis rather then archviz… but the archviz projects we have done, there usually is an interior designer (who picks out all the colours & furniture) as well as a lighting designer who decides what lights go where.
In terms of what we create… usually we get given 3d models of the place (from revit usually), interior layout plans, lighting plans, landscaping plans… pretty much everything and anything to do with the project. we then pretty much translate that into 3D.
One person above said you need 64GB to do this… We managed to work in this space for 6 years working of GTX580s (1.5GB ram), and have only started switching to GTX1080s. If you know how to optimize scenes, you can easily push cycles to some pretty ridiculous limits.
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