Architectural Visualization: A Step By Step Process

Let’s cut straight to the chase. You can’t create high-end architectural visualization without thorough planning, constant collaboration with the client, and gathering feedback. Yes, it seems like a lot of work, but once you read this article, you’ll know the process of architectural visualization like the back of your hand. We’re here to share some tips on how to make your architectural visualization stunning and realistic.

Preliminary steps

Let’s start with the preliminary steps. Here is what we do before getting to the visualization process.

Ask the right questions

Our aim is to find out the main purpose and message of visualization. Here are the most common questions we ask:

• What is the primary goal of the architectural rendering?
• What audience are you targeting?
• What story do you want to convey?
• What emotions do you want to evoke?

The answers will help set the right setting, choose relevant details, the color scheme, and the style for your visualization.

Set the shot

Setting the perfect shot is critical, and it requires some effort. Here’s what you need to do:

• Determine camera views and angles. We recommend choosing the camera views that enhance the image. If you know what view angles you need, you can represent them in a scheme.
• Decide on materials and details. Gather data on the materials and details that should be applied. When modeling the materials, it’s important to pay attention to glass thickness, firmness of cushions, edges, age of objects, and other details. All of these should fit into the general scene perfectly and make it more realistic.
• Plan the surrounding. The surrounding of the building often becomes a selling point. It enhances the atmosphere and helps you convey the right message.

After you’ve set the shot, we correct and adjust it according to the composition. But first, let’s see how we choose the composition for your project.

Decide on the composition

Compositional themes can usually be broken down into four basic rules:

• The Rule of Thirds. Divide the image into three sections (both vertical and horizontal) and locate the focal points along the lines or at their intersections. This helps to create the right perspective and draw attention to the key elements.
• Straight verticals. Draw straight verticals on the visualization and adjust the picture so that the verticals aren’t converged.
• Diagonals to corners. Using diagonals that recede into the corner adds intrigue and visual interest to the rendering.
• Avoiding coincident edges. An image is usually difficult to perceive if the silhouettes of the objects are overlapping with other objects. That’s why simply adding more space between objects will make the visualization “breezier.”

Great. Next stop: setting the mood.

Set the mood and create a mood board

Creating mood boards is an excellent way to truly feel the vision of the client and stay on the same page with them. Mood boards help organize the content and decide on the style of your visualization. Here are the main details you can collect in your mood boards:

• Weather. Think about the weather you want to show in your visualization. Look for examples of architecture visualization that are similar to yours and try to select the kind of weather that reflects the atmosphere best.

• Lighting. The right proportion of light and shadow will help emphasize the focal elements of the picture. To make your cooperation with architects more effective, you can also save different examples of lightning schemes for your visualization.

• Style. Based on the goal of the project, we help our clients come up with the style of visualization (realistic, soft, dramatic, collage, etc.)

Architectural Visualization Steps

Now, let’s look at the main steps of architectural visualization.

Step 1: White render

We create or improve a 3D model using the client’s data. First, we build a 3D model based on your drawing or adapt to the one you’ve provided. Then, we set the camera and sunlight. The client gets the first draft in grey and white for review.

After that, the client marks up corrections such as geometry, exterior context, furniture, viewpoint, lighting, and we improve the visualization accordingly. Only after the client’s approval, we move further.

Step 2: Material render

The material render stage is all about setting the mood. We improve lighting and materials, place furniture, add vegetation. Then, the process of feedback continues. We listen to your ideas, adjust and improve the visualization.

Step 3: Prefinal Render & Final Render

The final stage includes breathing life into your project, and the best way to do this is through storytelling. If your image has to tell a story, it needs to look natural and evoke emotions. The story can be told by setting the background, adding more details, some activity around, or a person.

Conclusion

And that’s it! Now you know how we create our architectural visualizations, and we hope you’ve found our approach useful. But remember: it’s not a “one size fits all” approach as everything depends on your goals and vision. So, if you have any questions regarding visualization, feel free to contact us anytime.

Hello, and thank you so much for reading! Hope that helps in your projects!

I’m Tetiana Rapina. I’m PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture at O.M.Beketov NUUE and CDO at Powerkh. Check out more about my work.