For the last few centuries, architecture rendering has been done riding the waters of what media was available. Artists, builders, marketers, real estate agents, and their clients worked on the surf with tools that best transported them on the wide waves of art and industry. The waters have changed: and architecture rendering has a new medium, a new wave to surf.
The pencil, or graphite, was the primitive yet urbane tool to capture textures and tones in black and white 2-d perspectives. Pen and ink was the next medium to depict three dimensions on a 2-d platform, (evolving from the rich shadow and line of the fountain pen and separate ink bottle to the pristine definition of the Tungsten12mm Rapidiograph nib we have available today).
With the addition of color, artists brought to architectural rendering more realism and a denser visual richness--with the versatility of water color and water color washes; colored markers; oils; the layering of dark to light in Gouache opaques; and the exacting of mass, volume, surface, texture, color, and light by way of the air brush.
But despite the seeming vastness and variety of media available to architecture rendering artists, they needed something more»a way to harness and depict that illusive third dimension. And thanks to the industry and ambition, the fortitude and foresight of great minds, they found it: first in graphical representation, or imaging, known now as CGI, then interactive 3-D computer graphics.
3-D computer graphics technology, the stuff of science fiction, is here»to enable the depiction and display of an object (in the case of architectural rendering, a floor plan, a building, the landscape»that was, pre-computer, a 2-D print). Architects, designers, and/or real estate developers are able to «turn quantified data into a 3-dimensional representation,» (as described by Lev Manovich) and to in turn enable computer users to view that real time object from «an arbitrary viewpoint in order to understand the object»s structure. By this act, too, the user/consumer is visually and aurally encouraged to «emotionally experience» the object on display in 3-D.
3-D architecture rendering technology has interactive capabilities, animation properties, and the tools for providing marketing take-aways»tools such as Flash animation, Javascript, mp3 interface, avi and mpeg formats, PowerPoint integration, VRML (virtual reality modeling language), and RealNetwork, QuickTime, and Windows Media. That is, the client can experience home-buying from a remote distance»even another country»from the actual property, can get what would be the equivalent of a walk-through (or fly-through), can point and click to look more closely or look from a different vantage point, and then can get the «brochure» or print rendering of yore on a CD--in the equivalent of a tour video tape he/she might have taken in person--to share the same experience with friends and family members who can load/play the virtual tour on their own computers.
Artists and Architects Catching the New Rendering Wave
Rendering artists can now give more comprehensive and accurate architecture rendering of structure, materials, colors, details; marketers and real estate developers can present options, influence and simulate ideas, and provide visual dimensions that prospective buyers will be able to «emotionally experience.»
New Home Builders Taking a Ride on the New Wave
Besides using the new computer graphic technology on their websites, where potential long-distance customers can also emotionally experience their creations, new home developers are setting up 3-D renderings on computers in their sales offices, a new appeal for the potential home buyer who can now do a virtual walk-through, can assess realized floor plans, and can make decisions about specific architectural elements. Customers can essentially benefit from the interactive nature of the 3-D software by virtually «[customizing] the interior with their choices of upgrades and colors»and then [creating] a color graphic [or a CD] of their virtual reality home» (Amuroso) to take with them for final considerations.
Real Estate Developers Working the Wave
Having seen the auspicious benefits to 3-D architecture rendering, developers have begun to use the latest software programs to plan their building sites, to advertise and market their properties, and to «streamline» (as Becker calls it) city approvals for new projects.
Computer-generated home model simulation has not knocked the traditional architecture rendering tools off the board. It has just made the surfing more cost-effective, more time-efficient, and the sailing even more intriguing and fun.
Sources
Amoruso, Dena. «Builders Embracing Virtual Walkthroughs.» Realty Times. http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/19981106_virtualwalkthru.htm.
Becker, David. «Bye-bye, Blueprint: 3D Modeling Catches on. CNET News.com October 4, 2004, 4:00 AM PT. Reprint. Zdnews.net.
