Renderings: What You Need to Know

An architectural rendering can be a powerful tool to communicate the value of your development project and help bring important stakeholder on board. So, where do you start? What kind of direction do you need to give to your design team?

In a nutshell, there are three types of renderings: a photorealistic rendering, a hand rendering, and a progress design rendering. The type of rendering you should ask for depends on the answer to this question:

“What type of a rendering does my audience expect to see?”

Photorealistic Rendering

If your project is located in a first tier city, you will most likely need to do a photorealistic rendering that will look very close to what the built project will look like. You also want to make sure that you have enough of the location context in your rendering, so that the audience can imagine how your project is integrated, or perhaps, how it stands out from the rest. If there are important amenities or demand generators near your project, be sure to add their visuals to your rendering to convince the audience of the proximity.

What does it take to produce a photorealistic rendering? Your Architect will develop the facade and the site to a very high level of detail and afterwards, they will spend a lot of time coordinating with the rendering company to make your rendering look stunning and appropriate for the purpose. This rendering will be a larger investment than a less detailed type, but it is money well spent when developing in the prime locations.

Hand Rendering

If you are developing a project in a closely-knit community or a small town, you audience may like to see a warm touch of a hand rendering. While this type is less expensive than a photorealistic rendering, it is more difficult to come about firms that can perform this service. Do your due diligence while selecting an artist to bring your vision to life. The great thing about hand renderings, other than most people loving them, is that the design can be very raw and not detailed prior to staring the rendering and the artist can fill in the missing parts using their imagination. This type of a rendering is a win-win in terms of time, cost and the delightful result in a small town community.

Progress Design Rendering

Tech-savvy Architects use 3D software during the concept and the schematic design phases. The final type of rendering is what can be easily exported from the 3D software and, with some Photoshop enhancements, be used as a rendering for your presentation. This is a minimum time and money investment rendering that can be appropriate for projects that do not have high visibility and are on a low budget. It is also a good starting point before you are ready to invest more into preparing an outstanding rendering.

Do you need additional recommendations?

email: lidia@sparkstudiodesign.com