Architecture visualization has become a large part of our industry, with many architects and architectural students being equally skilled and interested in both disciplines.
Architectural presentation and representation has never been more important and is often the difference between winning and losing a project.
The use of technology has now become the go to architectural presentation technique with its ability to demonstrate and share not just the buildings mass, form, and materiality but also the atmosphere and feeling the architecture will eventually evoke.
The progression in technologies and its accessibility, has also lead to the advancement of architectural presentations, where it is no longer enough to just have a series of beautiful images.
Presentations often now consist of highly detailed animations and walkthroughs that give the user ultimate control over what they are seeing via a VR headsets and controller.
There are many different genres to architecture visualization, some are purely photorealistic and strive to mimic a photograph, and others are atmospheric and focus on the environment the building creates …selling more of the atmosphere.
The list below shares a variety of resources and tutorials that focus on the these varied styles, along with a few exempla companies that demonstrate the current high standard of architectural representation and presentation.
Our favorite architectural visualization websites…
Ronen Bekerman – www.ronenbekerman.com
Ronen Bekerman is one of the best and largest architecture visualization and presentation blogs on the web. It offers a huge range of resources, tips and tutorials covering all aspects of the architectural visualization world.
Visualising Architecture – www.visualizingarchitecture.com
This website was created by a student when working towards their Master of Architecture degree, and provides a great resource with step by step tutorials for architectural presentations and representations created prominently with Photoshop.
Arqui9 – www.arqui9.com
Arqui9 Visualization is both an award winning studio with many fantastic examples of architectural visualizations that seek a more atmospheric style and feeling, as well as a very useful resource and learning tool demonstrating how they produce their visualizations via YouTube.
Forbes Massie – www.forbesmassie.com
This company doesn’t give away any of their tips or secretes into how they produce their images, but having established themselves as the go to company for a painterly style of representation, they are a very good example of the high standard of imagery studios are producing.
They also provide a selection of work via three self published books, that provide a useful quick reference when looking for inspiration.
Vizpeople Blog – www.blog.viz-people.com
Vizpeople have been a long standing company selling 3D visualization assets and now have a blog that is growing with useful tutorials and tips covering all aspects of 3D visualizations, Vray and Corona rendering engines.
They also have a selection of free cut out people, trees and animals, and a selection of 3d models.
The Boundary – www.the-boundary.com
The Boundary are at the forefront of the architectural visualization industry, with a heavy focus on animation and virtual reality. They provide tutorials and tips via their blog along with an online shop selling their 3D assets and scenes to use and learn from.
CG Architect – www.cgarchitect.com
CGarchitect is a popular architectural visualization blog and end-user community for architectural visualizers and design professionals. This forum produces an excellent resource when stuck on a problem and like Ronen Birkerman, also provides making of’s and tutorials from varied disciplines.
Evermotion – www.evermotion.org
Evermotion have created one of the largest online architectural visualization communities, and offers an abundance of tutorials, tips and tricks, and making of’s covering most 3D and rendering software.
They also have a large forum platform and extensive online shop selling just about any 3D model, interior and exterior scenes along with many 2D assets
VWArtclub – www.vwartclub.com
VWArt club are very similar to Evermotion but offer a large range of free 3D models (mainly in a vray format) and are more focused on the mainstream renders such as vray and corona render. They regularly publish their members work and give out awards.
Pixel Flakes – www.pixelflakes.com
Pixel flakes are a London based studio that offer a set of tutorials and exemplar work to reference from. They also have a selection of Photoshop files that they give away for free, showing a breakdown of their workflow and how they achieve their images.
MIR – www.mir.no
Mir are globally recognized as one of the best architectural visualization studio’s, due to the crisp atmospheric images that take photorealism to point where no other studios seem to able to go. Having worked with some the worlds best architects, their images offer a great source of inspiration.
BBB3Viz – www.bertrand-benoit.com
Lastly BBB3viz has long been at the forefront of photorealism and prides himself on his immense level of detail and attention to natural lighting. He provides an online shop selling his own 3D models, several making of’s and lots of tips and tricks.
