By Garth Leblanc


It amazes me how numerous great 3D architectural visualisation artists are out there who continue to create very fundamental mistakes in their artwork. Without a lot more technical capability a couple of pointers would turn their artwork into functions of art! Here are probably the most typical mistakes to avoid.

1. Using low resolution texture maps that don't tile seamlessly and that show repetition with the tile. It is low cost and easy to buy or even produce texture maps nowadays so dump the old maps and sort out a powerful materials library. Make sure to use bump and displacement to avoid flat lifeless textures. There are also several fairly new materials effects such as sub surface scattering which should be implemented when required.

2. Modelling the landscape with less effort than the buildings. The website is so essential if you are striving for photo realism. Infact in many situations much more effort should be put into the landscape than the building as it runs right up close the camera in the foreground. Consider the foreground / mid-ground / distant-ground and back-ground and apply the detail as necessary.

3. Poor 3d architectural visualisation composition. Any good architectural photographer will tell you that it is as much about composition of shot because it is about topic or light. Architectural shots both interior and exterior ought to usually be taken using the vertical walls of the creating running parallel to the sides with the shot. This is a rule of thumb only and does not apply to more abstract shots or when coping with exceptionally tall buildings.

4. Colour balance and colour mapping. Analyse your image carefully by taking a look at the balance of tones. If there is an unnatural searching green tint from the image make the essential adjustments. If your dark areas are too dark play with your gamma settings. In 3D architectural visualisation you need to try to make these adjustments within your render engine and make tweaks later in photoshop.

5. Adding entourage towards the image in post functions like people, trees, vehicles and so on. Take care a choose images which have similar tones and lighting. Ensure whenever you add the images that the light on all pictures is coming from exactly the same direction as the light in your scene. All the photoshop tinkering on the planet will not make an added image appear right in your scene if it's showing shadows on the opposite side to everything else.




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