Monday, November 9, 2015

Rendering the Month - October 2015

Kestrel House by Mike Atkinson
KestrelHouse3.png

Mike was kind enough to share some of his thoughts with us:
Kestrel House was designed by a local Architect who had seen my work and needed visuals preparing for his client and the planning officers at the local council. I worked off CAD drawings in Sketchup and prepared an accurate 3D model. This is a crucial stage in preparing photoreal visuals. Architectural detail must be accurate. (My background as an Architectural Technician helps as I can read and interpret construction drawings). The planning officer wanted to see the building in context to the site so we had to make it look as realistic as possible. I went to site and took some shots of the views that I wanted to re-create.
The architect had specified materials and supplied me with photos of particular colour and texture choices. I have built up a vast library of textures and bookmarked several key sites that offer realistic images that render well. At the SU stage we tried several material and colour changes until we had a natural looking palette to compliment the rural setting.
The pond is actually there on site and I took a photograph across the water from a low vantage point.
We liked this rendering because the perspective incorporates an actual site that allows the client to see their proposed building and the proximity to the pond.
The reflection of the building in the pond is a very nice attention to detail and the natural lighting on the model matches the sky and site photograph very well.