Learn More About Architectural Rendering Software
What is Architectural Rendering Software?
Architectural rendering allows users to illustrate real life visualizations of how a space or building will look before it’s constructed. This includes polishing up an architectural design with details such as realistic lighting and shading, furniture for interior design, and landscaping for exterior design. Many architectural rendering software offer integrations with popular architectural modeling software such as building information modeling (BIM). This allows users to model and then sharpen the design with architectural rendering.
Key Benefits of Architectural Rendering Software
- Allows users to develop architectural designs with a more accurate representation
- Allows users to identify problems earlier in the design phase which reduces costs
- Allows users to more accurately communicate design intent with clients
Why Use Architectural Rendering Software?
Architectural rendering software allows users to bring their designs to life. From showing different side views and angles of a building to highlighting landscaping and surrounding nature, architectural rendering makes designs visually appealing. The end result of visually stunning architectural design makes a client more likely to contract the design team or a potential lessee to book a space that hasn’t been fully designed yet. Other major use cases include virtual tours, panoramic renderings, and 3D walkthroughs.
More effective design communication — Architectural rendering software provides shading, lighting, and coloring tools, which can effectively create a more vivid, appealing, and accurate representation of what a final design may look like. This can greatly enhance design communication with stakeholders and investors who will ultimately be more impressed by the design that is fully fleshed out with architectural rendering. This sets the user apart from their competition who may only be presenting rudimentary designs with no architectural rendering features in place.
Improved branding and marketing — Architectural rendering is one of the greatest ways to showcase some of the most polished designs. Users can utilize these visuals on the company website, in email newsletters, and company brochures. This can engage potential clients and help the company land more business deals.
Who Uses Architectural Rendering Software?
Architectural rendering software is used in any industry that deals with architectural visualization. This can include architects, game designers, animators, and architectural planners.
Architectural planners — Perhaps the most obvious use case for architectural rendering software would be for architectural planning. This includes the process of creating a virtual architectural space, whether it be a home, an office, or a multipurpose building.
Animation — Animators are often tasked with creating interior and exterior renderings of architectural designs. Architectural rendering can allow animators to create more realistic animated film or television.
Kinds of Architectural Rendering Software
Cloud rendering — Architectural rendering can take a lot of time for a computer to process. When using an on-premise solution to render the architectural design, it can slow down the processor, resulting in longer wait times. Alternatively, cloud rendering allows users to upload their designs to the cloud solution and let the servers process the rendering. This frees up the computer’s processing power to perform other necessary tasks. It may also speed up the time of rendering. Although cloud rendering has been slow to adoption because of concerns such as security, software availability, and data transfer latency, it is now becoming increasingly popular because of the time and resources saved.
On-premise rendering — Most companies in the business of visual effects still use dedicated on-premise rendering resources. This is because they have more powerful computers that are built to render in real time. This is a good option for larger companies that have a bigger budget since there are no latency issues that are tied to an internet connection.
Architectural Rendering Software Features
Interior rendering — Interior rendering features provide users with the necessary tools to create more realistic interior designs. This includes tools that aid with flooring, furnishings, and lighting to create a realistic representation of how the indoors of an office building or home might look like when a design is completed.
Aerial rendering — Aerial rendering gives users a better representation of how a building might look from an aerial view. This gives people a more accurate perspective on the surrounding landscape to see if the design will have any issues with zoning or if the building is taking up too much space.
Exterior rendering — Exterior rendering features provide tools that aid in the depiction of what an architectural design might look like from the outside at ground level. Some of these key tools include lighting, shadowing, and reflections from external sunlight or artificial light. Additionally, users can place exterior objects such as foliage, street cars, and people to simulate how external objects interact with the environment.
Atmospheric rendering — Atmospheric rendering features allow designers to render environmental effects such as rain and snow. Users can even simulate how drainage around the building will be affected by heavy rainfall.
Material library — Most architectural rendering software provides a vast array of materials to use for architectural design. This can include pre-designed furnishings, people, foliage, and more. Users can even choose the material of the building, such as wood, concrete, or metal. Having a wide material library allows users to speed up design time.
Premise rendering — Premise rendering is a specific type of architectural rendering in which a customer already knows the precise location of where an architectural design is going to be built. In this case, users can upload a real photo of the location where the building is going to be designed and simply render in the building to fit the surrounding area.
Potential Issues with Architectural Rendering Software
Learning curve — Architectural rendering is a skill that takes a lot of time and practice to develop. There are countless features for lighting, shading, interior rendering, exterior rendering, and much more. All of these tools offer robust capabilities that are quite intricate. Luckily, most architectural rendering vendors offer detailed walkthroughs of the rendering features which can help new users learn to use the tools at a quicker pace.
Cost — Some of the more advanced architectural rendering software can cost thousands of dollars per user per year. This can get quite costly for some companies and individual artists. For businesses that are more cost constrained, there are a wide variety of budget options available.
