Old timers opinion on AI Renderings
When SketchUp and Revit came out (2000), I knew I had to up my game because anybody can now create a rendering.
I studied composition, art theory, and color theory, and the most significant boost to my work was taking up photography. I recall someone on the Chaos forum, a 3D rendering engine, told me to buy an old DSL and start taking photos daily. Learn the craft of photography, which I did. Now it is an expensive hobby, but it was the single best advice I ever got to improve my architectural rendering work.
I leapfrogged SketchUp and Revit renderings by improving my quality, which greatly enhanced my renderings. I got busier and worked on better-quality projects. People who didn't upgrade their skills were gone within a couple of years, because skilled artists remain valuable in a world where software can replicate basic work.
Building a model and pulling a camera isn't what I was hired to do anymore. When I started, it was pencil-and-paper renderings, and a decade of digital work before software became easy to use. To stay relevant, we must keep evolving our skills, which is essential for our continued value.
Today, I am seeing the same thing happen. First, AI can vanish; that is reality. People are talking about whether the resources are worth it (electricity). If the billions invested are worth it (investors need to start seeing a return, and they are not, so the money will stop flowing), and is the outcome worth it (too much time checking accuracy)?
Reliable industry resources indicate a significant loss of productivity once AI is introduced. AI isn't new; it's been around for decades. Companies are now trying to monetize it, and startups are investing billions, and only a few will survive. If it does survive, a good illustrator is better than AI, by far. Yes, AI is fast and, for right now, inexpensive. AI will become expensive, beyond the reach of hobbyists, and only larger companies will be able to afford it. However, these companies already have skilled talent who do not need AI to create stunning renderings.
AI isn't an artist, a creative, a graphic artist, or an illustrator. AI will take insufficient resources from across the web and produce a poor rendering. Like SketchUp and Revit, it is a tool that can speed up low-quality renderings, but it can't replace genuine artistry and skill.
People might not know why an image is good, but they know when it is. The people looking for a rendering and cost are the most essential things; isn't my clientele and AI is a good fit? All it will do is make skilled people more valuable.