Here, I'll post things that I think you'll enjoy. Most of my posts will be about architectural illustrations, 3D renderings, new software, and anything else cool.
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Composition
If an artist is successfully in welding all three of these components (subject, form, and content) in a work, they become inseparable, mutually interactive, and interrelated - as if they were a living organism, When this is achieved, we can say the work has organic unity, containing nothing that is unnecessary or distracting, with relationships that seem inevitable.
Organic Unity
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Composing a rendering with leading lines is a traditional technique that has long captured the attention of painters, photographers, and architectural illustrators.
Like a tour guide, you'll be leading viewers where you want them to go - by giving direction to the eye. Whether the lines are straight, zigzagging, or softly curving through the composition, viewers will have a sense of the composition, viewers will have a sense of satisfaction after traveling along the line that you, the architectural illustrator, provided. Most often, a leading line starts in the near foreground and then draws your viewer into the heart of your rendering. It's an extremely effective way to direct viewers on a visual journey through your rendering.
Once you start to recognize the potential for leading lines, you'll jump at opportunities to exploit them. They can be see in in landscaping, buildings, shorelines, streets, fences, and more. They can be colorful streaks of moving taillights at night, or they can be the long shadows of a column or tree that extends from the camera to subject.
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You'll rarely go wrong in choosing a renderings composition that follow the rules. However, for stepping up the creativity at times, don't get locked into the Rule of Thirds as a hard-and-fast policy. At times, it can be restrictive for those 3D scenes that just don't fit onto a Thirds settings. While the perfect spot fir the subject may be somewhere off-center, for example, it might not necessarily be in one of the power points.
In fact, there are times when a dead-center composition is dead-on. This can be a subject with strong symmetry, such as a wheel, in which the hub is in the middle while the spokes spread out in all directions. When rendering close up, work, too, as does symmetry in most of my architectural renderings. Likewise, some renderings don't even have a specific subject; rather, the entire rendering is the subject, such as a pattern or repetition scenes.
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Here's another way to expand your portfolio of successful renderings: When a person, animal, or vehicle is positioned fairly small in your rendering, make sure the subject moves into - not out of - the composition. This keeps the viewers attention directed to the main center area, rather than having the eye wander distractedly to the edge of the render and out of the picture.
Of course, as with any rule, there can be artfully stylish exceptions, and when a subject occupies a big part of the render, this guideline may not even apply. But, in general, when a subject moved or faces in one direction, leave room to breathe in front of the subject. Viewers will find this visually pleasing, as opposed to a more unsettling placement of a subject near a rendering border and facing toward that close edge of your rendering.
Your subject doesn't even need to be moving. Plus, this concept applies not only to human subjects but also to animals, cars, boats, and even statues. Other objects may have a front that "points" in a particular direction, such as when rendering a house or vehicle from the side. Likewise, a tree that leans, for instance, should tilt toward the middle of the scene.
Yes, this strategy is yet another thing to worry about when compositing a rendering. But, trust me. You'll soon get the hang of this concept of directing the movement toward the center of your rendering.
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Occasionally, splitting your composition in half is better. This typically involves water reflection, when the rendering above is just as strong as the reflection below. Giving equal weight to both halves helps capitalize on the eye-catching combination of balance and serenity.
Other times, you may want to leave out the sky entirely. Often, this is on an overcast day rendering since the overexposed brightness can overwhelm everything else in the rendering. In other situations, you may just want the visual competition of the blue sky, concentrating on a non-sky landscape or cityscape rendering or a more intimate view.
And at times, you may not need a sky at all. A bright/white sky can detract from the rest of the rendering. Or, on a sunny day, the contrasting blue could draw the eye away from the other colors in your rendering. In those situations, no sky at all may be the best strategy.
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I often see newbies split exterior architectural renderings into equal halves, with the horizontal line or maybe a distant shoreline extending right across the middle of the render. The viewer, then, is left to decide which half of the architectural renderings is most beneficial, But that's for you - the architectural illustrator - to decide when composing your rendering! Keep this in mind as you compose, instead of cutting the composition in half. This will force you to decide: Which is more important, the land or the sky? Or the water?
An architectural rendering's visual weight (the most appealing things in the rendering) should determine where you place the horizon. With the Rule of Thirds, you can place the horizon line on the lower third diving line or the upper third. And you can adapt the Thirds principle as necessary. If things are exceptionally dull overhead or down below, even a third of the frame devoted to that space could be too much. So you can be more extreme and place the line extremely low or high - say, a thin trip of the sky or landscape.
Rule of Thirds
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This shooting style - tilting the camera to turn a vertical or horizontal line into a powerful diagonal - has been around for awhile. One term used for it is the "Dutch angle", which is a longtime cinematography; to create visual tension. Still, when I tell clients that it's perfectly acceptable, if not totally desirable, to occasionally slant the camera, they express surprise. After all, your're supposed to keep the camera level at all times, correct? Well, there are exceptions! Used at the right artistic time, a nice tip of the camera can pump up the visual tension by creating exceptional angles and diagonals. Rendering with your camera askew (so as to change naturally appearing vertical or horizontal lines into diagonals) can be done for a variety of small scenes or ambitious views. Like other creative techniques, you won't want to use this method all the time, but when the subject calls for it, angling the camera is one worthy artist weapon.
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Too many architectural illustrators are locked into a standard view: pointing the virtual camera straight ahead from a standing height. An eye-level perspective is so easy to fall back on. Sure, the eye-level perspective ultimately may be the best viewpoint, but you honestly won't know unless you explore the scene for other, potentially better, viewpoints. Playing with point of view is a surefire way to put pizzazz in your architectural rendering. Go ahead. You have my permission to unleash your creative side. Whenever and wherever you can, seek out this attention grabbing camera views that most architectural illustrators fail to see. Architectural illustrations are about discovering the best camera angle to capture your building or space. It's about choosing a lower or higher viewpoint - a perspective that most architectural illustrators just don't see.
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There may come a day, when fine tuning all the controls in your render engine is all done by the computer, but I can't ever imagine there will come a time when a render engine will be able to tell you what the best point of view is. There are two constants in the art of renderings; "seeing" and composition, and no amount of technology will replace either. The good news is that you can learn both the art of composition and how to "see".
Architectural rendering composition is based, in part, on order and structure. Every great rendering owes much of its success to the way it is composed, which is, in essence, the way the elements are arranged.
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Soft glowing effects are common in portrait photography but are not used often for 3-D Architectural Renderings. The 3-D artist usually likes the sharpest possible image, and using a soft filter would be counter intuitive But, in certain circumstances a soft focus of an Architectural Rendering can enhance the mood of a rendering by creating a soft glowing atmosphere.
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