BLOG

Bobby Parker 9/23/14 Bobby Parker 9/23/14

4 Reasons Not to Outsource Your Architectural Renderings

Many problems come to the forefront when outsourcing work to foreign countries.

First, the difficulty lies with the difference in time. Shanghai, China is thirteen hours ahead of Dallas, Texas while India is ten and a half hours ahead. As a patch, some of these companies have a representative in the United States. This does solve the problem. Their representative is only around to answer phones and does not do any of the work. Now you are involved in a game of passing information from one person to another before it is received by the person that is assigned your work.

Another issue rears its ugly head. You are probably thinking that since we are off cycle, things will be completed faster. Instead, they take additional time. One day turns into two and before you know it, you are weeks behind.

The second issue is the language barrier. There is no question that the representative speaks English. There are still difficulties to overcome when attempting to have your 3d rendering completed. Edits and changes have to be translated. As we all know, the true meaning can easily get lost in translation. Forget about the direct meaning of the words you speak. What about the delivery? Have you ever made a wise crack or sarcastic comment to a foreign customer service representative only to have them take you seriously?

Third, their culture is different. All of the pictures in the world will not change that fact that your outsource work will be completed by somebody from a completely different culture. Styles are difficult enough to keep up with when living in the Continental United States. Your architectural visualization piece may be accurately represented, but the landscaping package will have a peculiar look. Now you are relegated to driving neighborhoods and photographing exterior architectural visualization groups.

Finally, how much time do you have? It takes time to manage a team from a foreign country. I bet your time is worth more than any potential savings could possibly make. Imagine saving $200 and spending an additional three to four hours. That is imagining also; odds you are not even going to save $200 on an architectural rendering. Your 3d illustration will require a lot of time and effort to complete.

Delays caused by the difference in time zone, lack of English as a primary language and language translation for the working staff eliminate any perceived value. Add in time delays and now you’re starting to have a problem. You will have to save a lot, because, the extra management time will make the project time consuming and difficult. You will have to work hard for every nickel you save, if you save any money at all. Take any difference in fee structure and couple it with the extra management time and aggravation and you suddenly have a project that is more expensive to implement. In many cases, the time delays alone are substantial enough to create difficulty.

Fulfill your architectural visualization needs of a company that resides within the United States. You will benefit with reduced management, time and aggravation. Your architectural illustrations can be completed economically without outsourcing.

Save time, money and aggravation by having your architectural visualization project completed within the United States.

Did you enjoy this article? I would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS-feed or follow my feed on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word! Or, if you would like, drop me an email.

Bobby Parker 9/20/14 Bobby Parker 9/20/14

Negotiate Your Hourly and Project-Based Pricing

If you’re an architectural illustrator, doing freelance by the hour, you are going to have to determine your pricing structure. For example, do you charge by the hour? What’s a reasonable rate to ask? Are you better off charging clients on a project basis?

Here are some tips for calculating your hourly and project rates and how to negotiate pricing with your client.

1. Determining Your Worth

Before you submit a quote for any work, ask yourself these questions:

What is the market rate for architectural illustrators in your location?
How experienced are you? Not just as an architectural illustrator, but as a home based business? Being awesome at architectural rendering is good, but being able to meet deadlines, exceed expectations and above all, being reliable, are essential qualities for an architectural illustrator.

What rate are you willing to accept?

2. Calculating an Hourly Rate

If you’ve been a salaried employee all your life, making the switch to self-employment requires a change of thinking. Some companies may be tempted to coerce you into a rate that reflects what they’d be willing to pay a salaried employee. But self-employment brings its costs and credit to you. Your rate should reflect this, as well as your expertise.

If you are used to being a salaried employee, here’s a good rule of thumb to follow when determining an hourly rate:

Divide your former salary by 52 (work weeks); then divide that number by 40 (the number of work hours in a week). Then mark it up 25-30%.
Your mark-up covers both your value and experience, but also takes care of our business costs such as networking, selling, and other administration, not forgetting your self-employment tax obligations and healthcare insurance costs.

3. Calculating Project Rates

Many clients will prefer to manage their costs and ask for you to rate your work as a fixed project fee. This can also work to your benefit if you price it right. However, it can also work against you, especially if your client is new, and the project scope creeps beyond your original expectations.

The best way to calculate project rates is to spend some time scoping out what you’ll deliver. Use your knowledge of your work methods and familiarity with the subject matter to structure your time commitment, for example:

Research: 2 Hours
Produce gray scale model: 8 Hours
Two rounds of edits: 2 Hours
Add color and lighting 8 Hours
Two rounds of edits: 2 Hours
Final render: 2 Hours
Total: 24 Hours @ $x hourly rate = $x

Remember, you don’t have to put this calculation in front of your client, but it gives you a useful framework for covering your costs and delivering within scope. Don’t forget to add a caveat to address that any work done over and above this scope of work will be charged at an hourly rate

4. Negotiating Your Rate:

Negotiation is hard to avoid and can often shed light on whether this is a client that you really want to work with for. If you are confident that your pricing reflects your value and the market rate, being haggled hard on price can get a relationship off on the wrong foot. Likewise, being locked in at a low rate can quickly devalue the relationship from your perspective.

So, when it comes to negotiating, be prepared to stand your ground but be willing to compromise. If you foresee further business here, try to be flexible.

5. What About Retainers?

If a client starts to send a lot of volume your way, retainer-based pricing can be advantageous, even if it’s at a lower hourly rate than your advertised price.

A retainer is a fee paid for a pre-determined amount of time or work (usually within a month) and is often paid up-front. A retainer agreement can deliver the benefit of predictable work and income while giving your client the reassurance of having you on “stand-by” and a clear view of monthly costs.

Many architectural illustrators charge the full retainer fee, even if they don’t work the entire hours allocated. If you value the relationship, steer clear of this; instead, roll unused hours over to next month.

Good luck!

Bobby Parker 9/19/14 Bobby Parker 9/19/14

The Wood Paneled Cigar Room

Here is a small, but wonderfully warm space, for Z Feng Architect and Company out of Chicago, Illinois. It was a fun project and I think it turned out great!

Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design
V-Ray® for Autodesk® 3ds Max®
Adobe Photoshop CC

Bobby Parker 9/17/14 Bobby Parker 9/17/14

Marvelous Designer 4!

We are excited to announce the official release of Marvelous Designer 4!

Marvelous Designer 4 includes new features that are outstanding,
such as Quad, FBX importer and Symmetric Editing.

Highlighted features

Quadrangulate
Symmetric Design/Editing
FBX Import
1 to N Sewing
Basting (Tack, Tack on Avatar)
Normal Flipping
Layer Clone
Wrapping Arrangement
Scale Rotation Pivot
Multiple Selection

Detailed videos are available at Learn > New in MD4 and, MD4 manual is available at here.

Price

For pricing information, please visit MD Pricing page.

Users who purchased MD3 during Open Beta period get free upgrade to MD4.
Existing MD3 users get 50% off on their upgrade.

→ MD2 users are not eligible for upgrading price.

Bobby Parker 9/10/14 Bobby Parker 9/10/14

RealCamera Motiva

Needed libraries (could be already on your system):

· DirectX9 March2o09 (or higher) Download
· Visual C++ Redist 2008 (needed) Download
· Microsoft .NET framework 3.5 (needed) Download

RealCamera Motiva is a free real-time post production tool, developed by Motiva, which mimics the behavior of real cameras and films, based on studies of the Computer Visualization Laboratory at the University of Columbia. All calculations are performed by the GPU, which ensures maximum speed. To understand its features, please watch the videos.

Bobby Parker 9/9/14 Bobby Parker 9/9/14

All about Gamma & V-Ray

Lesson by Ciro Sannino | More about: Vray News

Contents:

VIDEO IN HD / Narrated / 28 ‘
MAX FILES to download with all V-Ray settings
Gamma output with 3ds Max 2014
Gamma uotput 1.0 and 2.2
Migrating from one configuration to another
Advantages and disadvantages
Successfully save images to 32bit
Duplicate the frame buffer with success
Batch render and render elements

Gamma and configurations

Compensating renders with gamma curve has always been a very hot topic. The reasons for this offsetting is required are already discussed in my book “Photography & Rendering with V-Ray“, so now I will focus on technical and practical details that will allow us to finally dominate all aspects related to the topic “Gamma”.

After it has started, click the “X” to view it in full screen:

GAMMA CONFIGURATION 1.0 :

Script: fileoutgamma = 1.0
Color mapping> Gamma: 2.2
Color Mapping> Mode: Color Range Mapping and Gamma
sRGB button to display preview / disabled

GAMMA CONFIGURATION 2.2 :

Script: fileoutgamma = 2.2
Color mapping> Gamma: 2.2
Color Mapping> Mode: Color Mapping only (no gamma)
sRGB button to display preview / enabled
This configuration is the default in V-Ray 2.4 and V-Ray 3

Both configurations produce the same result, with the difference that the configuration GAMMA2.2 facilitates saving images to 32bit and management of 3ds Max Frame Buffer and batch render.

FILES & TRAINING:

Download the package containing the scene set in 2 configurations:

Download Gamma Pack
Buy the book Photography & Rendering with V-Ray
Subscribe to the Online course: Learnvray and 5SRW method

Note: A “mismatch” window appears when we open a file with output gamma set differently from your system.

Bobby Parker 9/6/14 Bobby Parker 9/6/14

V-Ray Film & VFX Showreel 2014

We'd like to thank the amazing artists and studios whose work we feature here in our 2014 VFX showreel. Every year we are inspired by what artists bring to V-Ray.

Bobby Parker 9/5/14 Bobby Parker 9/5/14

3ds Max 2015 - work faster with new tools

Looking to take a deep dive into what Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2015 software has to offer? Then this session is for you.

Technical Specialist Chris Murray will show you how to get things done faster, with new layout tools, efficient scene management workflows and rendering tools, and other powerful additions in 3ds Max 2015.

Want to find out more about 3ds Max 2015 and how to get access to the latest features with Autodesk® Subscription? Check out the 3ds Max product center for more information.

Bobby Parker 9/4/14 Bobby Parker 9/4/14

Bluetooth® Multi-Device Keyboard K480

Published on Sep 3, 2014

A single keyboard allows you to type on anything! The Bluetooth® Multi-Device Keyboard K480 is a unique keyboard for your Windows, Mac or Chrome computer…that also works with your Android or iOS mobile devices. With a flick of a switch, you can change typing from one device to the next. (Bluetooth wireless device required)

Bobby Parker 9/4/14 Bobby Parker 9/4/14

The Message Teaser

Simply amazing work from from INDUSTRY VISUAL EFFECTS. The first video is the teaser and the second video is the breakdown... all computer generated!

The Message Teaser from INDUSTRY VISUAL EFFECTS on Vimeo.

Message Shot035 Breakdown from INDUSTRY VISUAL EFFECTS on Vimeo.

Bobby Parker 9/3/14 Bobby Parker 9/3/14

Norman Foster - Art Quote

“The pencil and computer are, if left to their own devices, equally dumb and only as good as the person driving them.”

— Norman Foster

Bobby Parker 8/31/14 Bobby Parker 8/31/14

iToo Software Giveaway

The 5th 2014 blog birthday giveaway is here! iToo Software will give one of you lucky followers a chance to pick between a Forest Pack or RailClone 2 License. You will also have the chance to win either one by sending a 3d render/s you made using one or both plugins to create an amazing visual. The image you’ll submit here could also work for Grant Warwick’s giveaway.

Founded in 1999 in Spain, iToo Software is a 3D software developing company, and creators of Forest Pack and Rail Clone, plugins for Autodesk® 3DS Max® and 3DS Max Design®. Their main objectives are customers´ satisfaction with their products, providing a high quality software and personalized support.

Forest Pack is a plugin for 3d Studio Max, designed to give a complete solution for creation of vast surfaces of trees, grass and plants. Forest enables you to combine billboards, high poly meshes and proxies, and using Mental Ray and V-Ray native shaders, create scenes with virtually unlimited number of objects and polygons.

Some of its features are: camera clipping, tint maps, clusters, tree editor, falloff curves, animation support, integrated library browser and much more. Working as an advanced scattering tool, Forest can be used not only for plants, but for any scene that include vast distributions of objects as: rocks, buildings or crowds.

RailClone 2 is a 3DS Max plugin for parametric modeling based on custom geometry parts, definable by the user, and a set of construction rules. This new concept of modeling lets you to build complex and realistic structures for Architectural Visualization, Civil Engineering and Interior Design.

The software includes a full library of preset models to create Fences, Railings, Barriers, Handrails or Walls. RailClone is not limited to a fixed set of primitives, you can use any geometry from the scene and define your own parametric structures.

iToo Software, are still offering a 15% discount on the purchase of Forest Pack Pro, RailClone 2 or the new Forest Pack + RailClone Bundle.

Don’t miss the chance to get one of my favorite plugins during this great deal ending on August 31st come midnight (GMT+2)!

Bobby Parker 8/30/14 Bobby Parker 8/30/14

5 Pro Editing Tips from the Master of Tight Deadlines

Working in a job that requires you to meet constant deadlines is a demanding activity. Yet, some people thrive in this sort of environment, especially when they know some of the tricks to meeting deadlines. Have you got what it takes?

Bobby Parker 8/29/14 Bobby Parker 8/29/14

19th Century Painting Rendered In 3D Is Aesthetically Awesome

Don't you love when old and new come together to create something wonderful?

Hungarian graphic artist Zsolt Ekho Farkas was on vacation with his wife when she pointed out Gyula Benczúr's painting "Budavár repossession" in a booklet and asked him if he could render it in 3D. Challenge accepted!

Watch in this video as 21st century technology is applied to the 19th century painting to create an aesthetically awesome and mesmerizing work of digital art. If you'd like to learn more about Farkas' other work, be sure to visit his website here.

Bobby Parker 8/28/14 Bobby Parker 8/28/14

Read My Interview with Houseplanology

See It & Sell It: Professional Architectural Illustration with Bobby Parker

By: The Houseplanologist

Architecture is a competitive business. There are thousands of talented designers out there, and selling your concepts, or choosing between different plans if you’re a home buyer, is a lot like other parts of life: it all starts with great presentation. That’s where architectural illustration comes in. A beautiful rendering is like great package design – it attracts attention and teases out buyer curiosity. But it’s also part of the product itself. Effective illustrations breathe life and zest into building plans, firing up the imagination and bringing depth of understanding to those of us who struggle to see an architect’s vision without additional help.

Minnesota-based architectural illustrator Bobby Parker has many years experience in architectural rendering and kindly spared a bit of time to fill us in on some of the aspects of working in this rapidly changing field:

H: HI BOBBY – CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS AN ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATOR – HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AND IS THERE A PARTICULAR AREA THAT YOU SPECIALIZE IN?

BP: I’ve always drawn; from my earliest childhood memories, I was drawing. I remember during middle school, we did an occupational survey. We answered questions, and it told us what career path we should follow. Mine was architecture. So naturally I pursued architecture in college, but after a couple years I knew it wasn’t for me; we just didn’t draw enough! So, I became an architectural illustrator. At first it was a hobby, but since I worked in the architectural industry, my art skill was appreciated. I started off with pencil and paper and now I produce photo-real architectural renderings.

Image: ‘The House in the Woods’, Exterior Photo-Real Rendering (Bobby Parker)

H: I GUESS THE DAYS OF HAND DRAWN ILLUSTRATION ARE ALMOST GONE, WITH ALL THE TECHNOLOGY AROUND. ARE YOU 100% FOCUSED ON DIGITAL RENDERING, OR DO YOU STILL GET REQUESTS FOR HAND DRAWN WORK?

BP: I’m 100% digital, but by combining the fundamentals of art with the most current industry technology, I can now create photo-real architectural renderings. I do have a home studio that is stocked and ready to go, with pencils and paper, but I haven’t had the courage to get back to drawing.

H: WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION IS GENERALLY NEEDED TO CREATE A RENDERING?

BP: I’ve worked from napkin sketches to construction documents, so I’m flexible. I do find that the more freedom I’m given, the better my work is, and I think my clients would agree.

Image: ‘The Empire Office’, Interior Photo-Real Rendering (Bobby Parker)

H: PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION ALWAYS GRABS MY ATTENTION ON THE HOUSE PLAN SITES, AND I CAN IMAGINE THAT IT WOULD INCREASE THE MARKETABILITY OF A HOUSE PLAN ENORMOUSLY – WHAT KIND OF COSTS ARE INVOLVED FOR AN ARCHITECT OR DESIGNER WHO WANTS TO UTILIZE THAT KIND OF OPTION FOR THEIR WORK?

BP: We are very visual beings. Although the trained person, for the most part, can see their intent in their own minds-eye, most lay people can’t. We, as architectural illustrators, have the task of helping the lay person see what the designer sees. I think a great architectural rendering is worth its weight in gold. It would cost a homeowner more to move one window or wall than it would to acquire a well done architectural rendering. Most people only build one house in their life, and it’s usually their dream home, so it’s worth the investment. Now, to place a dollar figure on it would be difficult because each project is different.

H: WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO’VE HAD A DRAFTSPERSON PREPARE PLANS FOR THEIR DREAM HOME BUT WANT TO BE ABLE TO VISUALIZE THEIR PROJECT MORE FULLY BEFORE COMMITTING – DO YOU WORK WITH THAT KIND OF CLIENTELE AS WELL?

BP: Surprisingly, I have had many homeowners over the past year contract me to create an architectural illustration because their hired architect didn’t have the talent in-house. Most firms have draftspeople, but few have artists.

Image: ‘The Red Wood Crystal Kitchen’, Interior Photo-Real Rendering (Bobby Parker)

H: IS THERE A ‘SIGNATURE STYLE’ IN YOUR WORK – PARTICULAR TECHNIQUES OR INFLUENCES YOU LIKE TO INCORPORATE?

BP: I love light and shadow, so you’ll always see a lot of contrast in my work. Generally, I use contrast to draw the viewer into my image, and ultimately to the image’s focal point.

H: AND FINALLY, ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION IS SUCH A SPECIALIZED AREA – DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR ANYONE THINKING OF PURSUING IT AS A CAREER?

BP: Learn basic art fundamentals. Most renderings you see now are done by the office tech because it’s software after all that’s being used, but that’s a huge mistake. Study art first and learn the software afterwards. There is art science behind a good architectural rendering. Although good software is important, it’s the artist that makes the magic happen.

Image: ‘Butterfly Window Box’ (Bobby Parker)

Bobby Parker 8/27/14 Bobby Parker 8/27/14

3DS MAX on a Chromebook

Google, VMware, and NVIDIA were on hand at VMworld 2014 to show off a collaborative effort utilizing VMware Blast Performance and NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology. The result will be high performance virtual desktops and workstation-class graphics for Chromebooks.

Imagine getting hardware-accelerated graphics, and at the same time, enjoying the flexibility of a virtual environment. With the flexibility of the Chromebook, manufacturers can design complex 3D models and share them with engineers around the globe. Applications such as Adobe Illustrator CC, Autodesk AutoCAD, Microsoft Office will have no trouble running smoothly in this virtual environment.

“We are breaking down traditional barriers to adopting virtual desktops and offering new economics for the delivery of graphics-intensive applications through the power of the cloud,” said Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. “Organizations of all industries and requirements will soon be able to embrace the mobile-cloud using a solution that offers a new way to work from three proven industry leaders.”

Chromebooks featuring NVIDIA Tegra K1-processors will be among the first ones to get access to this technology. An early access program will become available in Q4 2014, but users will need to register.

What do you guys think? I think we are starting to see what Google’s vision was with the Chromebook.

Bobby Parker 8/26/14 Bobby Parker 8/26/14

Zink Render - Google Cloud Rendering

Google today announ ced that it has acquired Zync Render, a service that makes it easier for movie studios to render their visual effects in the cloud. The technology was used to render effects in movies like Star Trek: Into Darkness and Looper, for example. Google will use the technology to make it easier for studios to use its Cloud Platform infrastructure to render their creations.

Currently, ZYNC is optimized for work on Amazon’s EC2 service, but Google will now integrate it into its Cloud Platform. ZYNC says its technology has been used to produce “over a dozen” feature films and hundreds of commercials, for a total of 6.5 million core hours of rendering time.

As Google notes today, it typically takes a very powerful infrastructure to render the special effects in a movie. Most studios have their own render farms for this. Those studios would only need a cloud service to sometimes burst their capacity to finish a job faster. Others, however, don’t have access to their own servers (or don’t want to deal with them), and for them, the cloud is the only way to render their effects.

Google says it will offer studios per-minute billing, but otherwise, the company remains pretty quiet about its exact plans for this service. The ZYNC team itself notes that it believes that “the scale and reliability of Google Cloud Platform will help us offer an even better service to our customers — including more scalability, more host packages and better pricing (including per-minute billing).”

It’s worth noting that Amazon has regularly positioned its platform as a solution for rendering visual effects, too. Indeed, it currently features a case study aroundAtomic Fiction‘s work on Star Trek: Into Darkness — the same movie ZYNC also worked on. Microsoft, too, has occasionally brought up its cloud’s suitability for this kind of work.

Bobby Parker 8/23/14 Bobby Parker 8/23/14

Great Work

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

— Steve Jobs