Bobby Parker 11/14/15 Bobby Parker 11/14/15

Chicago Custom Kitchen

Chicago is home, so I always welcome architectural rendering projects from Chicago with open arms. This, is a kitchen remodel for a Chicago gray-stone. The project started with sketches and evolved into this architectural rendering over time, about two weeks. It was nice to see the kitchen develop using my architectural renderings; a great use for them, I would say. Now, the client is extremely excited with his kitchen remodel and he decided to extend my contract to the outside area, with a patio garden.

Please, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to comment below. Also, please share them, if you would like.

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Bobby Parker 11/6/15 Bobby Parker 11/6/15

Say No to Spec Work

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Bobby Parker 10/23/15 Bobby Parker 10/23/15

Dyer House Plan Renderings

The Dyer house plan rendering is especially close to my heart. Often, I see house plan companies go from wonderful ink and pen renderings to poorly done computer renderings. My goal for the Dyer house plan rendering was to create a high quality computer architectural rendering that will help the future home buyer fall in love with their house plan. Hopefully, I was able to accomplish my goal with these two architectural renderings.

“How many ways can you say WOW!”

— Client

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Bobby Parker 10/21/15 Bobby Parker 10/21/15

How Long Does a Rendering Take?

There are a couple questions that I am often asked. I have covered the, "what makes a good architectural rendering?" questions and now I would like to discuss the question, "How Long Does a Rendering Take?"

Like the first question, the second most common question I get, which is "How long does a rendering take?", is not an easy question to answer. Each rendering project is unique and each rendering project is custom. First, I would like to say, if you see someone stating that they have a 2-3 day turnaround, run for the hills. Now, I am not saying that there isn't such a thing, some of my project only take 2-3 days, but that is unique to that project specific needs and can't be applied across the board.

Over the past 25 years I have successfully completed hundreds of architectural renderings and each one had its own challenges, obstacles, and in turn, turn around time. Some might consider an architectural rendering a commodity, as in some cases they are, but that's not the niche I am in. All of my architectural rendering projects are custom pieces that I invest a lot of time and energy to get right. From the lighting, to the colors and materials, everything is painstakingly done with as much attention to detail that I can.

Typically, when I receive a request for bid, I review all the documents very carefully. There are some things that are very non-subjective, like the actual modeling portion of the rendering project, however, there are many more subjective things that have to be considered. Creating custom textures and materials can be very time consuming, and like the modeling, can be non-subjective. What isn't non-subjective is the creative part of the process.

Creativity is what brings an architectural rendering into the WOW zone. One value I can bring to any project is decades worth if a study on basic art theory. What draws a viewer into your rendering? How to capture your viewers attention, and hold it? How to successfully use light and shadow to take your viewer's eye right to your focal points, and the leading lines to help make the journey pleasant. This, is what the commodity renderings don't do and it's very difficult to put a time limit on it. Part of this process might mean you take your eyes off the project for a day. Lots of times I study my renderings in black and white, or totally blurred, and many times I study my renderings at a stamp size. Each of these trick provides me a chance to study my composition, the use of contrast, and double check all my values.

Having said all of that, when I estimate a project's time, I add up the non-subjective things, in term up amount of time it'll take to complete, then I add some time for the creative process and then I usually double it. This allows me not to rush the process, which is critical for the success of an architectural renderings. After I have reviewed all the gathered information, I'll review it against your project brief, and give you a proposal with options to solve your project needs.

So, to answer the question, "How long does a rendering take?" it depends on many factors and if someone tells you otherwise, please save your sanity, and your projects chances for success, and move on.

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Bobby Parker 10/20/15 Bobby Parker 10/20/15

Custom Kitchen Architectural Renderings

Custom kitchen architectural renderings have become one of my favorite things to illustrate. Here, the architect needed to share his design intent with his non-technical speaking client. So, the architect reached out to me to assist him in his goal to impress his client with his Chicago Gray Stone kitchen remodel.

Technically speaking, I used 3DS MAX, V-Ray, and Photoshop to create this custom kitchen architectural rendering. If you have any question, please comment below, or send me an email, I am always willing to answer any questions that you might have.

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Bobby Parker 10/18/15 Bobby Parker 10/18/15

Seeing Tonal Contrast in Your Rendering

Tonal contrast is created when light tones and dark tones are positioned next to each other. The greater the difference between the two, in terms of brightness, the greater the tonal contrast. When viewing an architectural rendering, the eye tends to go to the brightest parts first. But, as the architectural illustrator, you want to direct the viewer’s eye to the part of the architectural rendering that you believe is the most important. A hallmark of the poorly composed architectural rendering is a conflict between where the architectural illustrator wants the viewer to look, and where visual elements within the architectural rendering (such as bright highlights) are pulling the viewer’s eye. A characteristic of the well-composed architectural rendering is that everything works in harmony. Visual elements pull the eye towards where the architectural illustrator wants it to go. All the elements work together, instead of fighting each other.

A little trick of mine is to squint while viewing your architectural rendering. By squinting, you'll remove detail and your architectural renderings contrast will really become evident.

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Bobby Parker 10/17/15 Bobby Parker 10/17/15

What Makes a Good Architectural Rendering?

Architectural Renderings is part science, part art. On the technical side, you need to understand software (most renderings stop here) Then there’s the creative side, of which composition forms a large part. Here, there are no absolutes, and the discussion is much more subjective.

That’s why the answer to the question of what makes a good architectural rendering? varies widely depending on who you ask. However, there are principles (not rules) you can follow that will greatly help you improve your architectural rendering. There are two questions to ask yourself whenever you create an architectural rendering. They are:

‘How do I make this rendering more interesting?’
‘What am I trying to communicate?’

When someone asks how to improve the composition of an architectural rendering, what they are really asking is how can they make it more interesting or dramatic to look at, and how can they communicate the mood of the scene, or the moment they wanted to capture, more effectively? The answers to these questions help determine how the architectural rendering should be composed.

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Bobby Parker 10/8/15 Bobby Parker 10/8/15

V-Ray Proxies and Large Scene Optimization

Recently, I had a large scene and some possible Windows 10 memory management issues, so I had to do something to lower my scenes RAM consumption. My solution was V-Ray's Proxies.

Here, are the plug-ins I used in my scene optimization, using V-Ray Proxies:

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Bobby Parker 10/7/15 Bobby Parker 10/7/15

3D Artist 86 - Contribution

It's always nice to see your name in print. This month's addition to 3D Artist Magazine reached out to me last month for some tips on photorealistic architectural renderings. I was glad to help and here is some screen grabs of my name in lights. Get your copy, today!

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Bobby Parker 10/6/15 Bobby Parker 10/6/15

Church Fund Raising Rendering

It's kind of difficult to get excited about a parking lot, but the Pastor of this church had an idea. Pastor Steve reached out to the civil engineer, who drew the plans, who then reached out to an architect, he knew, in regards to getting a rendering done for a fund raising campaign. Long, stony short, Pastor Steve gave me a call, I took his brief, and created him a parking lot rendering, showing the new parking lot.

I knew I couldn't just have a parking lot, so I built the 3d model of the existing building, using Google Earth Street Views. Then, I took the civil engineers 2d CAD drawings and modeled an accurate 3d model from them.

Now, the church fundraising rendering will be printed in bulletins, posted on a construction road sign, and it'll be posted on their website. Good luck, Pastor Steve, and I hope the rendering helps get your congregation excited about their new parking lot.

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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+ andFacebook! 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.