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Brighton Home Renderings
Great Canadian client with great little house designs.
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Nashville, TN Apartment Rendering
The developer, of this Nashville, TN apartment renderings, wanted it to look urban. The surrounding houses and the electrical wires were used to do that very thing, make it look like an urban area.
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Client Referrals
Once in a while, a potential client asks for referrals; I am surprised it isn't more often. The other day I got a call from an Architect looking for some architectural renderings. After receiving the brief, this potential client asked for some referrals. I was happy to give a list of some of my recent clients and once the clients were contacted, I received this email.
“Thank you for checking back in. I must warn you, your references told me not to use you… because they didn’t want you to get too busy! Aside from that, they had very complimentary things to say about you and your work!”
There isn't anything more pleasing then to hear that you are treating your clients right.
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11 Exeter Street Interior Renderings
Here, the designer is responsible for all architecture and branding of the building. The designer needs renderings for pre-sell purposes. The renderings will be used on the building's website and in marketing materials. The purpose of the renderings is to give buyers a realistic idea of the level of finishes and size of the units.
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Applewood House Rendering
Here is a project that I just sent off to the client. The Architect commissioned me to illustrate the home for the Design Review Panel for permitting and for marketing.
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iPad Pro 12.9"
My experience with the iPad Pro 12.9". Awesome! Because of the large screen real estate you get a much heavier device and shorter battery life, but the tradeoff is worth it. The Apple Pencil is also awesome. Since it was made for the iPad Pro, it is seamless. I have tried almost every stylus, both cheap and expensive, and none worked well. The keyboard is also done very well. The keys are solid and integrated into the smart cover. When you fold the keyboard backwards, it goes away. I would like illuminated keys and a sound control, but other than that it is worth the money.
Now, about money. Not many people have a grand to drop, so it isn't for everyone. Luckily, for me, I can write it off. It isn't a laptop replacement like the Surface Pro; it is just a larger iPad. The iPad starts at $799, the smart keyboard cover is $169 and the pencil is $99. If it were a laptop replacement, the price would be a bargain, but since it isn't, it's an expensive way to surf the web
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Chicago Townhouse Interior Rendering
One of my favorite clients, Z Feng Architect and Company. I actually worked with Zisong, while working for Lowenberg & Associates, out of Chicago. Both Zisong and I left Loewenberg, I believe I left first, and we reconnected on LinkedIn many years later.
Awhile back, probably one year ago, I worked on the exterior of the Morse building. Just the other day Zisong reached out to me for the interior.
Yes, those are pokemon pillows on the couch :)
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Townhouse Renderings
These townhouse renderings came together nicely and I hope you agree. Originally, the architect reached out to me with the need for a single structure design, which I was glad to illustrate for him. The project has since fallen into the developers hands, and they have an opportunity to expand the project.
Over the past week, I worked hard to create something that I think will help them with their marketing.
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Tiny House Renderings
It's all the craze, tiny houses, at least my wife and son love them. Here, are tiny cabins, which are the coolest thing.
Earlier this month I was asked to create some images, which will be on the manufacturers website, that will wow potential customers.
It was a challeneg that I hope that I achieved.
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House Renderings
When our Canadian neighbors reach down from above, to contract work, they are willing to pay a premium, which is a feel good moment. Here, are some recent homes I illustrated for a Canadian builder.
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Mansion 4 Architectural Rendering
Mansion 4, not a fancy project name, however, it is a fancy house. These architectural renderings was created for pre-sales, so it's currently in the design phase.
Please, if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to comment or you can drop me an email.
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V-Ray SP4 is out!
Build 3.40.01 (official) (31 May 2016)
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New features:
(*) V-Ray: Add support for 3ds Max 2017 including:
- Initial support for the new Physical Material;
- Support for MultiTile in V-Ray RT;
- Support for ColorMap in V-Ray RT;
- VFB: Initial HiDPI scaling support;
(*) VRayDenoiser: Implement a new render element that contains a denoised version of the image:
- The denoiser can take advantage of hardware acceleration;
- The denoised result can be adjusted after a render is complete;
- The denoised result is updated periodically during progressive rendering;
- The render elements required by the denoiser are automatically added;
(*) vdenoise.exe: A new command-line tool for denoising still images and animations with frame blending;
(*) V-Ray: Enable GI by default;
(*) V-Ray: Add another deep output fragment merge mode, "None", where fragments are not merged at all;
(*) V-Ray: Add "layers" type to override material exclude list;
(*) V-Ray: Add refraction filter bake element;
(*) V-Ray: Lower tessellation rate for out-of-view hair and displaced/subdivided geometry to save RAM in heavy scenes;
(*) V-Ray: Move the VRayHDRI's Tiled textures options from the material editor's interface to the V-Ray's Settings tab;
(*) V-Ray: Print a warning if "Show GI only" is enabled;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add support for Orthographic camera;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add support for bump with procedural Noise texmap;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Print the memory usage in the VFB statistics;
(*) VFB: Add option to enable auto-saving to history if the render completed normally (i.e. is not aborted);
(*) VFB: Add option to keep the VFB history folder relative to the current project path;
(*) VRayAerialPerspective: Add "filter color" parameter;
(*) VRayIES: Add an option to select luminous intensity in candelas (cd);
(*) VRayInstancer: Add option to override the node properties of the source objects;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Add textured flakes support;
(*) VRayStereoscopic: Add support for vertical placement of the left/right views in addition to side-by-side;
(*) VRayTriplanarTex: Add random modes: "By particle ID"/"By instance ID" support;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implemented ability to pop out and enlarge the render diagrams;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implemented different interpolation types per point in the render diagrams;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implement motion blur clipping by the Cutter geometry for non-Mesh modes;
(*) .vrscene exporter: Show progress bar instead of "not responding" during export to .vrscene;
(*) V-Ray scene converter: Convert rectangle/sphere/disc photometric lights without web profile to the corresponding V-Ray lights;
(*) V-Ray Installer: Attempt to uninstall previous installation without registry record;
(*) V-Ray Installer: Installation options can be set from the command-line;
(*) ply2vrmesh.exe: Store the textures names used by OBJ files into user attributes;
(*) vrayspawner.exe: Make it possible to run V-Ray from a remote location;
Modified features:
(*) V-Ray: Faster rendering with the light cache;
(*) V-Ray: Blend the "Fixed" and "Adaptive" sampler UI into a "Bucket" image sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Enable support for processor groups and more than 64 CPU cores by default;
(*) V-Ray: Rename "Color threshold" to "Noise threshold" in the Adaptive image sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Add texmap shortcut buttons next to colors for plugins with automatically generated UI
(*) V-Ray: Add UI mode views switching for the Image Sampler rollout;
(*) V-Ray: Make the DR settings window with persistent size;
(*) V-Ray: Remove the "Adaptive subdivision" sampler from the UI
(*) V-Ray: Slow rendering of objects visible behind multiple panes of glass;
(*) V-Ray: The log messages window text and background match the 3ds Max color scheme;
(*) VRayLight: Streamline the UI rollouts;
(*) VRayLight: When assigning a new VRayHDRI or a Bitmap texture through the UI, automatically browse for a file and set the mapping to spherical environment;
(*) V-Ray RT: Add information about the current noise threshold to the render statistics;
(*) V-Ray RT: Enable region changes without restarting the render in RT;
(*) V-Ray RT: Enabled by default the rendering of Proxies, X-ref, Particle systems, Displacement and Motion Blur;
(*) V-Ray RT: Make override material independent for production and ActiveShade renderers;
(*) V-Ray RT: Optimize export of scenes with many instanced geometries with many faces;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add "bias" spinners support for VRayDirt;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Improvement automatic texture resizing, leading to reduced memory usage and better quality;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Optimized rendering of VRayBlendMaterial;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Speed up loading of resized textures to the GPU;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Warn the user if all the GPUs they have are used for rendering;
(*) VFB: Added a button to open the V-Ray messages window;
(*) VFB: Show warning when images cannot be saved in the history;
(*) VFB: The MaxScript command "vfbcontrol #clearimage" should not trigger confirmation dialog;
(*) VRayDisplacementMod: Automatically calculate the "precision" parameter for 2d displacement mode;
(*) VRayDisplacementMod: Enable the "static geometry" option by default;
(*) VRayExposureControl: Bring back for 3ds Max 2016 and newer;
(*) VRayFur: Faster hair strands generation;
(*) VRayHDRI: Implement drag and drop of texture files from Windows Explorer to the file edit field;
(*) VRayMtl: Improved GGX/GTR sampling to reduce fireflies;
(*) VRayMtl: The "Anisotropy" spinner has a lower step;
(*) VRayProxy: Optimize rendering;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Improved importance sampling algorithm, removed the "texture subdivs" parameter;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Treat "num flakes" as square root of the number of flakes;
(*) VRaySun/VRaySky: Add "blend angle" and "horizon offset" options to the user interface;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Add option for changing the mesh preview color;
(*) V-Ray scene converter: Convert the 3ds Max Normal Bump map to VRayNormalMap;
Honda Dealership Renderings
““Bob is very flexible and easy to work with, and seems to be able to work with all types of files. The finished product was just gorgeous - it looked like an excellent photograph. We were very pleased!” ”
A couple weeks ago I got a call about a couple proposed Honda dealerships and the need for a couple renderings. Like most clients, the client didn't really understand plans and elevations, so the architect reached out to me.
After a few iterations, working back and forth on some changes, here are the finals.
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Greystone on the Hudson
What a project! Yes, it is a single family estate and it is beautiful. The developer reached out to me and at first, we couldn't agree on a fee, but after much prayer I called him back and gladly took the project. Although there was a lot of obstacles I had to overcome, the project was a pleasure to be a part of and I look forward to the next one.
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Holiday Inn Twilight Rendering
Rendering this Holiday Inn brought me back to when I worked for a hotel/motel design and build firm, about 45 minutes outside of Chicago. It was about 20 years ago when I was hired to illustrate their designs, to get approval from the company owner, who was located in New York City. It was early in the world of computer architectural renderings and things took an awfully long time and they were not very good. At the time, they were still cool, but they look archaic today. I should post the old ones, but I won't :). Here are the new Holiday Inn renderings.
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31 Orange St. Rendering
This project went silent, about 1 year ago, but came back to life this week. Each project, for me, is an opportunity to create something beautiful and I hope this architectural rendering qualifies.
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3D Rendering Hardware Upgrades
To create a successful architectural rendering takes creativity, patients, basic art theory knowledge, and many other skills and disciplines. To create a successful 3D computer generated architectural rendering takes the same above mentioned skills and disciplines, along with several new ones.
If you haven't noticed, most creatives are not very technically gifted and most technically gifted are not very creative. Of course, these are generalizations, but tend to hold true. You need a unique person to create a successful 3D computer architectural rendering, because you have to be both creative and technically minded.
In this post I'll be talking technology. So, if you are only a creative thinker, this will probably confuse you. For you technical guys, it'll be candy.
Recently, I dropped a small fortune ($6,500) on some new hardware. A fortune is relative, but it was a fortune to me. Like any successful business, you have to invest to stay competitive and relevant. After about a year of investigating, I finally pulled the trigger on a new computer. This is what I purchased:
Dell Precision T7910 36-Core Dual E5-2696 v3 Max 3.8GHz 128GB RAM EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-4995-KR 6GB
The Dell precision T7900 is the most powerful, to date, computer they make. The processors are not available to the public and they don't get any faster. About every aspect to this computer is EXTREME! From the 2X 36-Core processors, to the 128 GB of RAM, and the 6 GB video card. EXTREME!
Why such an EXTREME computer? Simply, I can create better 3D computer architectural renderings for my clients. I am a creative, which is about 80% of what it takes, and now I have the EXTREME hardware to create things faster. Not only can I do things faster, I can do things better, because I don't have to wait so long for the computer to compute and I can use that time to be more creative.
When you are looking for an architectural illustrator, please ask about their hardware. If they are working on a 4 year old laptop, please reconsider them as your choice. I have seen some beautiful work from some people who use inexpensive hardware, however, things take very long to complete and there are a lot of shortcuts that need to be taken. Small changes, for the most part, are a big deal, when you have limited resources. With limited resources, there are simply things you can't do; things that make an image EXTREME!
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Rendering
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College is growing and I was honored to be involved. Recently, I was asked to produce some marketing material for their Spring 2016 school enrollment. Here, are two architectural renderings that I produced for the architect and developer, both will be used to market the new dorm building.
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485 Hampton House
Another awesome project for another awesome client. This house, the developers would like to market the house prior to construction, so he commissioned me to illustrate all that the house could be.
Considering we are emerging from a long cold winter, here in upper Minnesota, it was nice to work on a pool project. Also, the modern interior was fun to illustrate.
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