Bobby Parker 5/4/22 Bobby Parker 5/4/22

Tierra House Renderings

The Tierra House Renderings turned out great. When I received the initial PDFs, I wasn’t sold on the design, but once seeing the renderings, I liked it. So many things are not decided on yet, so I am sure a design decision will be made using these, which is fantastic.

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Bobby Parker 5/1/22 Bobby Parker 5/1/22

1103 Grand Estate House Rendering

Another fun architectural rendering. I do like the materials on this house. The stone and stucco play well together, in my opinion. I like the pool and entertainment area, too.

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Bobby Parker 4/26/22 Bobby Parker 4/26/22

2703 S House Rendering

I am amazed how a different finish makes a structure look very different. I am also amazed how a homeowner doesn’t explore the color option, using an architectural rendering, to make a critical decision. How do you know you have chosen the best color schemes? The investment in an excellent architectural rendering is small compared to repainting a house.

Which one do you like better?

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Bobby Parker 4/16/22 Bobby Parker 4/16/22

Happy Easter!

What a first quarter!

I apologize for the radio silence; it has been a busy first few months of 2022.

2022 started with my move across the country. If you didn't know, I lived and worked in Breezy Point, MN, which is several hours north of the twin cities (Minneapolis and St Paul). I am from Chicago, born and raise, and moved to Breezy Point, MN, 20 years ago. We left MN minus 35 degrees and minus 50 with the wind chill. After a seven-day migration, we arrived in San Diego, California, and it was in the '70s and sunny. Actually, after being here for four-month, the weather is is still '70s and sunny. It took us a week because we had a 26' U-Haul, which towed my vehicle, and my wife pulled our 26' RV. That alone was a challenge, but the challenge was the snow, which slowed us down most of the way.

We arrived in San Diego and stayed in an RV resort for the first month, rather fun. I had a 17" Alienware i9 waiting for me, so I could keep working while at the RV resort. That went so well; it is still my daily driver. So we stayed in the RV resort to look for an apartment or house to rent. We found a place we liked and were in a month later.

San Diego is fantastic. The weather is incredible, but that sun tax hurts. I won't go too far into that, but let me tell you, it is expensive to live here. We moved here because my wife, who is in the medical field, was hired to start a service in the area for a significant national healthcare company, and it made sense.

So I try to have a balanced life and balancing family, work, and self is complex. For self-care, everything else works if I take of myself; I hike. Hiking in San Diego is fantastic, and I feel blessed to access the trails here. Below I'll post some of my recent hikes. Tomorrow is Potato Chip Rock via Mt. Woodson Trail.

Enough about me. I apologize, but I have received so many emails asking how things are going since I haven't written lately.

The architectural visualization industry, as a whole, is healthy. Like architecture and construction, our industry is closely tied to the economy. If people are building, architects are designing, and developers are building.

By 2025, the architectural visualization demand is expected to reach $5.72 billion. Compared to 2016, that's a nearly 500% increase, which is more than incredible. However, it only shows how crucial architectural visualization has become in the world today.

The trend is real-time, which isn't new to the industry but is becoming mainstream. For example, Enscape is a commercial real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin. It is mainly used in the architecture, engineering, and construction fields. My rendering software of choice, Chaos Groups V-Ray, have merged, which is exciting. As a result, Enscape and Chaos join as equal partners to become one company. But of course, the technology isn't new, but it will help bring the technology to the masses. Rendering a high-resolution animation is one thing, but having it interactive and deliverable to the average person is another. The cost of the hardware to even view a high-resolution real-time animation is usually cost-prohibitive, not to mention the cost to create them. So I hope that architectural visualization will become much more immersive over the next couple of years.

I would love to hear your thoughts on real-time visualizations. Do you have kids or grandkids? Have you seen how real their games look? You might think, what is the difference between a game and architectural visualization? Well, a good game takes a team years and costs millions. They recover their investment with a nice profit, 99 cents at a time. Your house, apartment, or building, is unique and one of a kind. Would you like to see your home, apartment, or building be more immersive? How about your client, or potential client, walking through your design, opening and closing doors and cabinets? How about picking on something and changing the material? Even more immersive, picking a fixture and ordering it in real-time?

I am excited, are you?

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
Iron Mountain Hike
Balboa Park Urban Hike
T ecolote Canyon Trail Hike

As usual, you can see some of my latest work on my blog, which I keep fresh, so check often.

Thank you for being awesome,
Bobby Parker
www.Bobby-Parker.com

Bobby Parker 4/8/22 Bobby Parker 4/8/22

8 Sweetwater Rendering

UPDATE! The images below have been updated since the below post. Sometimes, after a project is done and my client is satisfied, and the renderings meet their project needs, I dial into detail and make changes that I would have done to the image.

I love the name, and I love the house. Sometimes, but not often, the designer wants to be physically accurate when it comes to sunlight. So I chose to take a more artistic approach since my goal is the best-looking architectural rendering possible, but sometimes the client has a more critical need.

If you know about photography, even the basics, you know that your key light shouldn’t be behind or in front of your camera. In this case, the key light is the sun. Why? Behind the camera, you get a flat image, like having your flash on during a portrait photo; it is a no-no. In front of the camera well, it is hard to balance the light. An over-exposed sky and a dark subject are what you’ll get. Now, you can use these if you want, and they can be used for a stylistic image, but usually, it isn’t successful.

My client thought it was essential to be physically accurate, and the sun is simply in the wrong place in each view. I think I pulled it off, but it isn’t ideal.

What do you think? Do you agree?

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Bobby Parker 4/4/22 Bobby Parker 4/4/22

Ruttger's Bay Lake Resort, MN Renderings

It is Springtime, and Springtime in upper MN is glorious. Although April is a little early to get excited, since Mother Nature will send you a curveball in the form of a snowball, it is still an exciting time of the year. Soon, the resorts will be filled to the brim with families that bared the harsh Winter.

The Ruttger's Bay Lake Resort has updated its facilities and added more space. The resort commissioned me to illustrate their new buildings and rooms, and they are excited to get things to the market for the Springtime rush.

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Bobby Parker 3/29/22 Bobby Parker 3/29/22

273 Country Drive Rendering

Here is a lovely modern house that I was commissioned to illustrate for the designer—this client likes twilight versions of his home, along with the daylight versions.

The back of this home is also done, but the design is being changed. I’ll share the back once the plan is revised.

273 Country Dr - Front Twilight (night).png

273 Country Dr - Front 2 Twilight (night).png

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Bobby Parker 3/14/22 Bobby Parker 3/14/22

Andy Albrecht House Renderings

“You do a beautiful job. This is the most helpful resource we have experienced to help us be able to visualize the decisions we are making.

Much appreciated!”

— Andy Albrecht

I don’t feel the need to write much more, I think my client’s quote speaks for itself.

I work hard to give my clients an image that they can be proud of. The Andy Albrecht House was developed so they can dial into the design. It is so much more affordable to change something in a rendering than during construction, or worse, having to live with a design flaw.

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Bobby Parker 3/10/22 Bobby Parker 3/10/22

Grayscale Renderings

Once I complete a project, I share it on my blog. What I don’t usually share is the work-in-progress renderings (WIP). Some work I can’t share, which is generally commercial work, but I can share my work for the most part.

Here is a WIP project that has a ton of detail. Often, the owner isn’t disclosed to me for these large homes. But, on the other hand, this one has been revealed, and it is pretty cool doing work on such a high-profile project. I will not share who the owner is, but it is pretty cool. I’ll be sure to post the final, when done.

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Bobby Parker 3/9/22 Bobby Parker 3/9/22

House 7046 Rendering

What a great-looking house 7046 is. This client chooses a softer feel to their architectural renderings, which is accomplished with a series of filters. Although nothing beats an actual watercolor, I think these always turn out great.

During the early '90s, I started rendering with watercolor and other media. I loved the process, the smell of the paint, and almost everything about watercolor architectural renderings. I made a living doing it, and once computers became the norm, I quickly learned to create my renderings digitally. I would have probably found myself out of business had I not pivoted. A few hand architectural illustrators are out there, but most are retired, and it has become their hobby. Every couple of years, I get the itch to hand illustrate again, buy everything I need to get started again, but life always gets in the way. Maybe someday!

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