Bobby Parker 9/12/22 Bobby Parker 9/12/22

Glass Manufacturer Rendering

Yes, I do commercial high and mid-rise renderings. That is how I started professionally; high-rise luxury architectural renderings. I wish I could show some stuff from the early days, but 25 years ago, it wasn’t nearly as pretty as it is today. Not to minimize some of the work I see online today, but it is equivalent to what I did back then.

Here is a mid-rise rendering that I wanted to share. It was for a glass manufacturer; some animation was done as well. The company made transition glass for buildings, which is pretty cool if you as me.

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Bobby Parker 9/8/22 Bobby Parker 9/8/22

Brucker Cottage Fall Rendering

My favorite season is Fall. I am from Chicago, where there are four equal seasons. Fall, by far, is my favorite. Eighteen years ago, I moved to upper Minnesota, and Fall was about two weeks, and then eight months of Winter. So the anxiety of Winter put a damper on the anticipation of Fall. Now, I am in Southern California and coming into my first Fall; I hear that it is beautiful.

Anyway, here is my first Fall themed rendering. This rendering will be published on the cover of a home builder print publication, which happens to me occasionally.

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Bobby Parker 8/31/22 Bobby Parker 8/31/22

Shady Lake Rendering

Oh, lake living! Living in upper MN for 15 years, I saw my share of lakes; there are over 10,000, after all. The lakes are 2’ of ice for the better part of 8 months, but when they are thawed, they are a blast.

Here is a lake home rendering that I just sent off for approval. The brief was, “we would love to see this model home plan on a lake.” Lake? I can do that!

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Bobby Parker 8/30/22 Bobby Parker 8/30/22

G570 Phelps Pool House Rendering

Oh yeah! Summertime and pools are my favorites; there is nothing better in life than the sun and water. Okay, there are many better things, but I like pools. Imagine having friends and family over at your pool; now, not much gets better than that.

The G570 Phelps Pool House Rendering was modeled in a day, texture mapped, and rendered in a day, which included color grading in post-production. With feedback and small design tweaks, the project had a three-day duration from start to completion.

Pricing a rendering is a per-project process. Each home or pool house is different. A structure’s size doesn’t matter much since I have had large structures with little detail and small structures with a ton of detail.

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Bobby Parker 8/24/22 Bobby Parker 8/24/22

Parkview Apartments Renderings

“We are trying to get away from having to go out and stage our rentals, and honestly, what you do gives prospective tenants a much better idea of layout and room size.
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— Client

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Bobby Parker 8/23/22 Bobby Parker 8/23/22

House 1797 Rendering

Here you go, friends. The House 1797 House Rendering. These are fun to do, and this one turned out great. A lot of garage, but we Americans like our cars.

If you want to read about my process, you can find it here: https://bobby-parker.com/process.

I try to make the process easy and fun. There are no surprises, and you are made part of the process.

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

House 1196 Rendering

Let me introduce you to the House 1196 architecture rendering.

My projects start with a set of 2D CAD files. I receive the plans, elevations, and in most cases, a site plan; if I am lucky, I’ll get a landscape plan. The House 1196 rendering started with CAD plans and elevations but no site or landscape plan, but I did get some references from my online architecture rendering gallery.

First, I upload a grayscale rendering to verify the house is modeled correctly. The iteration isn’t a design development interaction; it is to make sure I modeled the structure as per the CAD drawings I was provided. Any design change is quoted separately.

After the grayscale is approved, I add the site, colors, and materials. Again, I upload for comments, and if there are any comments, I’ll make those and upload them one final time. The last iteration should be a minor tweak, which usually happens in post-production.

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Bobby Parker 8/12/22 Bobby Parker 8/12/22

1522 Camp Street Renderings

Louisiana, I have never been there, always wanted to visit, and was excited when I was asked to render a structure in that great state. My wife was in New Orleans for work when this lead came in.

The Interior is challenging but fun. This project consisted of Interior and exteriors to be used for marketing the property before construction.

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Bobby Parker 8/12/22 Bobby Parker 8/12/22

Architectural Visualization Revision VS Design Revisions

This is a big one, and I'll probably stick it somewhere on my website. Let me explain.

Architectural rendering, architectural illustration, or architectural visualization is the art of creating three-dimensional images or animations showing the attributes of a proposed architectural design. The key here is a proposed design. It is easy to think that change is easy and free because we use a computer. Once someone sees the design, sometimes the design is questioned, and new construction documents are sent, with an updated design, thinking that the design change is part of an architectural revision. An architectural revision is revising the 3D model for model accuracy. Technically, if the modeler models accurately, there should be only one pass. "Yup, the model is built accurately per the drawings I sent you." Or, maybe, "you missed a detail here, which can be seen on the drawings sent."

Some comment things go like this:

After seeing the roof, we are changing it
The color we chose is not working for us, now seeing it, so here is a new color palette.
The mosaic tile bathroom wall has changed; here is an updated mosaic.

I chose these three as examples because it might be hours of work in only a few words, which take seconds to write.

Roofs are notoriously complicated; most of the time, the 2D roof drawings don't work. To redo a roof, figuring it out in 3D is already complex and time-consuming. Technically, if I build the roof per the 2d drawings, they'll get a model that doesn't work, but I take the time to fix things that make no sense without charging, and if something doesn't work, then the designer might have to rethink the design, which might mean I will quote the changes per hour.

Colors and materials can take time to create. The material doesn't consist of one thing; it takes many things to make an accurate material—reflection, refraction, glossiness, normal, bump, displacement, and on and on. It can take a long time to create a material that works.

My mosaic example is real. I had an architect send me a complicated mosaic that took me the better part of the day to create. It was a bathroom wall and turned out beautifully. The architect's client said, "nope, we don't like it; let's try this one."

Having said all this, change is far less expensive on the computer than in real life. I see the design change in an architectural rendering as value-added, and I love when the design improves because of the model, but there is a cost associated with change. So often, my client will request one of these design changes, understand that there are cost associates, and allow me to send a separate quote. Other times, clients seem confused about why I am not making these design changes for free, and they think it isn't fair that they'll have to pay more.

My clients often think they'll like what they see when the model is done and are happy to pay for design iterations when they question the design. However, these clients appreciate the value a rendering adds. Others try to bypass the design process and think that they can use me to redefine the design. They come into the process knowing they'll change things, assuming they get free design help. In their heads, they might think that their client is questioning the 2D plans, they are not able to produce a 3d model in-house, so they'll reach out to someone who can be part of the design process (for free).

The design model is usually part of the design process. Today, most designers can build a SketchUp model, do their construction documents in Revit, and have a 3D model as a by-product. All the design is worked out, and they reached out to me to make it look pretty. Unfortunately, the design process is long, complicated, and very subjective. So when someone comes to me with the need to help someone work through a design, I don't take it. If I took a project like this, it would be per hour and usually gets too expensive to make sense. Plus, it is almost impossible to schedule a project like this. A per-hour job can go on forever, as long as they keep paying.

To wrap up, I am sure some people will make changes until the cow comes home. However, these people don't last in the business, so you'll be confident working with a newbie with little experience. Chances are, if you hire an architectural illustrator with experience, they charge for design changes; it is pretty much the industry standard. So it is best to vet your design and be prepared to pay more if the design changes.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

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Bobby Parker 7/4/22 Bobby Parker 7/4/22

89 Monadnock House Renderings

About five years ago, when most architecture firms started using better software to design their structures, which allows them to develop in 3D and create construction documents as a by-product, most chose to create another revenue stream and charge their client for the 3D renderings, which eliminated some work for people like me. At about the same time, real estate agents started to reach out to illustrators to render out structures so they could get them on the market quicker.

89 Monadnock House Renderings was created to help sell the home well before construction is complete. Now, there is also a trend that happens. The real estate agents circumvent the design process, probably to save money, so they hire an illustrator, thinking they can make unlimited changes to the rendering until they are happy. This was the case here. I built the model per the CAD plans, but design changes were made on the fly after seeing the rendering. I see that as value-added, but a fee is associated with change.

I allow two sets of grayscale and two sets of color proofs with my service. However, those are architectural visualization revisions (did I model and color correctly per the documents provided) and not design modifications. I don't sell design services, nor do I offer to be used to help design something unless it is agreed upon beforehand. After talking to my peers around the globe, this is the industry standard.

The changes to the 89 Monadnock House Renderings were good ones, and the design turned out to be better, and the real estate agent didn't have any problem getting more money from the developer for these changes.

Over the last two years, I have also seen a trend that people come to me because they can't use what the architect provided. The building information model is suitable for design, OK for construction documents, and equally just OK for a rendering. Most people who come to me want something far more than just OK.

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