Don't they include "drawing" and "rendering" in the architectural schools anymore? I can easily knock out most presentation drawings needed by using, an evidently lost art called "freehand perspective", in less than an hour. I have learned to draw most sketches upside down so my clients, sitting across the table from me, can see the drawing develop, right-side up, before their eyes. It rarely fails to blow them away.
After a perspective drawing is roughed out, select a few color markers and "render" the perspective drawing. Add details and accents with color pencils, and in a couple of hours you are through - not days. Beside the control, a great thing about a hand-drawn drawing, is the spontenanity. Done correctly, they look fresh, vibrant. I can't say the same for many of the sterile computer generated drawings I see often published. I find that most of my clients are keenly interested in the execution of the sketches and often, awed by them. The appreciation shown by the client is not because the drawings are that good - it's because this is what they expect out of their architect. For the most part, this represents a skill they can only imagine, and isn't this why they engaged you? In response to one of our drawings, how many times have we heard a client say, "I can't draw a straight line."?
Yes, I am certainly "Old School", but my rendered drawings present a quality of movement, interest and excitement that I don't find in most software generated drawings. Please understand, I am not opposed to the use of the computer to generate drawings. After all, in 1984 I introduced AutoCAD into my practice using version 1.4 - which came on three 5-1/4" floppy disks. (Capacity of 128K bytes. PC Computers didn't have hard drives then.)
With a little practice, most architects should find they compete quite well with a computer generated drawing. And if the result isn't as successful as expected, take a class in watercolor painting. The experience using this medium translates well to using color marker.
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Richard Barron AIA
Jackson MS
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-24-2013 02:31
From: Andrew Dwight
Subject: Rendering Software
It depends on what type of render you are looking for... Photo quality or similar to attached.
If quick is what you are after you can not find a quicker program to add images that Sketchup. You can then render the model using several packages. If you are looking for a free rendering engine there is one called Kerkathea. It is a bit cumbersome.
If you have not used Sketchup before go to view and select "edge style" and then turn off everything except edge. If you do not want the black lines turn off edge as well. Good luck
I have attached a screen capture of a model I did in Sketchup that is not rendered. This will give you a an idea of the out put. The total project took 4 hours including design and BIM take off but we used a plug in that is not available in the US as yet.
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Andrew Dwight
BIM manager
RubySketch
Sydney
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