archicgi.com

[glorybound]

Does anybody know anything about these guys (archicgi.com)? The CEO is from Russia, and the address is a liquor store in San Fransisco. I also traced the second office to the Pink Poodle in LA. I always dig into the places you see on Facebook; they all look fishy. I thought these guys were legit, so I have never dug into them.

[fixeighted]

I read that in the voice of Philip Marlowe and it was most amusing.

[fixeighted]

Following the theme of investigation....I did a little and here is what I discovered.

They appear to be an actual company, or rather they operate as an
entity of Archivizer LLC. which is listed along with employees and revenue here https://www.zoominfo.com/c/archivizer-llc/368362499
At least https://ufo3d.com and https://cgiflythrough.com are also linked as theirs.
So judging by their portfolios across those 3 sites they produce the highest quality cgi in every single area that it's used, which is impressive as a claim.
Why are they not simply one company? Maybe it's a clever business tax...thing.

The address they have on Zoominfo is a family house in Virginia. The other address is as you say, what appears to be a pharmacy in SF.
All sorts of other businesses use that same address, oddly.....doesn't look large enough.

What is a little suspicious is that they have used the attached photos rather than any renders on their main page.
One image is from https://www.usoniadesign.com/portfolio. The other is a generic desert house, so harder to identify ownership.
It's only two images that I spotted but it's odd nevertheless

The attached quote from the graphic designer led me to that person, who works at a pub furniture company near me.
They appear not to use any cgi, so that endorsement is suspicious, though it could be just very old and circumstances changed.

If you look at their 'about' page then they have the photo of their happy team.
They say they've worked with the biggest architects and brands.
They have a 100% flawless Truspilot score.

All run from a liquor store? Certainly possible but perhaps a little cramped for office parties

[glorybound]

Great sleuth work.

All the work is going to China I can assume. One of the questions on their FAQ page is how many projects you can do at one time. The answer was unlimited projects! Do they have unlimited reach and unlimited talent? There is another studio that I always see on Facebook, which is located in an older apartment in Illinois. I rent a granny flat, but I don't say I have a large team and do projects of any size and complexity.

It is all a little suspect for sure.

[fixeighted]

I actually spent quite some hours on this particular thing and I have some thoughts/conclusions.

It appears that, at least as far as I can determine, it's not dodgy in any obviously illegal way.
It seems to be a collection of 'funnel' sites for some sort of 'freelancer collective'.
The people doing the visualising look to be almost all Ukrainian from what I found, going back more than a decade.
Indeed one of the sites advertises a % going to Ukraine in support of its struggles.

The main takeaway is that things don't seem very transparent, which is a bit irritating for me personally.
If they are honourable and honest in what they do and have provided for clients however; then that is great and so I wish them well.

[glorybound]

I agree. Apple says it is American-designed to fool people but doesn't say it is made in China. It is called puffing and is legal. For example, I consumed a whole package of TicTacs (no sugar). My blood sugar jumped to over 300 in minutes and the alarm started sounding (glucose meter). After doing my research, I found that the amount of sugar per serving (1 mint) is less than 0.5 grams. Anything less than 0.5 grams per serving can be labeled as 0 sugar. Who in the hell eats one TicTak?

[glorybound]

Here is another one - https://3dhm.com/

It's a great site and excellent work, but things don't add up. Everywhere I look, there is a different business address, and the one on their website is an apartment building. The Facebook page gives another address. The domain is registered to someone in Nevada. People can move, but the owner's LinkedIn says they lived in Dallas before the domain was registered in Nevada. I think the WhatsApp app is the giveaway; the US doesn't use WhatsApp, but not a smoking gun.