In my 28 years of Arch/Design Viz I’ve seen a lot of software and hardware change. Where I have seen little change is how we actually do our work. Our processes are basically the same as when I graduated 30 years ago. Generally speaking, we still either expect a viz person to produce renders and animations or the designers produce renders and animations. Meanwhile many or I would say most firms use Revit (the 1 modeling tool) to do 2D documentation. Why are we not fully modeling our designs in Revit and actually walking the clients through these spaces each and every time instead of giving them still renders or animations that provide limited understanding to both the designer and the client? My firm and a handful of others are actually doing this. I am encouraged hearing through conversations that others are also pursuing this way of working. I thought we would have reached that point at the very least when Revit was introduced or shortly there after.
Who else is working this way? I feel like the products that Chaos and other developers offer our industry (including VR headsets used for functions other than gaming) would evolve more to support this if more firms were doing it.
Hi @archsolvr it is a good question but WE first need to understand how showcasing our work is different from many other companies and professionals. As I understood it, you are involved with authoring BIM software like archicad and revit. Just like me, the main focus is not rendering or video editing. Our main focus is construction, to defend a project/client before heading to the chaos of getting it built. Thats why shop drawings, technical info and so much more is way more important than visualization. Actually, after the project is signed by the client and approved by the local authorities to get built, WE don’t really need visualization unless its to control the future “reality” of our virtual buildings. In BIM methodology, architects and engineers are using VR and realtime rendering to be closer to reality.
Our data is about the whole of the building, not just a set of scenes or perspectives. Thus for us having a real time rendering like Enscape is so valuable. WE get to perceive what WE are proposing to be built. Light, materials and many other factors, really matter to us because WE are selling them beforehand. So with a BIM model its easier to achieve this VR presentation rather then static renders or videos. Exploring is the way to go but understand that only those who work with BIM data have access to the whole building. For us, renders are not a product, it’s actually a dead end, a perspective frozen in time that easily needs updating.
The artistry of visualization is changing and realtime exploration through AG or VR will be the basis of working and showcasing buildings and products. Today, CG artists could be working for designers and architects and also for cinema. But tomorrow, these artists will have to focus either on imagination and creativity or the reality of construction or products that will soon be real…