who will need visualization with this thing around:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmysketcher.com%2Ffonctionnalites
Did the Instamatic put professional photographers out of business?
Yes, many. And that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned, because many professional photographers I know are lazy untalented jerks.
You guys! I picked up a book, from Amazon, called “Architectural Illustrations”. The books publish date was 1977, pre-PC, and nothing has changed. So, what I got from the intro, was…
In an age of specialization, it is unlikely that any single artist could be proficient in all the wide variety of subjects and techniques included in the field of architectural illustration.
We specialize in photo-realistic renderings. It takes a lot of work, talent, and skill, to do what we do. I can’t name an architect I know, who came out of school, that didn’t want to specialize in renderings, but NONE took the time to get good. We have to know a lot to do what we do and we have value! Back in the day, not all jobs got a high-end rendering, created by a talented architectural illustrator. Everyone had access to paper and pencils back then. Just like everyone has access to a computer and mouse today. The person who takes the time to get good, at doing something others don’t bother with, will have value.
The work I see here is incredible! You guys take yourself’s for granted… if you don’t value your work, then why would they?
Well, i think software like this has been around for a while. And like everything else, it did leave a lot of 3d arch viz people without work.
Don’t really want to rain on your parade Bobby, but back then the world wasn’t connected as it was now. An illustrator was pretty much confined to the area in which he lived or worked, i imagine sending drawings by mail must have been a bitch, but i guess it was possible. Now, this field is super saturated, and the world is one global market. I’m not sure how you work, but i wouldn’t be surprised if you lost a client, or at least a job because the client decided to go with something cheaper, be it sending it to a cheap country, or obtaining something like this. It’s been happening for the past 10 years.
I think Revit Architecture has most people here afraid. This weekend, I watched the new Lynda.com series, on Revit architecture Rendering. You guys have nothing to worry about! Here is the final project rendering; sold as, high-end and photo-real. This is what Autodesk, and the vendors are selling as photo-real.
People, in my opinion, generally don’t keep up with technology. Very few people who upgrade software, ever find out what is new, and how they can work better. We laid off many people over the past couple years, and I still communicate with most of them. Fortunately, all have found jobs in their field, but non have kept up with the software. What they learned her, is all they know, and that is because I am relentless in learning, and sharing what I learn. I am going to wait a couple months before I mention, to this designer, about Autodesk’s Cloud Rendering Service. I bet you, he’ll have no clue what I am talking about, and unless I am persistent about it, he’ll not even care to look into it.
My prediction is we are a generation away being extinct by automation. I also think the mediocre should fear, because now mediocre is free.
I did a job last month for a guy in New York, and last week for a guy in South Carolina. Maybe they chose me for my happy disposition 
. This is only possible, for me, because we are so connected.
10 years ago a rendering like this would probably run what, $1500-$2000 in the usa? Now it’s for free. Most people don’t need anything better than this.
Hmmm… I wouldn’t spend more than $10.00 on a meal, but my wife would spend a $100.00. I would spend $100.00 on a shirt, but my wife wouldn’t spend more than $10. There is a market for everything. High-end designers will pay for high-end renderings.
Everyone is doing 3D now… we just have to do it better!
agree 100% with Bobby… post nr 4 is spot on.
Thanks Peter 
I hope this thread stays here so we can revisit it in a few years.
I don’t know.. not the people I work with. and I don’t know anyone doing 3d, who would be satisfied with anything like that. anything that looks even remotely like that actually..
as bobby says, I wouldn’t worry about mysketcher or anything like that. I don’t think any client who’s appreciating and looking for high end arch viz, would lower his standard to that. actually I would be much more concerned with the astonishing quantity of very good works that are regularly posted here or on ronen’s forums 
if you think you’re going to loose work from that then i dont know what to say. you’re not painting your quality of work in a very good light.
Homestyler has been out for some time, an never made a sound in the VIZ community
yes, well I guess it’s been a blast among those who wanto to go back to the nineties..
I honestly, and sincerely, think programs like Revit will help our business. Firms will build a model for design and coordination, attempt at photo-real imaging, and be disappointing. They’ll Google, “Exterior Renderings”, find me, and drop me an e-mail :). I will have gotten so good, and proficient, it would be cheaper to hire my services than for them to do it in-house. I have anticipated this path 10 years ago, and tried to position myself on the web, to be found. I have since parked my domain because my boss, at my 9-5, was finding me when searching for terms like architect, architecture…
Anyway… this is just my opinion.
What I have found which I didnt anticipate back in the day I ran my studio is that there are people who are satisfied with the revit style renderings. Their clients dont need photoreal and free is the best price. I dont think thats the whole market but it has made me rethink much of my strategy. I have found that 3d is very important to the client but many think that photoreal is just a waste of cash. Now these also arent jobs that are going out be published in magazines or seen by the public. And much of this probably has something to do with our company and the way the higher ups view 3d. We could upsell it I am sure if there was the desire.
We, as illustrators, need to sell our work. We need to educate the client in why they need to invest in quality, photo-real, images. We need to explain how much it’ll cost to change something once it is built, compared to investing in illustrations early. We need to explain value engineering… We need to explain why they need us! Now, having said that, we need to be cost effective. We can’t spend months on a still, and we can’t give little value for a lot of money; that never works, in any industry. I have a friend, who does decent Revit work, but I can work faster, and produce better images. If you get the right tools in place (V-Ray), and get really good using them, you’ll be able to compete.
I live in upper Minnesota, and we have several wood carvers in our area. If I take one way home, I pass a wood carver who does amazing stuff. If I take another way home, that wood carver does low-quality carving. The good wood carver is an ex-wood shop teacher, with 30 years of experience carving wood. I literally see the low-quality wood carver’s stuff in the five-n-dime stores and I see the high-quality wood carver’s work in the expensive restaurants. Both these wood carvers use the same tools, but talent can only get you so far. You need to practice and get good, using the right tools, for the right job.
I say this stuff with some confidence because I have been doing architectural illustrations for 25 years, and have been having this same discussion, in one form or the other, the whole time. I stopped worrying about it, and I just try to get better everyday.
Like i’ve said, 3d people have pushed the standard for other 3d people just because of their curiosity. I did NOT say that 3d people would be happy with this result. I said that there are people who don’t need art, renderings or whatever, they just need to provide something in order to get a permit. They couldn’t care less.
Come on, are you really saying that software such as this did not take a bite out of the market? I know tons of people who used to do 3d studio back in the 90s and in dos, and were already pretty old when the whole GI photo realism thing kicked in. When you’re 50 you can’t really learn something like this, especially when you’ve got families and stuff.