Rendering all starts in Rhino, Revit, Sketchup, or whatever software you’re modelling your design in.

The more detail you add to your virtual model, the better the render will look and the easier the post-editing process will be.

The way I worked this project (and this might change in the future), is that I started with a massing model from Sketchup.

From that massing model, the very first thing I did was find out where I wanted the render view to be, where the camera is to be placed. Especially for a studio project like this, you don’t need to resolve the entire design. You only need to resolve what’s shown on your sheet. Therefore, there’s no point modelling up everything to the smallest detail if it isn’t even being shown on your poster.

The first step is to figure out your render views. Where are the cameras placed? This would involve figuring out the dimensions of your render. Taking a step back, we have to figure out how it’s going to sit on our poster, unless it is it going to be a single render used online. You have to play around with how it sits on the page, the layout of your poster. Most importantly, you want to figure out the aspect ratio of your render. Once you’ve got the aspect ratio, you can do some test renders at a low scale to figure out your view for the render.

Once you’ve figured out the views you want, you can begin to add detail to that model. I added detail such as doors, windows, overhangs etc.

I could have gone a lot further with the detailing of the model but due to time constraints, I had to press forward. Remember, more detail, the better it’ll look.

Next, was adding materials to the model. This is a big step. Don’t have anything in the render that has its default material or colour unless it’s done intentionally. Some things, like the context behind, can be fine to leave. This process really helps you think about those things, which you might not usually think about. You’re actually resolving your design as you’re adding materials to your renders.

Next, I was doing a lot of testing for the actual base render.

I tested the lighting, what sky I used in Vray, where the sun was placed and resultantly where the shadows would be. This involved a lot of testing. Just playing around with it until it suits what you’re looking for.

Then, it was getting in Vray and adding fur for the grass. This makes a massive difference in my opinion but can destroy your pc. I had to actually scale my model down to 1:500 so that I could render it with fur. This caused more headaches than wanted, so I don’t recommend scaling your model away from 1:1. You can see how the water has white dots from this. That’s because the model was too small. I also had to change the scale of every single texture I added.

I added some 3D models of trees and plants. You can go crazy here with furniture, people, trees, plants, animals and so forth, but that can really slow down your model. That’s why I had to use proxies for the trees. I’ll have a video coming out soon on how to reduce the file size of your rhino project so stay tuned.

The final step to get your base render is just a matter of rendering it out at the best settings.

Additionally, you’ll want to add some render elements to give you full control of the post-production process.

Now, we can get into photoshop. This is the fun part where you can get creative and start adding in more details.

We’ll touch on this in the following video! Thank you so much for watching.