5 Tips For The Best Renders Each Time

Architects and designers of all types are needing renders nowadays, but you need to have some quality skills to plan and execute your best renders. Below, I’ll put some general tips to keep your renders quality.

1. Research Your Renders– Researching the architectural style and era that you are designing for is essential to a realistic rendering. But you can rush a variety of elements like views, look, feel and so on. To focus your research, make sure to plan your goals for your render, and plan your research around that to get the best effect to your viewers.

2. Plan Your Lighting – Think about the light sources in your design and how they will affect your render. This is both natural and artificial lights, and how your textures and materials glow. This can well be informed by your research, but also by knowing how to use lights in your software. Plan out your lighting to really bring clear focus to your visualizations.

3. Craft Your Materials – The materials that you use in your design will also affect the end result of your render, so make sure you take this into account when designing! It’s helpful to start with clay black and white models. But soon, you will need to add materials. Don’t rush to do those. Add materials carefully and with craft. If you’re rendering a bedroom, think of the most important interior materials. If you’re rendering an exterior tower, think about the important environment and building exterior materials. Craft the materials so you will make the desired look come alive.

4. Refine Your Texture – Textures can also give an extra dimension to your render, so be sure to add them wherever possible! If you download or create your own, make sure to do sample renders. If you are using bump maps, make sure they are correctly placed. And always check the effect of lighting and shadow, that the texture creates.

5. Finally, Make The Best Of Reflections – Reflections are another way to make your renders look more realistic, so be sure to consider this when designing! This could be a water feature or windows, or simply adding a little sheen to concrete. Put some thought into reflection and it will reflect well on your design.

Rendering is a craft, and working hard will get you results. To develop your rendering skills with professional methods check out our I Am The Studio courses below.

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Brandon A. Gibbs is the Founder of I Am The Studio,
Creative Director of MotionFORM, Content Creator @ ThinkParametric. Brandon is a licensed Architect, previously at Bauer Askew Architecture. Follow him on Twitter @iamthestudio