creat a rendering that looks like a water color?

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,
i have a client that wouldl like me to do some schematic renderings and really like the look of water color or a hand marker rendering. Is this possible with ArchiCAD, lightworks, Artlantis? If so can some one give me some setting so i can test this out. i have posted an example of the style they wanted...really in a time crunch on this one.

[Anonymous]

Try the sketch engine and fill the colors in photoshop

[Dwight]

A good watercolor or a bad one?

If you have photoshop, visit the "photoshop actions" site - just google that.
Photoshop actions are pre-recorded macros that use the crude photoshop filters in subtle ways for unique results. there are many actions there for free. it is fun.

Photoshop does have a watercolor filter but it is best to combine it with another filter so it is not so obvious or: apply the watercolor filter several times with small effect rather than one huge distortion all at once.

[Anonymous]

THAT SOUNDS GOOD LET ME TRY THAT

[Dwight]

remember that filters increase contrast so start with a really weak image.

[Karl Ottenstein]

b.trenga wrote:
Hey guys,
i have a client that wouldl like me to do some schematic renderings and really like the look of water color or a hand marker rendering.

Based on your example, you really want to use Piranesi which can acheive exactly that appearance...once you learn to use it and assuming you are a bit artistic yourself.

Nothing will achieve that automatically.

Photoshop filters can give a nice look - but not the one you've shown, nor one that is particularly artistic unless you do a bit of masking and manual brush work too.

Another tip from a Piranesi Expert, Susan Sorger, is to insert hand-painted entourage - people/trees/sky - into a computer-painted image, as the viewer will latch onto the handwork of those elements and easily believe that the entire image was hand-painted. (Susan sells libraries of her hand-painted entourage, if her style happens to fit your needs. Your image shows marker people rather than painted people, though.)

There is a 30 day trial version of Piranesi here:
http://www.informatix.co.uk/piranesi/downloads/windows/demo.shtml
along with some tutorials/etc. (The full product comes with 100's of textures and cutouts - not present in the demo download.)

Informatix gallery here:
http://www.informatix.co.uk/piranesi/gallery.shtml

Also, visit the Piranesi forums and user gallery (ranging from really, really bad to pretty good stuff) here:
http://www.informatixsoftware.com/forums/

Because the 'art' part is the user him/herself - you cannot judge the software by the images, but merely use them to suggest possibilities.

A true 'wet' watercolor is not possible in Piranesi though. (Corel Painter, and some other software, allow you to adjust the wetness of the paper and the drying time of your brush to determine the spread of washes, blending of colors, etc.)

(Every effect in your sample image is possible in Piranesi...in fact, that image looks more computer-manipulated than hand-painted based on the sky and the uniformity of the grass gradient.)

Have fun with it,
Karl

[Anonymous]

I DONT REALLY HAVE TIME TO LEARN ANOTHER PROGRAM FOR THIS ONE, BUT I HAVE FOUND A PRETTY GOOD METHOD TO ACHIEVE THE LOOK. IF YOU RENDER IN LIGHT WORKS AND BRING INTO PHOTOSHOP WORKING WITH THE FILTERS TO GET A GOOD BASE IMAGE. THEN RENDER A PEN AND INK SKETCH RENDER AND OVERLAY THAT ON THE LIGHT WORKS RENDER WITH SOME SOME TRANSPARENCY IT LOOK PRETTY DAM GOOD!

[Karl Ottenstein]

b.trenga wrote:
I DONT REALLY HAVE TIME TO LEARN ANOTHER PROGRAM FOR THIS ONE, BUT I HAVE FOUND A PRETTY GOOD METHOD TO ACHIEVE THE LOOK. IF YOU RENDER IN LIGHT WORKS AND BRING INTO PHOTOSHOP WORKING WITH THE FILTERS TO GET A GOOD BASE IMAGE. THEN RENDER A PEN AND INK SKETCH RENDER AND OVERLAY THAT ON THE LIGHT WORKS RENDER WITH SOME SOME TRANSPARENCY IT LOOK PRETTY DAM GOOD!

Please at least take the time to turn off CAP LOCK! 🙂

Yes, that method is the standard/fast way to get a non-photorealistic look... it just isn't the marker look that you asked for in your original post. As long as the client is happy, that's great. 😉

Karl

[Anonymous]

Don't forget the good old fashioned approach of printing a background and finishing by hand. My partner and I still do some of our best (and fastest) work this way.

[Anonymous]

Piranesi is the hero..but still here i've learned another method from this forum..is to render in LWRDE and the same view with a sketch rendering engine " no shadows, no vectorial hatching" and have booth in Photoshop and just add the Sketch as an " overlay" layer..and a marvellous view would be there.. or even some mix with erase tool in photoshop really marvellous and easy !!
thanx for the all the guys here that showed us this method !!