Sketch Render Critique

[Anonymous]

I would greatly appreciate some feedback from all of you on the following renderings. I've spent a great deal of time going through this forum, and I thank all of you for the invaluable information in it! Initially, the design-phase renderings we did here at the office were in color and "trying" to be very photo-realistic. The response from clients was that they would focus on unimportant details, such as the "wrong" color of a doorknob, etc.. I've tried to eliminate things from these renderings which will hopefully keep the client on-track as to the overall design: colors, landscaping details, etc.. But I also wanted enough detail in the renderings to give a good feeling to them.

I used LW, Sketch Render, and Photoshop to put these together. Also, I took photos of the site to incorporate into the renderings. I realize that they would have a better feeling to them if I did put in the proposed site landscaping, but I have been asked not to do so at this early stage so as to keep the client "on-track." Thanks in advance for your input.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Awesome stuff! Not only the presentation but also the design itself!

[Anonymous]

Foster - 5 points man !

[Anonymous]

Wow, that is terrific feedback, I'm a little overwhelmed! First off, let me respond to Dwight as he was first in line: The site is located in Sun Valley, Idaho. If you like to ski, this is a great place! Very beautiful area, I'm happy to have found work here. As to the "murky" shadows you mentioned, I can see what you mean and agree. These are not the original shadows from LW though. I was asked by the head architect to "pump them up" since the client was confused by an earlier rendering with soft shadows. He thought that there were not any overhangs on the roof and freaked out about it. Hence, the deeper-than-life shadows. I made them using the attributes manager to turn all materials white, and once rendered, I used photoshop to remove the white background, leaving only shadows. I like doing this better than just using "multiply" in PS as it can mess with colors when doing other things. I didn't respond yesterday as I took the afternoon off for a little skiing on the mountain (a nice perk about this area!), so I've just seen your email now. I am, well, honored, and will write you back directly about it.

This post is turning into a short novel, so I will try to be brief. Thanks again for all the great responses! As to the settings I used, there is not a formula set-in-stone which will do this exactly this way for you every time. It's not an "action" you can create in PS. But, here are the posts where I got valuable ideas in how to create these images, and if you follow them, you should have success:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=17210&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=10074&highlight=sketch+render

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=18981&highlight=sketch+render

And I have a last (stupid) question for Laszlo: I have registered in this forum, but I still have "Guest" attached to me rather than "New Member." I also don't seem to be able to put in my location details, etc.. Am I most likely missing something easy here, or do I just need to make more posts?

Thanks again!!

John Foster

[Laszlo Nagy]

Hi Foster,
The Guest/New Member status depends on post count, now you are New Member because you have enough posts.
About your location: you can enter the whole thing in the Location field.
Like: Sun Valley, Idaho, USA
OR does it give you some error message?

[Anonymous]

Beautiful images John! Some of the best I have seen for a while.

Personally, I really like the strong shadows. I think the contrast between the light and the dark give the images an interesting atmosphere.

And to be controversial, my favorite image is number 2!

[Anonymous]

Lazlo, as soon as I made that last post, I noticed that my status had changed. Thanks for the info, I was able to make changes to the location.

Peter, thanks for the feedback, I also like the strong shadows. As to image #2, it is also the favorite of the lead Architect here.

Back to work!

John

[Erika Epstein]

Beautiful Renderings!