Showcasing Edition in Parnell

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The Making of Edition

Since we posted this showcase, we also published the making-of Edition in Parnell on Ronen’s Blog.

Check it out here!

Concept / Mood

In an oversaturated property market, where there are many great render studios creating lovely images, we felt this project warranted a different formula. When I talk of formulas, I am referring to the standard late afternoon/sunset shots or if a client is feeling ‘crazy’ they will run with 1 or 2 dusk shots to compliment the suite of everlasting sunshine for the remaining 20 shots. Let’s not forget that it is always sunshine and smiles in the 3D world of architectural visualization!

Auckland is known for its cloudy skies and rainy days, especially at this time of year (Winter). We like to keep real-world values, it gives a place a true sense of locality. Like all good restaurants, keep it seasonal where possible, don’t be afraid of rain or cloud. Our studio is really pushing clients to think about the time of year and locality when generating an overall mood for projects.

Everyone in the studio is a big fan of Iwan Baan’s work as a photographer, his super soft blue grade for dusk or silver white days really float our boats. We felt his tone and grade to his photographs would suit the Auckland mood perfectly. With this inspiration we presented a mood board to our client of the direction we wanted to take the images and to our surprise, they jumped straight on board.

Composition / Lighting

The facade of the building is made up of thousands of handmade glass bricks from Italy. This was a really important/expensive design feature to highlight, to do this we knew the shot had to be a silver dusk. We needed to play up the reflective qualities in the brick whilst still being able to see pockets of interior light within, giving the facade an ethereal quality. The ethereal quality of the facade was amplified further by elevating the camera position, this helped us make the cantilevered upper 3 floors float above the podium entrance/reception below, something the architects were keen for us to demonstrate.

New Workflow

This was the first set of images that our studio had used Corona for the entire project, normally we mix between V-Ray, OctaneRender and Corona Renderer.

We also grew all of the plants in GrowFX and made custom shaders using Megascans. Railcone was also used for the glass bricks, curbs, and some hard landscape elements.

Winchester Walk Restaurant

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This is a commissioned project of a restaurant on Winchester Walk by William Matthews Associates, UK.

Corona Renderer with Blender was used for the images. The animated Exterior loop was done with After Effects. Birds are 2d hand drawn animation by myself (yep..I do 2d animation) using Krita. Small post processing using Photoshop. Photo textures as well as handpainted textures by me were usedw for the renders.

Loving Corona with Blender.

TSR 004: The Evil Twins of ArchVIZ – Peter Guthrie and Henry Goss about Pushing The Boundary!

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Creating The Boundary

Peter and Henry share the driving reasons and goals behind their decision to join forces and create The Boundary. From friends to business partners, as their individual capacities increased they decided to raise their game and share the burden of their work together. Although they just call it the next logical step, the results have been incredible.

Current Projects and What’s in (their) Store

Despite detouring from traditional architecture, Henry and Peter are more involved in architecture and design than ever before. They’ve been working with their heroes on fundamental design details from an early stage, including Peter Zumthor on the Los Angeles Museum of Art. We put Corona Renderer up against VRay, discuss animations and VR deliverables, and examine what it means at The Boundary to be a project manager, 3D artist, or project visualizer. We also chat about The Boundary Store, which they’ve set up to help people gain access to their scenes. The store is evolving to become a place where people will go to find the top brand, top-quality images.

Five Years into the Future

When I asked Peter what we need to start thinking about now so that we are still relevant five years into the future, he admitted that although he may not be excited about VR and augmented reality, he is passionate about creating beautiful images, moving images, and films. Henry recognizes that the change will be constant in this industry — there will always be other companies coming up behind you, so you must constantly push forward with your energy. And that thrust toward success is the future of business at The Boundary.

TSR 002: SOA Academy Day #6 Special

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The Boundary

Sharing an update on the first year of their new business, Peter and Henry call their first year “an incredible one.” They cover how they’re keeping updated on new technology, including Unreal Engine, the plans for their new shop, and what they’re looking for from potential employees. Their morning routine starts with sleeping in, and their motivation comes from learning new things and having fun, but I’ll let Peter and Henry explain how that works for them. You can gain access to their workflow by grabbing scene files from The Boundary Store, where they share work files and more.

The Boundary Store

Hayes Davidson

Hayes Davidson pioneered architectural visualization with 25 years behind them. They have produced over 20,000 CGI images in those years, and it was a real pleasure to sit down with David, John, and Luis, at SOA Academy Day #6. From planning to marketing, those years of experience give them an edge over their competitors, which they detail in our conversation. When looking for new employees, the first thing they want is someone with a good eye, and possibly someone who is exceptional at a game of squash.

London Fast Forward

London Fast Forward

Squint/Opera

Squint Opera is a creative studio and production house based in London that produces extraordinary work in everything from video content and animation, branding, websites, design, games, and strategy. I chatted with Silvia, who is an intern-turned-3D artist, and John, music- producer-turned-technical editor. They share some of the technology tools they’re using, what they’re looking for in new hires, how they train their employees to meet the Squint standards, and one major perk that’s located just downstairs from their main office.

The Doodle Bar

The Doodle Bar

Beauty & The Bit

Victor and Eva are brothers at Beauty and The Bit, which is based out of Madrid. They specialize in architectural illustrations and visual creation. In our conversation, they share their approach to testing out new technologies, what they’re looking for in new employees, and what they love to do in their spare time — provided they happen to find some.

B&TB Team 😉

Bloom Images

Bloom Images splits their efforts between two offices — one in Hamburg and one in Berlin. We chat about how they manage multiple locations, the ideal team size, and how they use people leaders to develop their whole team. They give a glimpse into their newest venture — set design, creating surroundings for advertisements for games, movies, and more, and again, share what they’re looking for from anyone that is looking to join their team.

Herzog & de Meuron / Elbphilharmonie / Hamburg, Germany / 2012

Herzog & de Meuron / Elbphilharmonie / Hamburg, Germany / 2012

TSR 001: SOA Academy Day #5 Special

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MIR / Mats Andersen & Trond Greve

Located in Norway, MIR is a big source of inspiration to me in many aspects, not just in their visuals but in the way they go about doing their work. They dedicate one artist per one week per one image, which allows them to remain focused and undistracted, and to deliver a high-quality product on time. In my conversation with them, Trond and Mats describe this process they title “MIR is a Resturant,” as well as their disciplined approach to their art, how they plan to develop their visualizations in the future, and what hopeful potential employees should do, and not do, to gain their attention.

I’ve posted a written interview with MIR back in March 2011 which could be very interesting to read before or after listening to the recorded one years after.

OAOA-AqabaGolf-CoolOff-copyrights-www.mir.no

“A proper daytime sunny image” – Trond Greve

Render Legion – Corona Renderer / Adam Hotovỳ & Juraj Talcik

Corona Renderer is a high-performance photorealistic renderer software program developed in Prague by Render Legion. I talked with Adam Hotovỳ about some of the milestones they were working to meet at the time of SOA Academy Day #5. Juraj Talčík also had plenty of great things to say about why he and Veronika Demovičová prefer to use Corona Renderer over other rendering programs.

Icelandic House by Talcik&Demovicova

Icelandic House by Talcik&Demovicova

Peter Guthrie

At the time of this conversation, Peter Guthrie and Henry Goss were two days into their adventure at The Boundary. The incredible success of their company is a topic that will also feature in a future session of The SpectRoom.

The Boundary is Born!

The Boundary is Born!

DBOX / Christiaan Klaassen

DBOX is a full-service agency, taking their clients from branding all the way to the publication of a project. I’m talking here with Christiaan Klaassen about CGI, how synchronization happens with the whole team, and the incredibly detailed work they put into each project.

432 Park Avenue, rendering by DBOX

432 Park Avenue, rendering by DBOX

Arqui9 / Pedro Fernandes

Based in the UK, Arqui9’s Pedro Fernandes stresses simplifying your portfolio and specializing in your greatest area of strength. He also has some great tips for artists that are looking into going out on their own that you’ll want to hear. Expect to hear more from Pedro in a future session.

Pedro posted two MAKING OF articles on the blog that you should check out – Making of Seaside Feeling & Making of Adelaide Housing.

Making of Seaside Feeling by Pedro Fernandes

Making of Seaside Feeling by Pedro Fernandes