How to deal with the surrounding context shouldn’t be an arguable question. It depends on what you want from the render or what you want to demonstrate to the audience. Some projects are highly concentrated on the buildings where they want their buildings to be the only focus of the render; some renders you want to show how your project blends into the existing neighborhood because it’s one of your design highlights; sometimes you want the neighboring buildings to look realistic while not being a distraction.
There are 4 main ways to deal with the surrounding context that can cover all those situations, which are photo-matching, gray blocks, modeling, and using models from the library. Sometimes you can combine the methods.
#1 Photo-Matching
Photo-matching is that we will blend the 3D models into the pictures you’ve taken of the site your design will eventually occupy. It’s mostly used in aerial renders.
Photo-matching is our most recommended way to showcase the surrounding areas because it is cost-effective and looks most natural and realistic. If taking a drone shot isn’t difficult in your area, do not hesitate to take one in good weather. Keep in mind that the angle of the 3d render will match the angle of the photo.
#2 Gray Blocks
The gray blocks option requires the least workload at our end among the four methods. It usually does not bring any extra costs. If used correctly, it can do a great job of representing the neighboring buildings while fading them into the background and leaving your design at the forefront.
As you can see in the example above, with thoughtful lighting, people, cars, landscape, and other elements in post-work, these renders still maintain a beautiful and realistic style.
#3 Modeling
Modeling the existing surrounding areas is the last option we recommend because it could cost much more due to the amount of workload, especially for a render of an urban area. Moreover, it’s unlikely that the clients have complete drawings of the surrounding buildings, which means we need to refer to photos or Google street views. That could be an extremely heavy workload.
However, if you don’t have a drone photograph but want the complete accuracy of the rendered surrounding, we can do it for you. The end product will have a very solid and clear appearance. Let’s take a look at an example below. There are lots of fully modeled buildings adjacent to our site.
#4 Using Models From the Library
This is something between the gray blocks and a fully modeled context. You can consider this option when you think the gray blocks look too off – but you don’t need the surroundings to be accurate either.
Taking the image below as an example, there are many buildings from low-rise to high-res adjacent to our tower, but if we showed them all as gray blocks, the image would look too dull. You can use a drone photo, but the surrounding buildings and busy streets would make it all about them.
Combination of the Methods
In reality, we often use more than one method together in one render. For example, there can be accurate models for the landmarks, models from the library adjacent to the site, and gray blocks far from the site. Such combinations of different methods allow us to find the best solution for each project with various purposes and budgets.
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