Photorealism v. Non-photorealism

The February issue of AEC Magazine featured an article entitled "Photorealism vs. non-photorealism." This included comments by Nick Lightfoot from LightWork Design.

Question

"Photorealistic rendering continues to play a crucial role in the architectural market as an essential tool to visualise the real world environment, mimicking the effect and interaction of form, scale, texture and lighting. Indeed, picture perfect proposals are often an essential part of a salesman's vocabulary when trying to secure a contract or design win. However, some say that the emergence of 3D as a critical design tools has taken away some of the creativity from the design process. While 3D modelling has gone some way to provide a flexible set of tools for trying out different design scenarios, when it comes to using photorealsitic visualisation as part of this process, the technique is very much geared up to come into effect towards the end of the design, and not as a tool to investigate and inspire different ideas or concepts.

However, with the introduction of non-photorealistic 3D rendering tools such as Piranesi and LightWorks Sketch, the architect has been presented with a visualisation technique which positively encourages the exploration of different design concepts.

Do you think these two distinct types of rendering tools have rigidly defined places within the architectural design process, or is there flexibility in where they are deployed, and what factors govern this?"

The LightWorks product suite from LightWork Design offers a range of rendering technologies from real-time rendering to lighting simulation, and is used throughout the architectural design process. LightWorks Sketch is a new technology which was designed to support the conceptual design stage, but it can also be used for stylised presentations at any stage of the design process.

LightWorks Sketch works directly from the 3D model enabling the rapid regeneration of images after changes have been made to the model or viewpoint. This means that it is ideal for evaluating alternative design approaches because architects and engineers can sketch out ideas and then visualise them in a style that suits their thought process. Early imagery might best be represented by a rough pencil style, but as colour and light become more significant, an impressionistic painting style might be more appropriate. As the design becomes more defined the visualisation technique should change accordingly. Pencil lines become more precise and paint styles can be chosen to pick up more of the detail, until eventually the model contains enough information to support full photorealism.

One of the many features of LightWorks Sketch is that it supports output of files for use in the Piranesi application. Piranesi works with a snapshot of a particular view of the 3D model, and is therefore best suited to the presentation of design ideas rather than exploring the central model. However, the speed and ease of use of Piranesi compared with 2D paint technologies encourages its use when presenting interim design ideas as well as final design presentations.

Both LightWorks Sketch and Piranesi work alongside other LightWorks rendering products, and inherit photorealistic features such as transparency, shadows, ray-trace effects, radiosity, and physically accurate lighting and materials. This enables the use of sketch styles throughout the architectural design process. Users can choose how much photorealism to retain in their final image. For example, a typical technique would be to highlight the area of interest using a photorealistic style, whilst retaining the rest of the image in a sketch style for context. Traditionally, 2D montage techniques were time consuming and required a level of skill that restricted this approach to final design presentations. The new technologies now available can easily be used to clarify the presentation of interim designs, construction details and lighting studies.

The range of effects that can be generated by using LightWorks Sketch in conjunction with Piranesi enables designers to impose their own personality on the visualisation of their designs in a way that is impossible with photorealism. Clearly this appeals to the aesthetic spirit of architects allowing them to personalise presentations to suit their own taste and that of their clients and target audience. Add to that the fact that it is easier to produce a convincing sketch image than a full-blown photorealistic image, particularly from simplistic models, and you can see why these technologies have been so well received. Not only do these technologies have a place throughout the architectural design process, but also they actually encourage architects to use 3D modelling in all aspects of design.

For further information about LightWorks Sketch, please contact us.

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