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Introduction and Theory |Inadequacy of Current Visualization Methods

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Introduction and Theory |Inadequacy of Current Visualization Methods

Since then, architectural visualization has somewhat caught up in terms of rendering capabilities, the most notable of which being Alex Roman’s short film the third and the seventh.[15] (Fig. 1.2.22) Although Roman’s film exhibits excellent visuals that are comparable to the film industry, it can also be argued that this film is more of a passion project, thus it does not have the same constraints and limitations compared to an average commercial project. Comparing this then, to various architectural commercial animations, the relative degradation of quality appears once again. (Fig. 1.2.23 - 24) Further comparing these visualizations to a rasterized viewport screen capture—which is what is generally used as visualization tools during the design phase—the degradation of quality becomes even more apparent. (Fig. 1.2.25)

While this might not seem like a fair comparison due to the differing priorities and budgets within the respective industries, clients—who for the most part does not understand these technology and industry specific limitations—are so accustomed to seeing the higher quality images that they somewhat expect architectural images to be of the same quality. As such, these comparisons can provide some insight to identify a few of the problems present in current visualization methods. It can then be speculated that this is the difference between what is used as a final product, as a pitch, and as a design tool. Analyzing these examples further, one can see that a commonality between them is the lack of occupancy dynamics in some form or another. This causes the potential utility of these extra frames to be wasted as they are only utilized to show the spatial qualities of the space instead of the ambiance and dynamic interactions within the space.

The 3rd and the Seventh by Alex Roman, 2009

This Short Film is comparable to the film industry, however, the occupancy dynamics portrayed is fairly simple and this does not have the same time constraints as most commercial projects.

By Alex Roman, trimmed by Author, “The Third & The Seventh,” uploaded November 24, 2009, Vimeo, 12:29, accessed December 18, 2019, https://vimeo.com/7809605.

Architecture Walk-through by Framemakers Creative SB, 2015

While the visualization here looks decently photorealistic, the lack of people makes the space feel empty and desolate.

From Framemakers Creative SB, trimmed by Author, “Star Residences 3D Animation Walkthrough Video,” YouTube, 3:05, accessed December 18, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qU2xhZlsJE.

Architecture Walk-through by Momo Graphics, 2016

This walk-through does include people to convey a more believable space, however, it is easy to notice how these people are manually placed in, instead of actually utilizing the environment. This not only produces weaker visuals, but also takes quite a bit of time to do.

By Momo Graphics, from Kenny Khoo, trimmed by Author, “3d Architecture Walkthrough Flythrough Animation Service Singapore Building Interior Exterior,” YouTube, 2:09, accessed December 18, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC1OtZ4kAJs&t=1s&pbjreload=10.

Figure 1.2.22 - 1.2.24

These 3 figures shows some of the shortcomings in current architectural visualization ren-derings. While their quality have gotten better significant-ly over the years, they are still playing catchup to the film industry from 15 years ago.