What Software Should I Use for Architectural Visualization?
WHAT SOFTWARE SHOULD I USE FOR ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION?
With the release of our latest course, there have been some questions about software. It is quite common for people to wonder, do I need to learn software X, or what is the difference between software X and software Y. The truth is, as architectural visualization artists, we have to be versatile. Rarely are my tasks routine. In fact, I have spent all this week inventing a completely new technique that involves a lot of hand drawing and Photoshop. I am developing a look that I have never gone for before in my 15 years as a professional. It is very common, I have found, to have to adapt, learn new software / techniques. So the answer to the question, "which software should I learn?" is really all of them (or as many as you can).
When considering learning and adopting new software into my workflow, I usually approach it by researching with tutorial videos, youTube, etc. Then, I just download the trial and start trying to do stuff with it. If I find tools that will be useful to my process, I try to start adopting them. Sometimes I learn just a small part of the program to fill a specific need. Other times, like with my core software programs, the learning continues forever. The more you learn, the more capable you are of tackling every task that comes your way as an artist in the most effective way.
Here are some good examples of things I have had to learn and adopt throughout my career:
V-Ray and 3ds Max - core software, learning is ongoing
Digital Sculpting with Mudbox / ZBrush - Mostly used for adding detail or for basic sculpting tasks, generating normal & displace maps, 3d painting, etc.
Drone Compositing with After Effects - had to learn to fly a drone / operate a camera, then how to camera match and composite in After Effects
Virtual Reality with Unity and Unreal Engine - had to learn to code, and how to operate new, complex software
Photoshop - compositing, hand drawn effects, digital painting with a pen tablet, post-processing
Video Editing with Premiere and After Effects
Photography - creating HDRIs, shooting nice backgrounds for compositing
I could go on, but I will spare you. This list will continue to expand in the future as well, without a doubt.
As you can see, there is a lot to learn (that's what makes the job awesome, btw), and the more you know, the more equipped you will be for making awesome visualizations regardless of each project's unique challenges.
WHERE DOES REAL TIME SOFTWARE, LIKE LUMION, FIT IN?
First of all, there are a couple different software packages we are talking about, that all use real time graphics technology. I think the main ones for architectural visualization right now are Lumion, Twinmotion, Unreal Engine 4 and Enscape. This technology is very important in architecture for two main reasons, speed and ease of use. Oh, and lets not forget that if you are talking about VR, it is also extremely effective and communicating design ideas. Architects LOVE all of this, because it means they can quickly and easily iterate through design ideas with instant feedback. Not only that, but they can communicate those ideas very effectively to the clients. The problem of clients not getting what they expect from a design and has greatly decreased with the advent of this software. The value of this in the design world should not be underestimated.
In contrast to real time, offline rendering solutions (like 3ds Max + V-Ray) focus on extremely accurate, polished images, which can look indistinguishable from a photograph or even live video footage. This certainly is a powerful tool that has its place in arch viz. It is still my core workflow currently. However, sometimes architects don't need a polished image as much as they need something close, that they can have right now. And architects don't tend to care whether the GI calculations are 100% unbiased and physics based, they just want to see a good representation of what is in their head. And this is not to say that something like Lumion can't approach photorealism, because it can, but its true strength is in the speed and ease of use. So, if you want to start achieving photorealism really quick, without a steep learning curve, Lumion is a great option. It isn't the tool for every task an arch viz artist will encounter, but for certain tasks, it can't be beat.
There is a ton more I could say about this subject, and where I think the industry is going, but that will have to be for another post. We haven't even talked about what software we should use to model! I'll stop and give some space to Andy.
Andy is the instructor of learnArchViz.com's latest Lumion course. He really specializes in real time software solutions, and he has done a great breakdown below of the pros / cons of different software. I added my two cents on V-Ray as well.
ANDY'S BREAKDOWN OF ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE
As 3d artists and designers, we have an incredible amount of tools at our disposal for rendering. We are going to look at each of the most common rendering packages and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. These comments are based off our professional experience so your mileage may vary:
UE4
Cost: Free for now while Unreal Studio is in Beta, UE4 has a royalties system
Pros
Photo-realistic
Unlimited possibilities because it is based off of what your team can think of and build
Extremely versatile and tools for everything, art/lighting/blueprints
Can add in interactions and animate anything
Can render 2D images
Can render cinematics extremely quickly
Can render 360 renderings using Nvidia Ansel
Can create VR experiences
Can create standalone programs, apps and desktop tools for any OS
Starting templates can make starting a type of project easier
Can handle an insane amount of data from 8k textures to millions of polygons
Particle effects builder
Version control can be used
Built by industry professionals
Marketplace to purchase assets from other professionals
Supports spatialized audio
Extensive plugin support with other programs such as Allegorithmic/Quixel
Lots of manpower and money behind it thanks to the engines own success and Fortnite
Supports IES profiles
Solid documentation and community for help, answerhub, UE4 forums, YT, stack overflow, Udemy, books
Cons
Steep learning curve, each branch is a profession in itself(blueprints/materials/animation/sound etc.)
Lightmaps and lightmap bleeding
Light Building can take a long time and even crash
Architecture pipeline still needs work (datasmith) is not as smooth as others. Have to export then reimport.
Material/Blueprint functionality is dependent on user ability, like grunge effects is a series of nodes part of your master material and then instanced
Have to make, or purchase 3d assets, although UE4 is free, this is still a cost
No camera scene manager so you have to go to each camera and then create a highres screenshot
No additional rendering samples. What you see on screen is what you get.
Backface culling can be frustrating
Having different time of days can be difficult because of the light baking process
Neutral
Updates frequently, leading to project/asset incompatibility and keeping up with the changes can be difficult. Thankfully they do offer patch notes and videos explaining changes
Lumion
Cost: Free for students, or one time purchase of Lite $1,650, or Pro $3,300 (floating license)
Pros
Large Asset library for your entourage, trees/plants/cars/people/food/etc
Large material library, stones/woods/tiles/metals/etc
Real-time Rendering with additional sample rendering to improve rendering quality
Live Sync-Instant updates between authoring tools and Lumion
Has been in development for 20 years
Quick to learn
Support for all software packages
Photorealistic
Built-in rendering presets/templates
Purchase once license
Can render images
Can render cinematics
Can render 360 renderings
Can be used as a presentation tool (60%) and design tool (40%)
Instant weathering effects for grunge
Instant edge softener
Can render precipitation like snow and rain or change seasons
Supports spatialized audio
Can animate objects like people/cars to navigate a scene
Effects affect the specific view, meaning each rendering view is independent
Effects are fully customizable
Time of day effect
3D massing models of cities built directly into model
Ocean effects
Design option tool, easily swap between different design schemes
Customizable global illumination
Solid Autosave
Free for students
Supports IES profiles
Solid documentation and forum community
Cons
Expensive upfront, but there are 2 purchasing options and you own it, not subscription-based
No direct desktop VR support, only 360 renderings
Neutral
Standalone program
Enscape
Cost: $449 yearly (fixed seat), or $679 yearly subscription (floating)
Pros
Live Linked model
Import support for all software packages
Photo-realistic
Built-in presets for foam core mode and heat gain
Can render 2d images
Can render cinematics
Can render 360 renderings
1 Click VR mode for desktop
Can be used as a presentation tool (40%) and design tool (60%)
Affordable at $679 a year but you do not own the software
Walk-through mode lets you walk through the model or fly through it
Can deploy a standalone version of the file to give to consultants or clients-but client has to be somewhat "tech savvy" to pilot through
Supports spatialized audio
Real-time Time of day light function
Supports IES profiles
User friendly
Medium documentation and forum
Cons
Fairly new player to the render scene, I cannot find anything about them past 2016
Relies on Revit/Sketchup for materials. if you need a wood material - you need to provide those texture maps which is extremely time-consuming. Also firm dependent, some firms add materials to their Revit models while some don’t use the textures.
Small entourage library
No material library
Cannot animate objects like people/cars
Not too many effects/light customization
No 3d city option
No ocean function
Approximated Global illumination tools, can't customize contribution to final gather
No additional rendering samples. What you see on screen is what you get.
Documentation can be a bit limited
Neutral
Launches directly out of Revit or Sketchup
Effects affect the whole presentation
Yearly subscription
Twinmotion
Pros
Free (until November)
May have a bridge between UE4
Support for all software packages
Photorealistic
Camera manager with time of day controllers
Built in assets for materials and vegetation
Friendly UI
Open Streetmap
Ocean tool
Can animate objects like people/cars to navigate a scene
Can animate people and vehicles
Cons
It has an old unreal look-like 4.10ish. Hard to describe
Asset library is small but growing
Uses dynamic lighting
Renders what is on screen
Have to manually click sync, does not instantly process changes
Neutral
Difficult to understand how this fits into epic's ecosystem since Datasmith exists
If a bridge does come into existence, why use this over UE4?
Vray
Pros
Best visual quality
Industry standard
Not limited by the software on how realistic you can get
Best for compositing with live video or photos
Very powerful lighting and shader tools
Uses physically accurate GI calculations for lighting
Much more control over materials than most real time solutions (the exception being UE4)
Cons
Steep learning curve
Design iteration can be difficult
Render times
Neutral
Subscription model
Personal Choices
Andy's software choices based on project
Exterior Render: Lumion
Interior Render: Lumion for speed/UE4 for quality
VR for design and analysis: Enscape
Photorealistic VR experiences: UE4
Adam's software choices based on project
*I am a dedicated arch viz guy, so my tasks are usually visualization specific, not design. The designers I work with rely heavily on Enscape and Lumion during the design process.
Exterior and Interior Renderings: 3ds Max + V-Ray
VR for design and analysis: Enscape
Photorealistic VR experiences: UE4
Compositing: 3ds Max + V-Ray and Photoshop / After Effects
This debate is like 3ds Max vs Maya, Xbox vs PlayStation, Mac vs PC, Revit vs ArchiCAD. They do 70% of the same things, the remaining 30% is personal taste, speed, cost, and what your goals are that the tool needs to accomplish.
It’s important to remember that there is no one size fits all tool.
