Showcase your architectural design with photorealistic CGIs. From architects to developers and from large-scale schemes to one-off bespoke builds, we assist our clients in adding marketing value, selling off-plan and creating impressive presentations with our stunning CGIs.
Whether the project is fully CG, a verified view or photomontaged into drone photography, we'll make sure your design stands out from the rest.
Impress clients and promote your services by showcasing your architectural design in the best light! Focus on the details and let us tell your story.
Speed up your sales and marketing! Accurate CGIs that allow you to market and promote your development before construction starts.
Whether you want to discuss an upcoming project, talk about career opportunities or just say hi, we would love to hear from you!
Architectural visualisation is a popular industry, with freelancers, in-house artists and specialised visualisation studios all capable of producing 3D renders. So, what are the main benefits of working with us on your next project?
Architectural visualisation (or arch viz) refers to the artistic process of representing a structure visually in an easily digestible manner. Quite simply - visualising architecture. Before computer modelling became popularised, architectural renders were produced solely by hand. A few artists still work this way, but now computerised 3D rendering is by far the most common way of producing architectural renders.
3D rendering involves using software to create 3D models and then rendering them out to produce accurate, photorealistic CGIs (computer-generated images). The goals of an architectural render can differ greatly depending on the project - ranging from assisting in the design process, presenting concepts to a client or marketing to the public off-plan.
We have a detailed post further explaining the 3D rendering process.
Architectural visualisations can come in many different formats. Understanding each of these can help select the most suitable option for your project.
A still image of a fully modelled 3D environment. This approach gives complete flexibility in terms of composition, lighting and materials. It is a great option for inward-looking schemes or remote sites where landscapes can be easily modelled and manipulated as required.
A photograph of an existing real-world environment with 3D elements, such as buildings, composited on top. This is a great way of visualising a proposed building will look in context, it is perfect for sites located in areas where the surrounding buildings are already developed.
A predominantly still image where an element has a subtle looped motion. A cinemagraph is the step between a still CGI and an animation, it allows for the interest of animation to be added without the extra time and cost. Cinemagraphs are great for digital marketing and social media campaigns as they engage audiences and increase interaction rates.
An animation with a moving camera navigating through a development. This is a great way to show the viewer the flow of the space and bring it to life. Animations are perfect for digital marketing campaigns as they entice viewers and elicit a stronger emotional reaction. Animations can also include motion-graphics, live-footage and drone footage. Find out about our animation services.
The price of a render is based on several factors, the complexity, project urgency and if any extras are required, such as ultra-high-resolution or an increased number of revisions. The complexity of a project mainly relates to its scale and how much bespoke modelling work is required, but it is not easily quantifiable. For an accurate quote on a project, please contact us.
Of course, we consider most of our renders to be photo-realistic but it is not always the goal. Depending on the project and its design, abstract, painterly or conceptual styles could be more suitable. It is not photorealism that makes the audience fall in love with an image but how it makes them feel and the story it portrays.
In most cases, visualisation studios can produce visuals of a much higher and photorealistic quality. So, it depends on the purpose of the renders. If you are just testing out some options to help with the initial design development, then it probably is not worth it. However, if you are looking to wow the competition, produce presentations that win over tough clients or create engaging marketing content, then we would be the best option. We can also work with your team, continuing where they left off. This can work well for architects that want to produce renders in-house to assist with their design process but then pass on to a visualisation studio for marketing purposes.
There are many freelancers in the world that produce architectural renders and they are typically cheaper than visualisation studios, but selecting a freelancer comes with a decent amount of risk. Freelancers provide no guarantee of the quality of the work or that it will be delivered on time. They can have issues with organisation and communication that ends up draining more of your management time.
Working with us gives you the guarantee of professionalism, effective communication and stunning visuals. We are also able to ensure the same style and quality across multiple images and a variety of output formats to ensure your message is consistent.
Yes, a 3D model is always preferred to 2D CAD drawings and will help speed up CGI production. However, these models will not have been created to achieve photorealistic results, and therefore we will still likely have to perform some optimisations. Our clients typical provide us with 3D models produced in technical CAD software (Revit, Rhino, etc.) and less frequently with 3D models created in architectural software (SketchUp, 3ds Max, etc.).
Yes, we can add 3D scanned or 2D cut-out people from our library to any architectural render. Alternatively, we can arrange green screen photoshoots with real actors so you can decide exactly how you want them to look.
We can render your images as large as you need them. But we need to be aware of this at the start of the project, as it has a minor impact on our work and the costs. As standard, we produce our renders at 4,000 pixels on the longest dimension. This resolution is perfect for presentations, digital marketing materials and printed brochures but would look slightly low-resolution on larger formats such as billboards or hoardings.
Of course, still renders are a great starting point for other formats such as cinemagraphs, animations and interactive walkthroughs. This is because a large amount of the modelling, lighting and texturing work is already completed. As a result, we offer packages including multiple formats at discounted prices.
The time it takes to complete architectural renders is dependent on several factors:
As an estimate, we suggest allowing up to 3 weeks for standard projects (1-6 images) and 4+ weeks for larger projects (7+ images). We understand that sometimes this is not possible, and we do accept expedited projects on a case by case basis. Please contact us for more details.
We include two rounds of revisions as standard. This can be adjusted to suit different projects, reducing to only one revision could help save costs. Conversely, we recommend allowing more revisions for projects where it would be helpful to test out different design options. We can advise on this at the proposal stage. Take a look at our post detailing the process of working with Curved Axis.
We ask our clients to provide the following information so we can get an understanding of the project.
If you have a question that we have not answered, please contact us via email at info@curvedaxis.com or call us at +44 (0) 20 3870 4385.
Find out about other visualisation services we offer.