Day for Night: Architectural Visualisation

[nisus]

Hi all,

Here is an extended architectural visualizing job where we had to add the new design and make a day and night-time image.
The blownout glass in the daytime version is a clients wish because his building has to be 'a temple of light'... I know that in reality the interior would be rather dark, with some reflection in the window except for the spots with very bright lights...
Also, the client wished to remove the shadow on the new building (visible in the original photo)...

The nighttime image is overdone with sfx and lightbeams for the clients purpose too... but I still like it someway... ;-)

I would like special comments, critiques or tips on the right part of the night image because this was the 'matte painting'-job...
I didn't want to do a simple 'light in the glass'-turnover, but rather make a lighting-facade design so that the buildings details are enhanced more than just darkened...

I hope you can see enough detail. If not, I'll be pleased to post some details at 100%.

The orginal was painted at 4805x6999.

rgds

nisus


Night
http://www.ams.be/sitev2/images/0172_PBS_MRA/AMS_PRB_MRA_B_groot.jpg

Day
http://www.ams.be/sitev2/images/0172_PBS_MRA/AMS_PRB_MRA_A_groot.jpg

Original
http://www.ams.be/sitev2/images/0172_PBS_MRA/AMS_PRB_MRA_A_orig_groot.jpg

a larger image can be seen on: http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t= ... ge=1&pp=15 (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=200957&page=1&pp=15)

[homer]

I suggest, make the sky darker and the street wet, with reflections.

[lightwell]

Hi Nisus,

Wondered how long it would be before other archviz guys started visiting here as well. I agree with Homer about making the sky darker, that would help give you better contrast and to concentrate on the "temple of light" thing.

Wet ground would be cool too, gives you a chance to paint in some reflection on the ground and extend the effect of the building. Have you seen "The wet bird" http://www.oyonale.com/ldc/english/wetbird.htm? Something less subtle would probably be required.

Jim

[nisus]

Hi lightwell,

Tnx for your comments. Anyway, I disagree about the darkening sky, because it's still arch viz and it needs a story to tell (where honestly, there is NONE but 'look at the building"... why why??? No Reason, you just have to look... lol!)
The goal of the image is more to illustrate the building at sunset than in the middle of the night, so that a silhoutte and some clouds can add to the story (that is no story... --> basic prob of arch viz anyway...)
So it's always about the building, not really about atmosphere... One basic reason why we cannot add rain: 'one needs the sun to sell an image' is an often heard statement...
I did add reflections in the street, but more in the way tradional architectural visualizers did, not really 'realistic' rain...

How long would it take before CGA's come and visit here? Well, personally I've been looking around this site for some time. (I think over a year, but the forum only goes back to september 2004... I thought it was longer... )
And others, will join soon... In archviz, many people started looking at matte paintings lately (lOTR effect???) but probably also because CGtalk tries to make CG more 'art' than before... Exposé, 3d Festival,...

Anyway, imho, many more CGA's will enter soon... ;-p
The link to this forum has been wandering for some time on www.cgarchitect.com (http://www.cgarchitect.com) and is recently popping up more than ever...
So beware! ;-p

rgds

nisus

[lightwell]

Well, personally I've been looking around this site for some time. (I think over a year, but the forum only goes back to september 2004... I thought it was longer... )


How come it took until yesterday to join? I was getting bored with most of the archviz stuff, It was all feeling very formulaic, you could even tell which renderer people were using and nobody was really doing much in Photoshop apart from pasting in people, skies and plants. If I saw another white room with a barcelona chair I would have lost it.

Guys like Ernest Burden III are doing their own thing, very idiosyncratic which I really admire but I felt I was getting stale. Its also getting more competitive pricewise but the quality of work is starting to plateau. Personally I want to better at what I do, produce better work and that meant looking around at what others where up to. "The Invisible Art" got me interested and I just started looking around from there, hell I even dusted off the old Edward Hopper books and have started scouring ebay for books on Richard Estes and Ralph Goings. I am still doing archviz but I am enjoying things again.

You going to prague?

Jim

[nisus]

Hi Jim,

I only joined yesterday because we don't get to do much photoshop-painting in archviz. And of course because I never considered my job to be 'matte painting' until I've seen MP-tutorials that were changing day to night, summer to winter... Only than I realized 'hey, I do the same things, maybe I do MP myself...'
Honestly, it was the first time I really 'extended' the changing day to night with a facade lighting design ans NOT just darkening the image and tuning the image to dark blue and yellow...
Not that I've done some serious retouching work in the past, or handpainting many details bcause it's quicker to do by hand than in 3d but these were rather exceptions and always on very very short time notices and only considered to be a very small part of the job...

Our studio is changing that now, especially since I'm really asking for 'other' kind of jobs to do myself. This is only possible with co-workers doing the most regular archvizrenders by them self with only a few control checkups... So finally after many years, I got some time to do
what I like... ;-)

Yeah, archviz and placing people... I even wonder if people know how to desaturate people, or know how to place a crowd in correct perspective...
Ow, and OTHER ways to place entourage than clipart or rpc... Of course those are a perfect answer to QUICK, FAST, ALIVE, REAL!!! what clients hum about a lot, but for mer PERSONALLY real is about: correct perspective, scale, light more than 'just drop a photo'...
As you can see in our portfolio, we just don't use those 'ready-made' catalogues unless we really have to on a clients demand...

I'm glad you know Ernest too. I appreciate his work a lot. And funny, but I remember the time talking to him about (over the CGA-forum) about NPR even before he started developping his particulair look. Our talks were mainly a motivation to get him from traditional 'hybrid' work to full NPR...

What's to do in Prague? Is the ArchViz conference getting along now that the AVC won't be there anymore???

rgds

nisus