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Permalink Reply by katrina on June 8, 2012 at 7:56pm

for instance, how is this done?

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• 06_Eastern-Rail-Yards-Grasslands.jpg, 88 KB

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Permalink Reply by Roland Beinert on June 8, 2012 at 10:34pm

It's probably some sort of combination of several programs. There's some sort of 3-d program. It could have even started as a sketchup model, then been rendered with a program like Podium. Then, once they had a rendered the perspective, they brought it into photoshop to add the plants and people and refine the textures.
There are lots of different ways it could have been done, because there are lots of programs out there. Did you see that article in this month's Landscape Architecture Magazine? They give a good, but somewhat complicated example.

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Permalink Reply by Jason T. Radice on June 8, 2012 at 10:58pm

Likely Rhino with Photoshop. Also, keep in mind that many of the high-end firms (like Corner's field operation whom produced said image) have staff renderers. It is their job to translate the concepts and the bones of the job into the rendered masterpieces quickly and efficiently often using hugely powerful software like Rhino or Maya. They yield better rendering results than SketchUp and work much better for video animation, because that is what they were designed to do.

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Permalink Reply by Joaquim P on June 10, 2012 at 5:51pm

First depends on what kind of presentation you wanna do, from digital drawing, 3d rendering or even hand drawing.

Best thing to do is get things simple you dont need some ultra fast machine for some nice render, or best software in the world, something i learned from years studying CG world is in most works the artist is more important than software used.

I can tell that image probably have good working pipeline in the back, cause sells and have few hours of 3d modeling which is really important cause sometimes the most serious thing is delivering quality in few time.

you can choose some tool and try getting better with it, theres lots of techiniques to sharp that can make you better artist.

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Permalink Reply by John Palmer on June 19, 2012 at 5:39am

I'd start working with SketchUp and an integrated rendering plugin like Shader Light from ArtVPS.  Shader Light isn't that expensive and you can use the free version of SU to get started getting your modeling and rendering skills up to speed. Also take a look at Daniel Tal's Book on terrain modeling with SU.

Here is the link to the student content on Wiley's website.

http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&itemId=047034525...

You can also find links to the book there as well. For some reason I can't seem to get to Amazon.com or I would have included the link for the book there too.

Here are a couple of examples of a model I did using SU and Shader Light. These aren't brilliant but they did sell the concept to the client.

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• Greenstreet Sidewalk Perspective 001j +3.0.jpg, 802 KB
• GS Aerial Perspective - Proposed 002j +2.9.jpg, 904 KB
• Ped Xing 002 +3.0j.jpg, 826 KB

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Permalink Reply by ida on June 19, 2012 at 8:03pm

Since 2009, I've taught myself how to use Rhino 3d, Vray for Rhino, and Maya. Recently I've learned how to use 3dsMax and render with Vray for 3dsmax... and now I'm in the process of teaching myself how to use Vue, and Grasshopper for Rhino. The learning curve is ridiculous, but it pays off.

 

Definitely aim high and don't settle for Sketchup and Podium because EVERYONE knows how to use it... it will be difficult to stand out from the competition if you only know how to use SU...

 

Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Jason T. Radice on June 19, 2012 at 8:40pm

That is pretty ambitious. I've used so much software over the years, its hard what to decide to learn to use. Rhino and Maya are certainly at the top of the pyramid and are like using a 10lb. sledge to drive finish nails, and SketchUp is fast, cheap, and accessable (still waiting for actual contour modeling with that though. Now that Google sold it, hopefully development will proceed and pick that one up). 3DsMax is kind of in the middle and is used by a lot of architects now, as it plugs-in seamlessly with Revit (they are both owned by AutoDesk afterall). Max used to be my choice when I had the license for it, but then again, I used it for photosim rendering. I've even tooled around with Inventor. What software will be next?

I was really impressed by some conceptual integrated design technology with entire virtual cities where you design on a digital plat rented from your municipality and it had all the utilities and grades already done and in scale (a 12" sewer pipe is shown at the actual depth, actual location and actual size!). When you are done, you send it back to the municipality for permits and they keep the model for their records and becomes part of the virtual city. Everything worked together and you used pretty much just one software family that did almost everything (there are different versions for different professions).    

If you understand how to use 3D in theory, there is some commonality, but learning the logic and finesse features of the software is very time consuming. It is one of my major gripes with LA education, so much time is spent just learning to use the tools, the design education suffers. Still, it is nice there are choices for the ambitious, but difficult for the student to pick one and run with it.

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Permalink Reply by ida on June 26, 2012 at 2:58am

The tools were around when I was in school, but you're right, it's difficult to pick it up especially when you want to focus on learning how to design. I didn't start learning 3d well after I graduated. 

If I had to choose something to learn first though (in addition to Sketchup), I would learn Rhino since it can also be used for technical cad drawings and it integrates very well with Autocad.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Anthony on June 20, 2012 at 3:01pm

I know I’m an old fossil and all, but is anybody else tired of seeing these “cut and paste-y” looking renderings. I’m doing all that I can to bring a little chaos and irregularity into my computer generated renderings. It’s like they all look the same. Some are like perfect landscape images that are full of people and plants, but there’s absolutely no life to be found. Just sayin’…

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Permalink Reply by Jason T. Radice on June 20, 2012 at 3:11pm

I don't care for many of them. They are usualy way off on perspective and very artificial. Nothing ever looks even remotely like what the rendering looks like. If you have all this computing power and a decent design, there is no reason it should not be photo-realistic. I do agree that many of the modern renderings tend to be dull, lifeless and flat...very one dimensional.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Anthony on June 20, 2012 at 3:34pm

That’s it they’re images in perspective, but they have no depth.

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Permalink Reply by Tanya Olson on June 20, 2012 at 3:12pm

Totally. How about adding some effects at least? Give it a little texture, some loss of clarity in the distance, some atmospheric fuzz. I have never understood the allure of this type of pop-up rendering.

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