Leaderboard

Jose, Thanks for your post and your appreciation! I find forums like these that are visited by professionals very helpful to someone like myself who, although a professional 3D artist, is new to ArchViz, and all of your posts, yours, @Umer Shafiq and @Ricardo Eloyposts are like GOLD to me because of the tiny pieces of information you all provide in your posts. I've already started a notebook, so please stay in touch on these forums. I promised @Ricardo Eloy I would try harder to keep my posts brief (a hard thing for me), but it's just that I am so excited and enthusiastic to be apart of an ArchViz community. I quoted your sentence about Blender because as someone who couldn't afford Maya or 3ds Max (until I discovered their Indie license), I turned to Blender about 4 years ago and studied and used it solid for over 2-years. However, I stopped using it because I fell victim to those in the game and film/TV markets that said they'll never use Blender because it will never become mainstream or a professional's tool. I once spoke to an owner of a very well-known visual effects company that explained to me why he believes Blender will never be the tool of choice for professionals, and I understood his position. But to me it's a tool just like any other software. The issue that arises, and this is well-documented, is Blender cannot offer the profit-based model tech support that a company like Autodesk is expected to offer when issues arise. And that's really the only reason it is said that Blender will never make it to the "main stream" or an industry-leading "toolset." BUT I LOVE BLENDER TOO! I have an Indie license for Maya and 3ds Max, and so it's affordable for me right now, else I would be using Blender right now to learn ArchViz. I did this project entirely in Blender and UE4 a few years ago and it's been copied since, so I guess that's a compliment. It was a ton of fun to do and I learned a lot about Blender and UE4 in general. Again, Jose - many thanks for your reply to my long-winded post, and I look forward to corresponding with you again on this forum(s).

You said it brother! No argument from me on this one. Plus, at the end of the day, and maybe you'll agree, I love to make stuff in 3D, so building a asset library, whether you're buying assets or making your own - win win! You're awesome, Umer - thanks!

thanks for the kind words! I totally get the urge to model everything yourself, especially if you enjoy hard surface modeling. But having an asset library can save a lot of time while still giving clients what they need. For rendering, I’d recommend checking out cloud-based render farms. Prices vary, but a 4K render Exteriors usually costs around $10–$30, depending on the scene and lighting. They’re really useful when you’re on a deadline or working on big projects just make sure to include the cost in your quotes. I really appreciate your reply, and I’m looking forward to staying in touch!

Hi Declan, First of all, I want to say I appreciate your posts lately as it reminds of years ago when this forum was more active. I work in archviz but would still say all of the above to your initial post. Most of the time I avoid uv unwrapping, use tri-planar mapping, and/or use procedural materials if I can. I used 3DS Max since 2005 but eventually rendered stills and animation in Lumion for about 5 years because of the library of entourage it has and the "what you see is what you get" workflow while building the scene. I'd still prep my scene in 3DS max. I buy assets I need and when I can't find something I model it. I would add to your core workflow as you go rather than trying to learn everything first. Some visual scripting doodling eventually comes in handy whether its grasshopper, geometry nodes, or tyflow. Some examples are a column generator w/ geometry nodes or procedural fences. I've switched to blender 3D around 5 years ago now and its more fun for me to use than 3DS Max ever was. For me, the add-on ecosystem was very familiar because when I was in 3DS Max I was constantly looking for scripts or plugins. I really like the shortcut-key heavy workflow in blender but this was after I'd forced myself to learn shortcuts for different software over the years anyway. Try to keep navigation controls straight when moving between Rhino/Revit/Sketchup for example. I'd say you can find similar libraries for blender as you can in 3DS Max. Landscaping is also a hurdle that requires either forest pack or geo-scatter to setup quickly. it also helps to have some form of asset library for when you model things or make procedural materials you want to re-use. For that I'd recommend Connecter app or blender's internal asset library. For archviz there are some popular brands I see repeatedly. Some examples are Louis Poulsen pendant lamps, Herman Miller furniture, Steelcase furniture, etc. All of these major brands provide 3D models and some even provide viz versions in addition to revit versions.

EvolveLAB and Their AEC AI Tools are Now Part of Chaos! About this article We're excited to welcome EvolveLAB and their AI-powered AEC tools to Chaos. For the last ten years, EvolveLAB has been focused on helping architects and designers bring their ideas to life faster and more efficiently through solutions for AI-driven ideation, generative design, documentation, and interoperability. https://www.cgarchitect.com/features/articles/f87df434-evolvelab-and-their-aec-ai-tools-are-now-part-of-chaos

https://3d-kstudio.com/product/project-manager/ This is what we use and would recommend to anyone, although you have to pay for it.