Guess this software/technique

[Geoffc]

I use an acad-max-vray workflow, and being of the logical left-brained sort, my renderings tend to come out beautifully accurate, which can translate to beautifully stale. (Sad part is, my own mother is a wonderfully right brained artist yet didn't share the genetics)

 

Anyway, when I come across soft-artistic renderings such as the one below from Behnisch Architekten, I'm always trying to figure out if in my own I'm overthinking the material/lighting accuracy, or not doing enough in post, or just not approaching it from an artistic enough sense. The rendering probably might look easy to many of you, but I'd be at a lost to recreate it.

 

Can anyone guess which software/methods were used below?

 

http://www.behnisch.com/site_files/index_flash.html

[Geoffc]

Here are a couple more examples. Who knows, maybe this just vector-works + PS, or Max raytrace + PS. I just think this style works so well for conceptual design renders. My renders start to get on the photorealistic side so quickly, that not only do they take that much more time to model all of the details (bad idea during design phase), but also the client will start to nitpick the subtleties of material types and colors, lighting, etc, instead of focusing on the design. We often try to use sketchup, but I've had mixed results.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I would say those could really be any software, with a little post work done in Photoshop after wards.

 

As far as your actual question about focusing more on the artistic than either real or photo-real. I agree, it is very easy to get caught up in the various details that the advanced world of GI has to offer. And often these details don't necessarily make a better image.

 

Maybe it would be beneficial for you to start a new project, and think about it in the same way you would if you were building a physical scale architectural model. Think about the level of detail that you would put in. Think about the various ways you might go aboutu lighting it. Think about how you might do things that you know will help the scale model look better, even thgouh those things might not exist in real life. This wa syou are not thinking about the space as a real world space, but only as a space that you are trying to represent, and convey an idea about.