Birds eye view renderings

[Rendergd]

A new client has asked me to do a Birds eye view of a building they are working on. I have no clue where to start, cos I normally only do interiors and simple exteriors. Does anybody have any tips or examples on how to do this? Ive been looking for the past day on evermotion and I cant find any nice aerial 3Dz. I would really love it if somebody could post some examples for me to work towards. Most 3Dz look like a render stuck onto a landscape photo???

[Ernest Burden III]

Welcome!

 

Start with a landscape photo. Screengrab what you can from Google Earth, or get GIS satellite photos and map them to a plane, get it sized right and start there. That way, you can see the way the shot will need to come together right from the start. If the site is not fairly flat, you will need to model the terrain.

 

Find out what your client needs to 'say' with the rendering(s)--is it about how the project fits into the site or city, or is it about the flow of the plan. Knowing this helps you choose views.

 

Your buildings will probably end up expressing their form (massing) to a greater extent than a ground-level shot, so make sure lighting is right to allow their shapes to read clearly.

[BVI]

If the budget warrents it, you might find that they are nice enough to take a few pictures of the site from a chopper for you. (They use small RC helicopters these days, so it's not such a hefty price tag).

 

We find it easier to match the actual photograph in 3D, rather than trying to jam the background plate into the rendering. Sometimes its easier to build the entire scene in 3D - giving you more control over the camera etc.

 

I've attached several renders we did recently - the client was nice enough to supply high-res photographs to work from - we used them for the backdrops etc.