When your boss tell you to fake it

[TomD_Arch]

So as an architect that does the visualization, when needed at my firm, I work with the head of architectural design. He values my input on views and concepts for stills. Right now we are working on a project for a transit hub that straddles above a highway. We are developing one shot from the highway looking at the two-story building up on the overpass. Not a lot of opportunity to show the beauty of the entrance. We've had the camera set for over two weeks now and even show in progress to the client, with finals due middle of this coming week. But as of yesterday morning the head of design doesn't think the image shows-off the grandeur of the entry and wants to "scale" the building above the line of the overpass while just slightly cropping the highway below. I would rather work out a new camera and re-render tonight and do post tomorrow. I feel kind of crappy pushing the issue with him and I think he knows I'm right, but really just wants to make the view exaggerated.

 

I'm sure others have had this struggle what's your method of copping? Do you just get over it and carry on?

Edited May 1, 2016 by thomas.denney@gmail.com

[Ernest Burden III]

...what's your method of copping? Do you just get over it and carry on?

 

Carry on!

[Ernest Burden III]

Yes, just move on. Having said that, there are some things to think about. Will you be testifying to a city councel about the project's impact on a view corridor, or shadow field? You would want to consider being honest in that case, and NOT faking anything or saying 'this image is for general effect only, see the filed documents for the true condition'.

 

Otherwise, you are telling a story. So you escaped a bear while camping last weekend. Does it really matter if it was a HUGE bear or just a really big one? A still rendering, even when 100% accurately presented is a lie and a fake already in that it freezes a moment and is not the experience a person will have since they will be moving, eating an ice cream and the clouds are different. It is a reduction. Make sure you are telling a true story, even if that includes some perspective tricks.

 

If you use a cone-of-vision greater than about 60 degrees (and who doesn't?) you are introducing distortion into a projected perspective (which includes ones by hand and by CG camera) and that is not how people perceive a scene. So you have a stretched car on the very left--scale it's long axis to correct. Now, it looks and feels right but is faked. This does NOT interfere with your story about the project.

 

Scaling a floor-to-floor height to trick a community into thinking the building won't tower over their humble homes is a flat-out lie, material to the story, and you should not do that.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Ernest Burden

[Adam Kruvand]

It's not worth the energy. You'll never win that fight. You should always make creative suggestions, but don't expect a response. Ultimately "the client is always right" - even when they aren't. There is a reason not every projects makes it into the portfolio....

[Larissa Holderness]

Currently in a similar scenario. There is a median (divider for traffic that flows two ways) that is right in the foreground. In real life, there is very little vegetation in the median (some grass and three palm trees). However, the client wants there to be flowers, bushes, TONS of vegetation in the median. Ok ... but, that isn't real life. I suppose I have to just 'get over it'. Which saddens me because I am more of a 'this is how it will look' type gal. But, they are trying to sell an idea in what would be a perfect world. So, I have to learn to let go and move on.

[Scott Schroeder]

My three favorite words. "Artist. Conception. Only." Second favorite three words? "Not. To. Scale."

 

We're having to be marketers and you stretch the truth in marketing. I'm pretty sure Red Bull doesn't give me wings, though I think someone tried to sue them on that. I'm also pretty sure I've never had a train rocket through my living room, turn the place to ice, and babes and bikinis come out and start dancing every time I have a Coors Light.

 

Remember, there is the truth and then there is "the truth!"

 

[video=youtube;-Nc88_ZEfxg]

[Casey Hawley]

I always chuckle when a client or designer tells me to 'fake it' because it's technically all fake.

 

I can see it being an issue if you are the designer as well as the visualizer, or when the rendering is meant to show lines of sight, or accurate scale. Knowing the intent up front helps keep these kinds of things from becoming problematic, as well as helps focus the scope which can streamline the production phase. Say a client wants a true to scale rendering, then half way through asks you to fake something, well then that's a different rendering with it's own costs and schedule for the changes. Either way, you should always have a disclaimer on your fee contract that releases you from any responsibilities arising from any misrepresentation or mishandling of the imagery you produce.

[M V]

Nothing is real... this is the Matrix afterall!

 

On a serious not though, if its not going to a planning board or city council to be used to communicate the EXACT building in it's built state, then it really is marketing BS.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U