Real-time Rendering in Architecture
The field of architectural visualization has come a long way: It used to be a very time and cost-intensive process that only larger firms could afford and was usually outsourced to specialist companies that let their supercomputers render images for days or even weeks. Whilst this still might sound familiar to some architectural companies, the reality today is that something else is becoming the new standard in visualization: real-time rendering.
Real-time rendering is described as the process of being able to visualize architectural planning data right from a modeling tool (CAD), within seconds. It enables the user to make changes “live” which means whatever amendments or additions are being made in the planning data, are immediately reflected in the photorealistic 3D model that runs in a parallel window. This photorealistic 3D model, also known as a render, can be walked through in the manner of a computer game and can even be experienced in virtual reality.
The leading provider of real-time rendering tools is Enscape, who are providing an easy-to-use software plugin for the most popular CAD systems: Revit, SketchUp, ArchiCAD and Rhino.
Enscape’s real-time rendering solution sits right in the working environment of an architect, the modelling tool. One click is enough to send BIM data to the rendering engine that has been designed to render architectural data within seconds and work in direct synchronization with the CAD tool. This makes it easy for architects to use 3D visualizations to help them understand or proof their concepts and ideas at every phase of a project. (Source: ArchDaily)
