The Big Picture: Beginners Guide: Alex Hogrefe Fundamentals Uncategorized 30 Comments

The Big Picture: Beginners Guide
by Alex Hogrefe | Nov 1, 2015 | Fundamentals, Uncategorized | 30 comments
I have a lot of content on this site and when I redesigned it in 2014, I made an attempt to organize
the info so that everything was easy to find. However, I understand that people just starting out may
still find this site difficult to navigate and not know where to begin. Even the software I use isnt
abundantly clear because half of my tutorials use Kerkythea while the other half uses V-Ray. This post
is long over due and will be my attempt to provide some clarification on a lot of questions that I get.
It is also help those just starting out to know which techniques to focus on and how to most
efficiently use their time learning arch viz.
These steps are ordered in such a way as to get you creating the best images in the fastest time
possible. If you were looking to do this professionally or churn out really high end images, I would
shuffle some of these steps around and put a higher priority on 3D model texture and render
settings. However, this website is widely used by students and architects who dont do this
professionally and are looking for speed and simplicity. These steps are more or less how I started out
and what I believe is the best path for most.
1. Fundamentals:
The barrier to entry for Photoshop is much less than that of render software. You can iterate and
experiment at a much faster rate which is crucial to successful viz. With rendering software, it is too
easy to get sucked into the endless search for perfect render settings and waiting hours for images to
kick out. Below is what I suggest starting out with:
1.1 Photoshop Layer Management

Before starting anything, get a basic idea of how to setup a Photoshop file. This will save you a lot of
headaches later on when files start to get big and complex
Layer Management Tutorial
1.2 Landscape/vegetation
Landscape and vegetation are some of the trickiest things to get right in arch viz. This area has taken
me the longest to get right and I am still experimenting with techniques.
Adding Grass Tutorial
Landscape Tutorial
Repeating Trees Tutorial
Water Reflections Tutorial
1.3 People
Almost every arch viz image will have people in the illustration and this is one thing that 3D software
still does not do well. Therefore, it is important to master adding people in Photoshop and knowing
how to handle the different lighting situations.
People Shadows and Lighting Tutorial
Stadium Crowd Time Lapse
1.4 Skies
Skies often take up a large portion of the image and set the tone early on. Make sure to get these
right.
6 Tips for a Perfect Sky
2. Atmosphere:
Once you have a good grasp of the Photoshop fundamentals, atmosphere then becomes a priority.
The next series of tutorials are simple in technique and very fast to implement. As simple as they
are, they go a long way into giving life to the image.
2.1 Color Overlay

I use color overlays on almost every image I work on. The tutorial uses an extreme amount of color
but even a small amount goes a long way to setting the mood of the image.
Color Overlay Tutorial
2.2 Atmospheric Fog

This is something I see may people ignore and is something I lean on a lot to get the mood of the
image just right. This very quick technique also gives an image a ton of depth.
Atmospheric Fog Tutorial
Foggy Wharf
2.3 Adjusting the levels

Sometimes, all an image is missing is for the levels to be adjusted. This is similar to adjusting the
contrast, but gives more control.
Adjusting the Levels Tutorial
2.4 Image Softening

If after going through the steps above, the image is still lacking something, give this technique a try. It
only takes a few seconds and could be what your looking for.
Image Softening Tutorial
3. 3D Rendering:
To get to the next level of visualization, you need to learn some rendering basics. Rendering software
like V-Ray and Kerkythea take 3D models and bounces light around them to generate more realistic
lighting conditions. However, early on, it is not necessary to know everything about rendering
software. Instead, I think of it as just trying to generate a decent base image so that I can get into
Photoshop as fast as possible. Later on when you decide to do this professionally, you can dive deep
into the settings. For now, its about learning how to create a few different lighting conditions such as
interior scenes, exterior scenes, dusk/night scenes, and cloudy day scenes. One last note, I have
tutorials on both V-Ray and Kerkythea. Kerkythea is free and works well with Sketchup. V-Ray is a
much more robust program that is somewhat expensive, but works inside of the Sketchup interface
and can produce professional results. I currently use V-Ray for all of my renderings.
3.1 Clay Model

This is the most basic of renderings. A clay model rendering is a rendering with no materials. I use
clay model renderings all the time because they are fast (no materials to render) and are great to
diagram with. Most rendering software has an option called material override that will allow you to
replace all materials with a simple grey texture.
Kerkythea Clay Model Tutorial
V-Ray Basic Settings (Global Settings Tab)
3.2 Simple Base Renderings: V-Ray

As I said above, this is my rendering software of choice. Its simple to use right out of the box and has
many advanced features that integrate perfectly with Sketchup.
V-Ray Basic Settings
3.3 Simple Base Renderings: Kerkythea

If you are looking for a free rendering program, go with Kerkythea. It integrates well with Sketchup
and is easy to use.
Kerkythea Shadows Tutorial
Kerkythea Interior Night Rendering
4. Controlling Light Manually with Photoshop:

There will be many times when you cant get rendering software to do what you want it to do and
you have to figure it out in Photoshop. It is really valuable information to have and will get you out of
many jams, especially with presentations the next day.
4.1 PS Ambient Occlusion

Simply put, this term refers to adding shadows in corners where geometry meets. By understanding
this concept, you can add depth and realism to an image that is lacking both. It can also be used on
diagrams or model image exports that havent been rendered.
PS Ambient Occlusion Tutorial
4.2 PS Window Light

It can consume a lot of resources to add a ton of lights in a rendering program. Often, it can be faster
just to paint in the light in Photoshop.
Window Light Tutorial
PS Night Scene Tutorial
Quick Facts:
For clarification (because I get these questions a lot) here are some quick facts about my workflow
and software that I use:
Modeling: Sketchup.
I use Sketchup for all of my modeling. I have used Rhino, 3D Studio Max, Revit, Form Z, but have
always come back to Sketchup. I prefer it because of its speed. No other software allows me to
model as fast as I can in Sketchup. It also seems to be a universal software known by everyone. The
majority of clients Ive worked with, not only in the U.S. but also worldwide, either work with
Sketchup or are familiar with the program.
Rendering: V-Ray.
While I was in school, I used Kerkythea and created several tutorials during this time. It was a free
program and was easily accessible to anyone who visited my site. Last year, I switched to V-Ray
because I needed more features and a higher quality output. V-Ray is not free but is still a valuable
program if you can afford it. V-Ray works within Sketchup and isnt a stand alone program like
Kerkythea.
Post Processing: Photoshop.

For all editing and post processing, I use Photoshop. There is free software like Gimp and Photoshop
Express that you can use as a replacement, but nothing beats the real thing.
Resolution:
This can range based on the needs and how it will be viewed. In school, most of my illustrations were
about 2,000 px wide but this was several years ago. Times have changed and so has hardware. Today,
I am now rendering at 4,500 px to 5,500 px wide. I think for students, because of hardware
limitations, 3,000 px to 4,000 px would be a good size to aim for. All images made for my website in
the past year were rendered at 4,500 px or higher on my laptop.
Time:
I try to keep rendering times to about 3 to 4 hours (using my laptop). This is easy to accomplish if you
are not using displacement maps and really high render settings. Once in Photoshop, I typically spend
between 4 to 6 hours. This includes adding people, trees, ground plane, skies, and lighting effects.
If there is anything that I missed or any questions you have, send me an email through my about me
page or leave a comment. I see this as an evolving document that will grow and change over time,
especially in the quick facts section.

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The Big Picture: Beginners Guide

by Alex Hogrefe | Nov 1, 2015 | Fundamentals, Uncategorized | 30 comments

1.1 Photoshop Layer Management

2.1 Color Overlay

2.2 Atmospheric Fog

2.3 Adjusting the levels

2.4 Image Softening

3.1 Clay Model

3.2 Simple Base Renderings: V-Ray

3.3 Simple Base Renderings: Kerkythea

4. Controlling Light Manually with Photoshop:

4.1 PS Ambient Occlusion

4.2 PS Window Light

Post Processing: Photoshop.

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