Design software again...

[Alan Ambrose]

Hi, I'm looking for software to do this kind of fairly professional graphic (below) and also the 'drop 3D design into context photo'. Anyone, done that, know how?

 

I'm a dab-hand with Fusion 360 and other engineering-style CAD/CAM stuff but those don't do fancy renders with trees and shading and cars . 

 

 

[Kelvin]

I used Virtual Architect 11 but find it quite hard to use but that’s mostly down to me. However the output is pretty good. I also used RoomSketcher for the internals. That’s really easy to use so I’ve spent more time with that. 

[ETC]

Try Sketchup. Easy to use and free if you use the web-based option.

[Kelvin]

Quick example of render quality

[Alan Ambrose]

@KelvinThanks for the example. Do you think it is possible to dial down the colour saturation in Virtual Architect?

[Kelvin]

I’ll have a look as I rendered that picture

[Kelvin]

Best I could do by fiddling with the brightness and gamma

[Alan Ambrose]

Ah yeah, many thanks.

[Field_of_Dreams]

I don’t use Fusion 360 but do do lots of rendering for a living and use various types of software and workflows.

The images you show could have been done in photoshop over the top of a simple clay rendering. I sometimes use this method and it can work very well. You just render out a clay model in the various orthographic views where you have an “infinite” light (sun) to create the shadows…or you fake them in PS. In simplistic terms, you then apply textures and layer up various things and adjust blend modes and opacities.

 

You could look at Unreal Engine as it is free but the learning curve is steep. A better option would be Twin Motion that might be free still…not totally sure. TM will be better for photorealistic renders and you have access to the Quixel Bridge texture library which is fully loaded with materials suitable for architecture.

 

Most people who produce the images you show will be doing it with PS and some 3D software though.

 

Like most things, there are many ways to do what you want, it is about choosing what works best for you and your budget.

[Papillon]

Draw it in sketchup then send it off to someone off fivrr. They are freelance workers and it’ll cost you like £30.

 

I do a lot of renders and learning the software and picking out the hatches to make them 3D ready is a pain.

[SteamyTea]

16 hours ago, Field_of_Dreams said:

workflows

I have never really understood what that word means with regards to Photoshop.

 

What does it mean?

[Field_of_Dreams]

On 26/01/2023 at 13:17, SteamyTea said:

I have never really understood what that word means with regards to Photoshop.

 

What does it mean?

In my post the word workflow was not specific to PS but the way to achieve the original posters image.

 

For me, workflow means…

 

In regards to creating the image in the original post, I would…

1: Create the house in 3D using Cinema 4D or Vectorworks depending on my exact needs.

2: I would then render it using a render engine of which there are many.

3: I would then take it into PS and apply the necessary layers, blending, fills, overlays, trees etc.

4: I would then finish the overall look in PS. 

 

The above process is my workflow for the above example. Parts 1 & 2 are workflows in themselves in that I have several ways to achieve a result and I would pick the workflow best for that task. With any image creation there are usually several ways to achieve the same thing and I pick the one that best suits the entire workflow as something I do early in the workflow may have a big impact further down the line and a quick solution at the start may cause major issues later on in another piece of software so that has to be factored in and why it is important to choose the right workflow for the job.

[SteamyTea]

6 minutes ago, Field_of_Dreams said:

choose the right workflow for the job.

So basically just the order things are done in.

What I understood it to mean, but got a bit confused when chatting to a customer, who employed an old university classmate and was enthusing about how my old classmate "was doing a great job with workflows in Photoshop".

Guess my customer had to justify the cost of buying PS.

[Adrian Walker]

On 26/01/2023 at 11:07, Papillon said:

Draw it in sketchup then send it off to someone off fivrr. They are freelance workers and it’ll cost you like £30.

 

I do a lot of renders and learning the software and picking out the hatches to make them 3D ready is a pain.

Fiverr or similar is a good place to look. 

[Field_of_Dreams]

8 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

So basically just the order things are done in.

No. That is just a small part of it.
It is more about the software you select for that part of the task and the methods employed in that software (of which there can be many) to achieve the results you want. 
Sometimes you can do everything you need in one bit of software. Other times you might use 8 different programs to achieve the desired result. 

[SteamyTea]

43 minutes ago, Field_of_Dreams said:

the software you select

Right 

Do the same with some of my data. Use a text editor to change the crude .CSV file before importing to Excel, do the calcs and charts, the an image editing package to make charts suitable for posting.

Could use another package to hide a watermark, but don't bother, though I should.