Looking ahead into a colourful future with renderings

Many people know the problem: Choosing the right colour is one thing. What it will look like once it’s applied is another. Most of the time, the disappointment is huge:

“I imagined this to be a little different…”

Not really a surprise! Colour is an interactive phenomena. Even though colour is (wrongly) described as a “soft factor” when it comes to building-the effect colour has can be prettty hard. Hence why you have to clear on the following facts:

1. 1. No colour is ever isolated or on its own; depending on what colours the surroundings have, it looks different!
2. 2.Furthermore the surface size plays a very important part. The colour scheme in the colour fan - as much as you may like it - doesn’t show what the colour will eventually look like once it’s been applied to the facade-completely different!
3. 3. No colour is independent from the light, that makes said colour visible. But what kind of light will there be on the building where the colour will be applied? Which areas of the building will be in the light, which ones in the shade, what kind of contrasts develop? How does the light change as the day and the year goes by, and how do colours and shades change?
4. 4. Don’t forget: Every coloured surface reflects coloured light! Two walls facing each other in different colours can develop immense effects!
5. 5. How does a structured, slightly rough surface change the colour? What effect does a shiny surface have? What effect does a certain viewing angle have? What effect does the distance a viewer has to the colour have?

Photorealistic high end renderings

Example Karstadt, Munich, Central Station

The rather off putting annex to the Karstadt-building between Stachus and Central Station, built in the 1970, was redesigned by us with several colour solutions (more on the video page).

The basis of our visualisation is a stock photo. With mere image editing however, it is not possible to create a clean, sharp looking visualisation! Hence why we remodelled the visible surfaces of the building digitally and transferred the rendering of the coloured 3D Model into the picture. Of course we made sure that the simulated sun position in the rendering (shadow casting) is identical to that of the picture.

What exactly is ‘rendering’?

“Rendering” is the process of creating a visible image, out of a multitude of technical and unclear planning information, that is very often indistinguishable from a real picture. This process usually takes place under the assistance of a computer calculation that takes many hours.

The basis for our renderings are architectural plans (most of them as .dwg files) or the copy of an “as-built drawing”. Drawn ground plans, outlines and cross sections of buildings are usually not very representative and it requires some practice to be able to interpret them and to be able to create a concrete mental image of what the building will eventually look like.

We transfer the technical data of these plans into a computer program, that is able to not only create two dimensional but also three dimensional models. So the main goal is of a rendering is to create a three dimensional model from two dimensional plans and to transform abstract plans into three dimensional, representational models. To achieve this we cover every visible surface in the rendering with material and the corresponding colours. Furthermore texture and structure, glare, transparency and translucence are also digitally represented in the rendering.

Once all details have been clarified, the model is placed under the “digital sky”, which, in accordance with the laws of physics, simulates the position of the sun at the exact time and the exact geographical place with any given weather condition and therefore provides an exact representation of the lighting under the given circumstances. Additionally it is also possible to recreate artificial light! If the manufacturer of the lamps proves us with the data from the laboratory, we can simulate the light propagation, the lux and the colour temperatures of any given lamp.

Our goal is not to create a dazzling, sensationalist rendering but rather a realistic anticipation of the actual, precise appearance of the final object that is to be painted. This ensures that mistakes and disappointment are avoided.

Get your own impression!