Rendering Intent: To Illustrate or to Sell

Not every rendering is created equal. Some renderings have different purposes than others, and to take a broad brush, one size fits all approach to renderings is doing a disservice to your designs. You need to decide whether your intent for this rendering is to sell or illustrate the design before you start. Keeping that in mind will make your rendering more successful.

A rendering to sell is meant to convince someone that a design is the right way to move forward. It is usually intended for a client, but it can also be internal to get sign off from a superior. It is usually in the concept stage, but can also be later in the design cycle. It could be a rendering for an advertisement, for sales to sell to retailers or to enter in a design contest. Think of the look of the products you see when you flip through your favorite magazine. The lighting is dramatic, with strong highlights and heavy shadows. Parts of the design that are not as good looking as others are hidden from view or in shadow. There is a lot of contrast. Reflective materials are more reflective than they would be in reality. Colors are vibrant. The product is either in context, or on a dark or colored background (hopefully a complementary color!) This is an opportunity to be creative. Ask yourself what would make this design more attractive, engaging or interesting.

On the other hand, a rendering intended to illustrate a design shows off design features, construction and added value. This type of rendering would mainly be used to discuss with other internal designers or engineers, but it can also be to explain to another departments or external suppliers. It is almost always in the implementation side of the design cycle, but can be a concept tool as well. The most important thing is to make the rendering read. Viewers of the rendering should be able to read what the form/shape, materials are design intent just as if they were reading words off a page. The lighting needs to make the design clear. Enough light needs to hit every part of the design, without making the design look flat. Levels and the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop are very useful for this. Background needs to contrast the design so the negative / positive space is clearly defined. The materials and finishes need to be clearly distinguishable. The viewing angle should be chosen to give as much information as possible. It is important to establish scale, so an outlined hand or person added afterward is almost always useful. Adding dimensions are appreciated by those who require them, and will fall to the background of those who don’t.

Keep in mind that making one rendering to illustrate everything can be time consuming; if another view would show off another aspect better, include it. Err on the side of having too many renderings than not enough. Being able to generate multiple views quickly is one of the main advantages to designing in 3D CAD. Orthographic views in addition to a 3/4 view are great in that respect. The bottom line is to remove all the guess work or speculation from the design. Try to step back, and think of what the rendering would mean if you knew nothing about the project.

The world isn’t black and white; sometimes a rendering is meant to both illustrate and sell. I’ll let you toe that line as the situation calls for. I have success still separating the two, but presenting them together. When I am making up a presentation board, I always have a “hero shot” and some more illustrative views. This usually means a couple of dimensioned ortho views with a large, dramatic 3D shot.

I am sure there are many ways you can think of to make your renderings sell better or read more clearly if you think about it before starting the rendering process. Having a clear goal with your rendering is the single most powerful thing you can do to create great renderings.