For architecture and design offices, it has never been more important to have the capability to produce believable, photorealistic 3D renderings of their work. Perspective clients and the general public expect this as a service, and anyone who isn’t doing it might as well stay put under that rock they’ve been trying to practice under for the past two decades.

However, for smaller or medium sized firms, it can be difficult to muster of the proper resources to do that kind of work in house. As we know, high-level 3D rendering is a skill that requires experience, time, and a very specific set of learned skills. And as we also know, architects want to spend their money on architecture, and not always pretty pictures.

The good news is it has never been easier to have 3D rendering and visualization work done outside the office. Outsourcing your firm’s rendering needs is paramount to the future success of the lean, mean, architecture machine.

Taking things further, though, how do we best utilize that outsourced rendering work? If we are going to spend the money to have our work eternalized in glossy, high-definition three dimensions, we better make sure it’s being best utilized for the betterment of the architecture and the office as a whole, right?

Right.

Here are the best ways to utilize outsourced 3D rendering work.

Competitions and Awards

Not all firms spend their down time (as if there is any) designing entries for competitions - especially when larger firms have such a stranglehold on most of them. But, I’d argue that competitions not only make firms better at designing buildings, they provide an avenue for getting your name out there in a way that might be difficult otherwise.

Utilize outsourced rendering services like Easy Render and others to give your competition entries the professional facelift they deserve. It might give your firm a better chance of being noticed, and might even reap some unexpected rewards in the process.

Design Review Meetings

Even small and medium sized firms are going to find themselves face to face with a design review board at one time or another. If you’re practicing in a major metropolitan area (and I’m guessing most of you are), design standards and zoning meetings are simply part of the job description.

To give your designs the best chance of being accepted by the stiffs holding the final stamp of approval, go into those meetings with high-quality renderings that will make saying ‘no’ a whole lot more difficult. These images should best reflect the conceptual nature of the design, and give the board members a better idea of context within the city - something they will be asking about regardless of what you show them.

Office and Website Redesign

Every so often it’s important for architecture and design offices to give their brand a bit of an upgrade. Whether it’s a simple tweak to an existing website, or a complete office overhaul, having a robust collection of high-quality images of work both built and unbuilt will make prospective clients feel obligated to give you a look for their future project.

Even if you aren’t presenting a design to a design review board or entering it in a competition, chances are you can get a lot of value out of having it professionally rendered. By outsourcing this work, you can keep your design fees focused strictly where they matter: on the design itself. But, when you are looking for inspirational images to plaster all over your new office space, you’re going to want to have a quality backlog of renderings to pull from.

The Design Process

There are few better use of outsourcing resources than aiding in the design process itself. The feedback loop is vital to the success of that process, and being able to make design decisions on true-to-life conditions will make the end result all the better.

Being able to quickly render a project during specific stages of the design process will provide architects and designers with the most accurate data to base their critique on. These renderings should get more and more refined as the project moves forward, and be an apt reflection of the completeness of the design along those milestones. Make your design process better by introducing rendering and visualization early and often.