One of the things I spend a lot of time doing is looking closely at and studying the work of other great ArchViz artists. It’s amazing how much you see and, more importantly, how much you learn when you take a long, hard look at their work. I always compare their work with similar real photos whenever possible to see how exactly they worked or what they paid attention to. It starts with the modeling and then goes on to the individual materials and the lighting. There are quite a few people who think that architectural visualizations are boring. But I can tell them that this can be considered the supreme discipline in the 3D field if realism, accuracy and craftsmanship-like dedication are the goals you are striving for.

You can certainly do a lot of tricks in the 3D area or even let the five be straight, but in the ArchViz area, small errors or inaccuracies are immediately visible, with which a work rises or falls. This is mainly due to the fact that we humans generally have a very trained eye when it comes to our surroundings.

I have been following the work of Alex Roman, Bertrand Benoit and Peter Guthrie for over a decade, although when I first discovered them I didn’t have much to do with ArchViz, as my focus was more on concept art or creating game assets. Although I’ve been following them and other ArchViz artists for a very long time, it’s fair to say that I discovered them completely new from today’s perspective. It’s always amazing for me to see that some people praise or rate my work on social media, whereas I personally always think that I’m still a long way from being one of the absolute top professionals and that I still have a lot to learn, although I’m already on the right path in places.

As some of you know, I have quite a few projects in the pipeline at the moment that still need to be completed and for some it may seem like new ones are constantly being added, but none of them are finished. However, there are very mundane reasons for this, as I like to work on different sites at the same time, as this gives me a certain and necessary distance from the individual projects so that I can readjust my focus when I start working on them again from time to time. I also sometimes have medium to large problems with some projects, where I either get stuck at a certain point in order to solve them properly or have to learn or improve a certain workflow in order to make progress. So, we’ve got that out of the way now.

But now I come to the real thing, namely the “AusZeit project”. As I’ve already mentioned, after looking at some of the work of the artists mentioned, I wanted to start a project for myself that, in my eyes, covers everything that has to do with the ArchViz area and also appeals to me personally. As I am incredibly fascinated by wood as a material as well as ceramics and natural stone, I wanted to find a project where I could tie all these elements and their design language into one package. It was also important to me that I set the bar high so that I had to leave my comfort zone. As I know that Bertrand Benoit, for example, models everything down to the last detail himself, this is also one of my requirements. Of course, it would be possible to use other people’s models for the entire interior or accessories, but that would be too easy for me and it would only be half my work. What I do very often, however, is that I sometimes download or even buy other people’s models to take a closer look at them and then use them as a reference to model them myself, paying attention to their clean mesh and topology. However, I am always amazed at how faulty even professional models sometimes are. But I will take up this topic in a separate article.

When I started this project, I first used Pinterest to collect reference images that would be suitable for this project. There are individual pieces of furniture as well as various accessories, materials, colors and lighting moods. I am focusing very strongly on the latter and even more on the individual materials.

Before I started with the actual room where everything will take place, I first modeled individual important objects that are the focus of the scene and to which more weight is attached. Like this fountain pen, the sketchbooks, the paper as well as the table, the table lamp and the cup. Initially, I found this tea service appealing, I like the shape of the teapot, although I will probably remodel this set as this design will ultimately not fit in with the overall concept. But I am already quite happy with this dark ceramic material, as I have created the Corona material in such a way that the surface of this ceramic material shimmers in different colors depending on the incidence of light..

Although I still have to and will model many more objects, I have also started on the room itself in the meantime. At the beginning, I wavered between a rather modern, minimalist, rather clean room and a room that is getting on in years and is based on the good old baroque era. In the end, I opted for the latter, as I think this will increase my personal challenge. I was mainly interested in the material wood and how I could show it off authentically and, above all, realistically. For now, I have to say that I’m generally satisfied, even if not 100%. I will certainly carry out a few more tests and also try out unconventional approaches to increase the realism to such an extent that you literally feel like you can touch the materials.