property visualisation
Woodlawn from Architecture in Motion on Vimeo.
Matt Gibson is part of our architectural visualisation team. With over nine years experience within the 3d visualisation industry, he’s a trusted source.
A project that entailed detail, scope and variety and an absolute privilege to be part of was the Woodlawn project for Royalton. A luxury 20,000 sq. ft, 3.6 acre plot located in St Georges Hill, Surrey.
Matt led the project, but where does a major project such as Woodlawn start?
Matt explains, “With any project that arrives in the studio, the key to everything is a detailed brief. This gives us the ability to set out a clear plan of action. The brief was to present a stunning house in it’s expansive landscape. Working with a customer who has a reputation for building the very best properties in the UK, the benchmark was already set. The delivery was for five exterior images, two interior images and an animation film.”
With any project, as well as the rewards there are also challenges when working on a property with such resonance. Matt highlights, “An initial request was to create an animation that was a continuous unbroken camera motion. This would have perhaps resulted in a disorientating film and I truly believe this would not have created an impactful final product. Our preferred route was to edit together separate camera pans and zooms. This helps creates a sense of space and also style to the animation. The final film shows the camera stopping at the end of each sequence. Personally, I would say this has helped by limiting any distortion.”
A key element for any CGI project is the effect of lighting. Matt explains, “We used HDRI lighting which casts beautiful long, soft shadows across the white rendered exterior to give a late summer afternoon feel to the CGIs. I believe this has a huge effect on the final imagery, as detail would be lost in the white rendered building in harsh direct sunlight. The lighting and composition element for a project is always the most interesting.”
With any challenge to produce a CGI product that Matt and the team can be proud of, the rewards come in the form of a sense of achievement. More notably providing a customer the tools to sell to a potential homeowner.
The sense of achievement also becomes something more personal. Matt states, “Working on a project that had such scope, namely stills and animation, can become quite time intensive (as a rough guide was approximately four weeks for the stills and a further three weeks for the animation). When you can stand back at the end of the project and look at something that you are proud of gives an enormous sense of fulfilment.
“Whilst it is always rewarding seeing your work in print and online, knowing that you have taken the project on a journey from initial architect drawings to a the finished article, it becomes a lot more personal, than the pat on the back from your peers.”
The Woodlawn project is a portfolio piece that we can all be proud of at Architecture In Motion. With all projects comes a sense of pride and helping to create experiences for those we work with.
