Yuejiang Road (Canton Tower-South China Expressway) Riverside Section Landscape Environment Enhancement Design Competition (hereinafter referred to as “design competition”)
Ⅱ.Design Competition Background
In August 2021, the 15th Plenary Session of the 11th Guangzhou Municipal Committee formulated a work deployment plan to promote high-quality development of the Pearl River coastal area, oriented to high ecological protection standards, oriented by high-quality development of composite functional areas, high-quality public spaces, and cultural charms that highlight Lingnan’s unique characteristics. This will build a world-class waterfront vitality area that comprehensively and accurately implements the new development concept.
The section from Guangzhou Bridge on Yuejiang Road to South China Expressway is the launch and demonstration section of Guangzhou’s work deployment plan for promoting high-quality development along the Pearl River coastal area. Located at the intersection of the central axis of the Guangzhou New City and the former waterway of Pearl River, it connects a series of functional sites and landmarks such as the Haixin Bridge, Guangzhou International Media Harbor, Canton Tower, Party Pier, and internet clusters.
In order to implement the idea of ecological civilization construction, the execution of people-centric development concept, and addressing the needs of Guangzhou’s comprehensive urban functions, comprehensive urban cultural strength, modern international business environment and services, these key requirements will serve as inputs and guidance to the construction of the high-quality development demonstration section along the Pearl River coastal area, and Yuejiang Road (Canton Tower-South China Expressway) Riverside Section Landscape Environment Enhancement Design Competition work.
The design competition is co-sponsored by Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and Guangzhou Urban Construction Investment Group Co. Ltd. The Guangzhou Urban Planning and Research Center will represent the Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau as the technical advisory unit, and Guangzhou Xin Zhongzhou Construction Co. Ltd will be the design competition organizer. Guangzhou Urban Planning Association and Guangzhou Urban Investment Development Research Institute Co. Ltd will be the technical consultants, and Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co. Ltd will be the organizational planning unit.
Ⅲ.Scope of design competition
The scope of design competition comprises of research scope and design scope (see Annex 1 for details).
(I) Research scope
The research scope includes the former waterway of Pearl River, west of Bidao Yuejiang Road demonstration section, the 3.6 km riverside section from Guangzhou Bridge to South China Expressway and its deep hinterland, covering an area of about 87.5 hectares.
(II) Design scope
The design scope is to the west of Bidao Yuejiang Road demonstration section, and the 3.6 km riverside section from Guangzhou Bridge to South China Expressway, covering an area of about 27.5 hectares.
Ⅳ.Content of Design Competition
The content comprises of 3 separate parts: Peripheral coordination research; Overall improvement design; Key landmark/functional site design. For specific requirements, see Annex 2 《Design Task Requirements for Yuejiang Road (Canton Tower-South China Expressway) Riverside Section Landscape Environment Enhancement Design Competition》。
Ⅴ. Design Competition Registration
(I) Registration Requirements
The following items 1-5 are mandatory requirements for registration, and item 6 is for reference only.
i. The design competition accepts domestic design companies individually or collectively as a consortium, and registration of consortium of overseas design companies. Registration of natural persons or combinations of natural persons are not accepted. Overseas design companies must form a consortium with domestic design companies for registration. Overseas design companies must form a consortium with domestic design companies for registration. Both domestic and foreign design companies must complete legal and effective company registration at their locations; Design companies with shareholding structure as predominantly overseas based shareholding ratio will be regarded as overseas design companies. The number of design companies forming a consortium shall not exceed three, and each design company in the consortium shall no longer participate in the competition in its own name or form a new consortium with other design companies . When registering a consortium, it is mandatory to submit the “Consortium Agreement” and specify the main unit of the consortium in the agreement (see Annex 3 for details).
ii. Different design companies with the same person in charge or with controlling or management relationship shall not register separately or join different consortium at the same time.
iii. Designers participating in the design competition should be employees of the design companies , and the lead designer should participate throughout the entire competition process; the lead designer should also be an employee of the main unit of the consortium.
iv. The participating team should comprise of personnel from multi-professional disciplines including but not limited to urban planning and design, architectural design, garden landscaping, transportation, and municipal government administration.
v. The team should be able to prepare and present conceptual proposals that meets the design task requirements of the design competition.
vi. Lead designers with the following requirements are preferred:
（i）Recipients of industry or national awards/honors；
（ii）Comprehensive design research capabilities and practical experience in first-tier megacities design projects;
（iii）Comprehensive capabilities and hands-on experience in the detailed design of central business district, central vitality zones, urban core landmarks and surrounding waterfront areas design projects;
（iv）Extensive experience in ecological landscaping and environmental design projects.
（v）Extensive experience in planning and creating high-quality public leisure space.
（vi）Proven track record of delivering completed waterfront landscape environment enhancement design projects.
(Ⅱ ) Registration time
Chinese Standard Time: From 30 September 2021, 2:30pm to 21 October 2021, 5pm (acceptance time for on-site submission of registration materials is from 10am to 5pm on working days; No submissions on statutory holidays).
(III) Registration Procedure
i. The design Company shall email the registration presentation document and the “Design Company Profile List” (detailed requirements can be found in “(4) Design Competition Registration Documents” of this announcement ), at least 3 days before the registration deadline (i.e. before 18 October 2021, 17:00), to email address: yuejianglujingsai@163.com
ii. All registration materials, prepared in accordance with “(4) Design Competition Registration Documents” of this announcement, must be delivered on-site or by mail delivery to the receiving address before the registration deadline. The registration is deemed successful if the registration materials are delivered before the registration deadline (subject to mail delivery receipt or on-site receipt record). If the registration materials are not delivered before the deadline due to mailing and other reasons, all consequences arising from mailing and other reasons shall be borne by the participating design companies.
The receiving address is as follows:
Name of receiver: Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co, Ltd
Attention: Mr Liang
Tel: +86 13535323251, +86 20-61101333-1870
Address: Bidding agency Department, 18th floor, No. 4, Guangwei Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong （Ⅳ）Design Competition Registration Documents
i .The following documents should be in A4 format in accordance with Annex III “Registration Document Format”. The total number of pages should not exceed 200 with double-sided printing on paper less than 80g. The documents should be bound as a single volume with soft cover. The original volume and two copies to be sealed together. The original volume is stamped with the design company’s official seal according to the position marked in the format document, and also stamped on the edges of all pages (For a consortium, the page stamping will only require the main unit’s official seal).
According to the 《Selection Rules for the Yuejiang Road (Canton Tower-South China Expressway) Riverside Section Landscape Environment Enhancement Design Competition》(refer to Annex 6), the following points (1) to (7) are mandatory materials for compliance review and hence they need to be prepared strictly to the requirements as stipulated in Annex 3 《Registration Document Format》。
（i）《Registration Information Sheet for Participating Design Company》 (to be signed and affixed with official seals).
（ii）Official registration confirmation letter.
（iii）Consortium Agreement (only applicable to design companies registered as a consortium).
（iv）Name of design company and listing of relevant qualifications (provide a copy of qualification certificates).
（v）Brief Introduction and registration information of the design company (provide a copy of the relevant registration certificate or business license, and if the overseas design company is represented by its branch in China, it should provide a description of the branch’s shareholding structure).
（vi）Certificate of legal representative (original), power of attorney of legal representative (original) (applicable to domestic design companies or domestic design companies in a consortium); certificate of person in charge of design company (original), power of attorney of person in charge of design company (Original) (Applicable to overseas design companies or overseas design companies in a consortium); a copy of the authorized person’s valid personal identity documents.
（vii）Lead designer’s letter of employment and letter of commitment for participation in the entire design competition process.
（viii）Lead designer’s detailed resume and relevant experience & achievements.
（ix）Design experience and achievements of similar projects undertaken by design companies (since January 1, 2016).
（x）Professional experience and achievements of the designers in the participating teams.
（xi）Understanding of the tasks of the design competition (including but not limited to the understanding of the design requirements of the competition, overall design objectives, design strategies, analysis of critical success factors, etc. Presentation of conceptual design proposals and usage of simple sketches to convey design ideas.
（xii）Other information deemed necessary by the design company.
ii. A conceptual proposal should be provided in response to the design task requirements of the design competition. It should be typeset horizontally in A3 format, with 25mm reserved for the left gutter, and printed on no more than 4 pages (double-sided) and on paper below 80g. 8 sets of documents are to be printed.
iii.Concurrently, the following documents should be copied to a USB flash drive (the total size of all documents shall not exceed 200M) and replicated to another similar flash drive. Both flash drives are to be sealed together with the registration materials.
（i）The above-mentioned bound documents need to be scanned as *.pdf files after the original is stamped.
（ii）The above-mentioned conceptual proposal to be exported as *.JPG file, with an image resolution no less than 300dpi.
（iii）Registration Presentation Document: The design company’s introduction, related achievements, understanding of the tasks of the design competition and introduction of the design team to be included in a *.pptx/*.ppt format presentation file (within 30 pages, 16:9 aspect ratio, containing Chinese translations, refer to Annex 5 for the format specifications). 8 sets of documents are to be printed.
（iv）List of Registered Design Companies (Refer to Annex 4 for format specifications).
Ⅵ. Design Competition Approach
（Ⅰ）Selection of participating design companies
The design competition will adopt an online registration approach, through publication of the design competition announcement on official websites, accepting public registration of domestic and overseas design companies, and selection and ranking by industry experts. The top 8 design companies are selected as the participating companies, and the 9th-10th will be considered as reserved participating companies. If there are less than 8 design companies that satisfy the qualifications for the design competition, the organization unit may decide to extend the registration time or reorganize the registration work according to the project situation. if the participating design companies give up its qualification for any reason before the technical documents are released and after the determination of the participating design companies, they will be replaced, in turn, by the reserved participating design companies. The organizing unit will issue formal invitation letters to the selected participating design companies, and the design competition proposals submitted by the other design companies that are not formally invited will not be accepted.
The selection results of participating design companies for the design competition will be announced before 29 October 2021 (tentative). （Ⅱ）Release of design competition technical documents
The official technical document release meeting of the design competition project will be held in Guangzhou. Both site survey and Q&A will be organized at the same time. The tentative date will be 4 November 2021, where the exact location and date specified in the invitation letter shall prevail. （Ⅲ）Proposal outcome submission deadline
The deadline for submission of the design competition proposal outcome is tentatively set before 5pm, 5 January 2022. All participating design companies must submit the design competition proposal outcome documents to the designated location before the deadline, subject to the actual date of receipt. （Ⅳ）Proposal evaluation approach
The proposal evaluation approach of the design competition comprises of two stages: the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposal and proposal evaluation. The review committee will first review the feasibility of all proposal outcomes and determine the effectiveness of the proposals. Unfeasible proposals may not enter the proposal evaluation stage.
The proposal evaluation committee will review the effectiveness outcome of the proposals, and shortlist three proposals by voting on the basis of detailed comparison and careful assessment of the design competition technical documents. （Ⅴ）Evaluation approach of awarding winning proposal
The top 3 design companies of the design competition project are required to submit business documents and project team information, etc., as required by the organizing unit.
The review committee will evaluate the above mentioned documents and award one winning proposal by vote. （Ⅵ）Fee payment arrangement
i.Design Competition Cost Compensation Fee
For participating design companies (consortium is regarded as one participating design company) confirmed by experts committee as having feasible design proposals, they can receive a cost compensation fee of RMB 800,000.00.
ii. Bonus for winning proposal
Upon confirmation of winning proposal by experts committee, and after submitting the display model as required by the organizing unit, the design company of the winning proposal will receive a bonus of RMB 500,000.00 on top of the cost compensation fee. That is to say, the winning participating design company will receive a total of RMB 1,300,000.00.
iii.Proposal integration and expansion fee
The winning participating design company that has been granted the rights and successfully submits the integration and expansion proposal outcome that meets the requirements as specified by the organizing unit, will receive a total of RMB 1,000,000.00 in addition to the cost compensation fee and bonus. That is to say, the participating organization will receive a total of RMB 2,300,000.00.
iv.Mode of Payment
The design competition cost compensation, bonus and proposal integration and expansion fees are all paid in RMB and shall be settled by the organizer of the design competition with the participating design companies, and any taxes incurred shall be borne by the participating design companies. The cost compensation, bonus and proposal integration and expansion fees will be paid in RMB to domestic participating design companies in China.
Clarification:
( i ) Participating design companies whose design competition proposal outcomes are deemed unfeasible by the review committee will not be eligible for any design competition cost compensation, bonuses and fees.
( ii ) The cost compensation fee of this design competition includes all the costs incurred by the participating design companies during the design competition (including but not limited to design fees, results production costs, design research costs, travel costs incurred for holding relevant project communication meetings, design copyright fees, relevant taxes, etc.). No other expenses will be paid.
Ⅶ. Design competition deposit
No deposit is required for the design competition.
Ⅷ. Other key notes:
(Ⅰ) The design competition is governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China, and the competition work and all documents are subject to Chinese laws. In case of dispute, if negotiation fails, it shall be submitted to the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission for arbitration. The arbitration shall be final and binding on all parties.
(Ⅱ) If there is any discrepancy between the design competition announcement and the official Technical Document of the Design Competition, the official Technical Document of the Design Competition shall prevail.
(Ⅲ) In case of any inconsistency between the English and Chinese versions of the design competition announcement, the Chinese version of the announcement shall prevail.
(Ⅳ) All registration materials will not be returned. All design competition registration documents and design competition proposal outcome documents must be prepared in Chinese.
(Ⅴ) Participating design companies only have the signatory rights to the design competition proposal outcomes, other intellectual property rights belong to the organizer and sponsors of the design competition.
(Ⅵ）Overseas design companies must obtain authorization from their headquarters to participate in the design competition.
The announcement is published on AIMIR’s website now. If you want to know more following details regarding to this competition, please feel free to contact AIMIR. What’s more, you’re more than welcome to touch base with us if you need architectural visualization.
At AIMIR, the price of a 3D rendering is fixed in a range, which varies depending on the workload.However, there are occasions where extra charges occur. If you are looking for ArchViz service, price should be one of the most concerning issues to you. Today, we are here to list the situations AIMIR have confronted where you need to pay extra for your interior renderings. Hope it helps with your future projects.
Basically, the price of an interior rendering is determined in the quotation phase and may change during the production (when the design changes). Let’s follow the chronological order and start from the quotation phase.
QUOTATION
An interior project can be categorized by aspects such as Project Type, Size of Space, Floor, FF&E Customization, File Completeness, Design Style, and Veracity Requirement. Please note the following aspects are listed for general reference only. Exceptions do apply.
A. Project Type
It is very clear that more workload is needed for a public building (e.g. an airport terminal building’s interior) than a residential one (e.g. a bedroom). With 16 years architectural visualization experience, we’ve summarized the workload from light to heavy for various types of projects:
Residential, such as interiors for houses, apartments, and dormitories, including front door, living room, dining space, den, working space, bedroom, kitchen, toilet, and bathing room. Workload: it depends but mainly around ★ to ★★
Public:
Educational, such as interiors for kindergartens, schools, and libraries, including lobby, corridor, atrium, classroom and more. Workload: ★
Medical, such as interiors for hospitals, rehabs and nursing houses, including examining room, surgery room, and ward. Workload: ★
Office, such as office rooms and meeting rooms. Workload: ★☆
Commercial, such as shopping malls, restaurants, cinemas and more. Workload: ★★
Exhibition, such as museums, aquariums, and exhibition centers, including exhibition space, gallery and more. Workload: ★★
Amusement, such as casinos, KTVs, bars, clubs, ballrooms and more. Workload: ★★☆
Sports center, such as stadiums, swimming pools, boxing clubs, and fitness centers, including various spaces for sports games and amenities. Workload: ★★★
Transport, such as coach transiting centers, train stations, ports, and airport terminal buildings. Workload: ★★★
B. Size of Space
As to the space, larger space needs more workload than smaller one. For instance, the workload for a kitchen is lighter than a restaurant, and more workload is needed for a museum.
C. Floor
When we say residential is relatively easier than commercial, we are taking the floors into consideration. The interior rendering for an apartment obviously requires less work than for a 3-story shopping mall.
D. FF&E Customization
It matters a great deal. Whether you’d like to have the Furniture, Fixture or Equipment tailored will affect the price of an interior rendering. Sometimes, designers who are after extreme veracity would ask for customization, which in turn, results in raise in cost. However, you can choose from our library if you’d like to avoid this.
E. File Completeness
It is understandable that the file is not complete when the project starts. But we do need complete file especially the model to start the project, to avoid possible back-and-forth. The price of a 3D rendering is determined by if complete file is received, or only CAD plans are provided, or only sketches or references are available (which AIMIR is good at. Please see From Hand Sketches to Renderings).
F. Design Style
Maybe you haven’t thought about it, but the design style does affect the workload of an interior rendering. Contemporary, traditional, rustic farmhouse, coastal, French country, Scandinavian…They can be functional, classy, and stylish, but when it comes to workload, they are not just a consistent theme.
The workload of Minimalist is lighter than Art Deco, apparently. It also has something to do with the FF&E customization as mentioned in section D.
G. Veracity Requirement
This is super easy to understand: the more detailed and realistic the scene is, the more workload is needed. But please keep in mind, AIMIR is famous for its photo-realistic architectural visualization. So, the quality is surely guaranteed, and we’re talking about the additional requirement here.
DURING THE PRODUCTION
Any adjustment or change of the design is accepted during the production, although some of them may generate expenses. Of course, the additional cost depends on the extra workload. Please refer to the following occasions on possible additional cost:
A. About FF&E.
Additional fee occurs during the production when high demand in FF&E customization is necessary in order to cater for agreed image quality, but no FF&E customization is included in the contract per clients’ request in the first place.
In this case, no additional charge is applied for simple and basic FF&E modeling. But we charge extra for complicated and substantial FF&E customization. A prior notice and negotiation are conducted in advance to make sure both sides are on the same page.
B. In case of same camera angle with different designs.
In this case, the extra fee is determined by specific requirements of each design. Theoretically, the additional cost is affected by the following two aspects:
The area being modified: the larger the size is the more workload is needed;
The aspect being modified, following the workload from light to heavy, which normally are: texture only; model only; texture & model; texture, model, and layout.
C. When the design is constantly changing.
This is the last situation both our 3D team and architect/designer want to see. However, it is not uncommon. We understand the design change is inevitable sometimes, and the ultimate merit of architectural visualization lies in here: visualizing designs before they’re completed. However, major design change may greatly increase the workload, sometimes even equals reworking a new image.
Even AIMIR is willing to accept simple and minor revisions but this doesn’t mean unlimited requests are reasonable and accepted. It usually happens at the concept design stage of the project or architect is not very certain about the design or there has no complete consensus between owner and designer with the final design. What should AIMIR and client do then? Absolutely it’s not our intention to charge extra fees, instead we are happy to provide 3-5 rounds of free modifications and kindly remind you to give us finalized feedback to return to the right track, we can on hold the project and wait patiently until you are ready to continue.
There is a basic principle in 3D rendering industry, that where cannot be seen will not be modeled. In other words, 3D model work is done based on the confirmed view angles. If it is a small adjustment like moving the camera a little bit, AIMIR is happy to do it.
If radical change of the view angle is inevitable, it will generate extra charge. For example, a 180-degree rotation will greatly increase the modeling workload.
AIMIR respects all our clients’ opinions and is willing to make any accepted reasonable alterations before confirming the final image in order to produce high-quality renderings for you. However, once the Final Image Confirmation Letter is signed, any change/adjustment/modification will occur extra cost. Because the signed letter refers to the drafts of final images are deemed to have met your requirements, and you’re satisfied with the quality of AIMIR renderings, no additional revisions will be raised basically.
But, if any changes are indeed inevitable, AIMIR is willing to check out and help within our scope of acceptance, or we will consult with you first for the potential fees according to the actual increased workload.
F. Canceling view(s) after the work’s done.
Canceling views isn’t a wise decision when we have reached an agreement. What has done cannot be undone. Thus, the workload that has been done of the canceled view will still be charged. In addition, as quantity is an important factor in our quote, we may have to adjust our price based on the new number of views in some cases.
Once you’ve taken the above factors into consideration before going into the 3D rendering production, you’re on the journey of a good interior rendering already. To streamline your rendering cooperation and avoid additional cost, please feel free to contact our architectural visualization studio now!
Architects are often confronted with situations where they need to report to the city, or present for marketing. Luckily, architectural visualization is the perfect tool for them. 3D renderings are smart demonstration for the concept of yet-to-be-built buildings, and 3D animations create an immersive and engaging experience for the design in a visually-stunning and memorable way.
Eleazar from C* Architects has been one of our regular clients, who brought us an urgent project in July 17th 2021. It is a 3-tower project in the intersection of Second Avenue and Peabody Steet in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. They were having a preliminary meeting with the Nashville City Council on August 3rd, and needed to send the presentation to them before July 26th. What they were looking for were about 10 renderings (not confirmed yet) and a one-minute animation in 9 days.
The production process was as smooth as silk, and they are very happy with the results. AIMIR is proud to be part of this amazing project to illustrate this extraordinary design concept, which helped our precious client with their reporting to city council and marketing as well. Let’s check the 3D renderings now!
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Production Specifics
Since it’s a smooth project which strictly follows modeling, texturing, lighting setting, rendering and post-production, we will introduce the specifics during the production instead of going through the full process.
AIMIR is always proud of our crystal clear workflow, and how cooperative our clients are when briefing. Due to the urgency of the project, C* Architects had sorted all files in order in advance. After checking through all the files, AIMIR realized they pay great attention to the garden.
The kite-shape-designed three towers. The garden is around the ground level where visitors interact.
The Garden
Eleazar is a thoughtful partner who prepared the plants references and placement of tree in advance. It saved plenty of time. In this architectural visualization project, they are looking for 11 different types of trees and more flowers to enrich these towers.
As AIMIR’s long-term partner, Eleazar has abundant experience giving comments. The landscape is not included in the 3Ds Max model, thus he hand-marked the arrangement of each tree and flower.
Clear mark-ups of tree placement for a specific camera angle.
Mark-ups on important points not included in the model.
It did take a couple of rounds to perfect the greenery of this beautiful project, which both sides were satisfied with.
Camera Angles
In the beginning of the production, 6 camera angles were confirmed to proceed, but Eleazar was not sure about other views. He was pretty sure he wanted about 10 views to demonstrate this project. In this case, as a professional consultant visualizer, AIMIR’s 3D artists proposed some camera angles from our perspective of view.
We had proposed 32 views which we think are good to use.
It didn’t take too long to determine the final camera angles. Extra 5 views were selected by Eleazar which made up to 11 camera angles in total. They are: 4 aerial views; 6 eye-level views; 1 low angle view.
11 confirmed camera angles.
The Animation Logo
In the end of the animation, Eleazar wanted to add a logo. It is very interesting that the logo is specially designed from the façade of the three towers. They took one pattern out of the façade of each building, which are two Ts and one diamond, forming a unique logo representing this fantastic project.
The forming process of the special designed “T♢T” logo. Isn’t it smart?
After the Final Delivery
Eleazar told us the reporting went well and the Nashville City was processing with their project. They are planning to use the visualization works to market on their website and other channels.
Working with Eleazar was a sheer pleasure, and we are so proud of how this project turned out. AIMIR was impressed by his design, as well as his professional way of communicating. It is always our pleasure working with C* Architecture. When an architect and his or her 3D visual team are entranced by the concept and design, magic happens!
Would you like to demonstrate your visual with mind-blowing impact and style? Then, contact AIMIR architectural visualization studio. We’ll talk about your exciting project and show its unique story in a show-stopping way.
Jim, from M* Architecture, needed 3 renderings and a short animation to market a luxury RV resort in Fredericksburg, Texas. This RV resort is under renovation now and will be open to the public next year. Before its grand opening, they need images and animations for marketing purposes. They had the project rendered but the result was not satisfying. Jim contacted our architectural visualization studio for redoing the 3D visuals. Because photorealistic 3D renderings and animations can show the future look of the design, and the mood of the space.
The results turned out to be very pleasing. Jim told us their team are highly satisfied with the results, and the marketing team came up with good feedbacks as well. Read on and find out the story of Vineyard Hills RV Resort!
The Purpose of the Project
Location of the site.
Fredericksburg has a unique identity created by the collection of historic homes and businesses in its downtown core. This area developed over many years in a unique German Hill Country style based on stone building material. Therefore, the project design should ensure the development protects and enhances the experience of entering Fredericksburg and keeps its consistent, attractive, and responsive to the unique Hill County character. Thus, Jim needed:
Renderings should reflect the basic building materials of exterior main wall stucco with stone wainscot, heavy timber wood exposed structure with Galvanized metal standing seam roofs.
The placement of trees are important, since there are changes when construction completed. Renderings should place existing trees and added trees as indicated in site plan.
At least 1 aerial view is needed to show around the masterplan of the resort.
Brief: What We Have
Jim really knows how to brief. This is our first corporation, but he sent us all relevant materials that we needed to create the visuals for this resort, which includes:
The main club house plans;
Site plans;
Site tree placement;
Site photos for reference;
Floor plan & elevations of the main club house;
Renderings they have done before;
References of the mood they want, tree info, and other references.
The site plan, floor plan, elevations and profiles.
References for trees and the site photos
Previously done renderings, they are not happy with them.
We have carefully studies the materials, and decided to start creating both the renderings and animation.
The Workflow of 3D Rendering
1 – Modelling of the building and landscape
No matter it is for rendering or animation, modelling is always the first step to start with. Since CAD plans were what we got at hand, our 3D artists built the model based on the plan. This is a process to make 3D happen using 2D plans.
Model built according to CAD plans.
2 – Texturing & setting the lighting
Before entering to the texturing process, Jim figured out the camera angles they wanted. After a couple of rounds, the camera angles were set, which are a front door view, a view from under the canopy, and an aerial view of the whole site. We stepped to texture and material procedure.
3 camera angles from the site plan.
A good example of mark-ups.
References for textures and materials.
Using all the information, our 3D artists carefully chose appropriate textures for the 3D model. After all textures were applied, we proceeded to set the illumination according to Jim’s advice.
Jim wanted all 3 renderings to be daytime mood with gentle sunshine. This is a good choice, because the resort will be easily seen during the day. However, our team suggested Jim to keep 2 of them with day while 1 with dusk. With our rich experience in choosing moods, we believe a dusk mood for a RV resort is necessary, and it’s a perfect time to show the viewer the resort under different time. We tried to set a dusk mood for the front door view and then sent to Jim, he was excited and accepted our suggestion. As a professional CGI consultant, AIMIR is always proud of giving out useful advice which help our clients get the best visualization experience.
3 – Rendering
This resort is surrounded by the beautiful forest, which makes it a challenge to set the landscape natural and realistic. For the plants, we chose the ready 3D models of the accurate kinds from our library, and render them with the whole scene. This is a better way to make the landscape natural.
4 – Post-production
One of the most challenging jobs during post-production is the RV selection. This is a luxury RV resort, so they must have very strict selection of RV range. As a result, we asked Jim about it, and Jim sent us their preference for the RV immediately.
From luxury buses to airstream trailers, they need luxury RVs with different colors.
Let’s see the final 3D renderings for this luxury RV resort!
Modelling for animation is way more complicated than for rendering. The 3D animation was to take the viewers around this luxury RV resort. Therefore, extreme detailed model was expected.
AIMIR’s CG specialists spent twice the time refining the details of the model, in order to demonstrate the project under various cameras, such as aerial view and close-up shot.
Model for animation is more detailed.
2 – Setting storyboard and camera path
What interesting was that M* Architects didn’t have a storyboard in mind. Instead, they chose to give AIMIR the freedom to create this animation. The only requirement was to create a video that showcased the whole resort and got people’s activities involved to present a dynamic and fancy luxury RV resort. AIMIR presented a camera path as below and Jim was very happy with it.
AIMIR’s design:
starting with an aerial day view with basic information of location;
entering the resort from the entrance along to the clubhouse following an RV;
scenes of the entertainment area, such as the swimming pool, BBQ space, and others;
ending with an aerial night view of the site.
3 – Key frames
Once the camera path was confirmed, our CG specialists started to process key frames. Key frames are a bit like rendering images. They help our clients to understand how the animation will look like in some key images and also the texture, lighting and other aspects are being examined during this process.
Key frames.
4 – Scene Rendering, motion graphics and post-production
Since we have Jim’s trust, we decided to directly show him the final work. We rarely do this, because there are always inevitable disagreement or changes of the design, camera path, material, colors or anything relevant during the production. For this project, we are confident on our design and work, given our 16-year experience in creating visualization, especially our rich experience for this type of projects.
The result turned out to be satisfying. Just after a couple of rounds adjusting, they were satisfied with the animation. Please have a view of the final animation (or click here).
The Marketing Helper
Since the project was completed a week ago, Jim told us they are organizing information of the resort and will post these images and animation on their website as soon as they sort them out. We will update any information relating to their marketing results when we have them. The only thing we know right now, is they are happy with the works and have confidence in the upcoming promotion.
Photorealistic 3D rendering and animation for resort are a strong tool for marketing because they show the design of the unbuilt but also the vibe of this place. In our renderings and animation, the viewer can experience the resort’s facilities and services such as swimming pools, alcohol bar, rental cabins, and various activities they can take on site. This is what a RV resort about!
What do you think about this luxury RV resort project? Comment below and share your opinion with us. If you need any image or animation or marketing promotion, please contact AIMIR for architectural visualization services. We have tailored 3D rendering and 3D animation services for your unique project!
3D renderings not only help with marketing, but also help your project to get approval from the city council. S* Architects is AIMIR’s long-term client who is a multifunctional corporation of high-end property design and development across the world. Wilshire Courtyard project is a redevelopment of an existing office complex in Los Angeles and transforming the underutilized site into a new mix-used destination on LA’s highly desirable Miracle Mile.
AIMIR has created 3 photorealistic renderings for Wilshire Courtyard project. During the process, multiple modifications were made to meet the requirement from the LA city council. Let’s take a look at this beautiful project first.
In 2020, S* Architects found us saying they need a couple of renderings for a project to get approval from the city council. They sent us a brief and all supporting files including the model, requirement checklist (what AIMIR sent them during our previous cooperation) and various references. Everything was clear and straightforward. So, we reviewed the files and started the production right away. We aimed to finish the project in a week.
Part of the references.
Challenges & Solutions
Although the supporting files and documents seemed to be complete, we still confronted a couple of challenges during the project. Here are AIMIR’s solutions:
High-end glass quality and people activities inside of buildings
The feature of the design is the two subtly-sculpted towers (35 and 41 stories) with chamfered edges creating a bold new composition and identity for this highly visible site. S* Architects hoped to present high-end glass quality of the façade and entourage inside the building to show people working activities. Thus, AIMIR recommended to have a twilight view – for better presentation of the glass material and human activities.
The “fin” design under the bridges linking the towers
The other challenge was to showcase the “fins” under the bridges linking the two towers. As the below image, these fins are designed colorful to be one of the featured decorations. In order to achieve this, our 3D artists put more lighting to highlight these spaces.
Green planting across the project
One of the biggest challenges is the planting. This project was designed for bio-friendly with sustainable features. S* Architects wanted to show the façade with plants in a wild state but in some way well-organized by mullions. AIMIR tried different options per provided references, and other references online. As a result, you can see green plants with natural order across the garage floors (bottom 8 stories) and outdoor terraces between the towers.
Glazing façade of garage floors
With the concept “visual texture”, the glass façade of garage floors (bottom 8 stories) is modeled as one single continuous plane for the whole tower façade. Thus, we split up the garage panels to be able to apply additional texture to individual panels. We used 3 different materials and allocated them as random as possible to avoid a single repeating pattern.
Process
As one of our most loyalty partner, the collaboration between S* Architects and AIMIR is very smooth and easy without back-and -forth. Please check the process of these beautiful renderings.
After the Final Delivery
We are more than thrilled to hear from S* Architects that the local city council has granted this amazing project after one more rendering was added one year later (this rendering is currently under our confidential policy and will not be posted before it is allowed to). These renderings played their role in this process, and a satisfactory result was achieved.
Okay, this is the story behind making of Wilshire Courtyard project. 3D renderings help get the approval from city council in a vivid and immersive way. If you are looking for a visualizer to help you on anything, please feel free to contact us at info@aimircg.com
The kite-shape-designed three towers. The garden is around the ground level where visitors interact.
