6 Common Cases That Hurt Project Production in Architectural Visualization Services
A successful project cannot proceed smoothly without mutual understanding and joint support from clients. We have faced some cases that are not conducive to the progress in the past 10 years of AIMIR’s practices. Today, we’ll talk about these cases in detail in this blog. And if one day you are reading this blog sent by our manager who in charge of your project, please understand our poor project managers, she/he might have encountered some similar dilemma in the collaboration.
The premise of this article is based on no further changes on delivery date and production cost. The project is just a piece of cake if the client is so well-heeled and gives us enough time. Of course, such a client is our VIP. They are free to arbitrarily squander and we’ll wait on them loyally.
CASE 1 Unclear Original Project Data
Some clients offer us a lot of unsorted data including the new version and the old version, no matter it’s useful or not. Some dates even add up to 10G. We have to spend a lot of time sorting out the files. And sometimes some information may be omitted or repeated. Furthermore, it is even difficult for the client to point out the useful information in stacks of drawings quickly and accurately. Such a headache! Hah, why don’t you just give us the useful files which are efficient for both sides?
Another situation is that project design is rudimentary and there are no clear references, which requires AIMIR to assist the design in the production process. The repetitive communication and testing not only generate extra workload but also waste both parties’ time. Nevertheless, sometimes it is understandable that designers can’t refine a project owing to the time limit, which needs us to assist them to finish the proposal and report to the homeowner. The cost will be much higher than conventional 3d renderings in this situation. After all, it’s still a beneficial bargain for designers, because the design fee is much more expensive than that of renderings.
CASE 2 Delayed Feedbacks
AIMIR requires customers to give feedback within 24 hours after delivering the updated renderings. Timely feedback is very important for on-time delivery, especially for projects with a tight deadline. Although Aimir constantly emphasizes timely feedback and follow up accordingly, there are still some nerve-wracking clients who vanish during the process that we can’t get in touch with them in all ways. And they suddenly come out of nowhere and ask for final renderings when the project is about to be delivered. AIMIR was so vexed because it’s obvious that all the projects require a corresponding production process and necessary production time. We are neither Harry Potter nor Superman. We cannot conjure it for you in a flash. On-time delivery requires the cooperation of both parties. Without customers’ feedback and confirmation, AIMIR cannot unilaterally complete the project. Please be sure to provide timely and complete comments, otherwise, we cannot deliver the final renderings on the agreed schedule.
CASE 3 Overlong Modeling Phase Reduces Time for Rendering＆Post-work
There are three-phase regarding the production process, which are modeling, rendering＆post-work, and final delivery. The first two phases generally take two or three rounds to refine the renderings. It’s required to confirm the model and angle before moving to the next stage. It’s well-known that sufficient time is very crucial to high-quality drawings which take time to upgrade details. While dealing with projects with fixed delivery time, some clients spend plenty of time on angles and design testing at the modeling phase, leaving 1-2 days for rendering＆post-work, even less than 24h. There is no doubt that such a case increases a lot of pressure on post-work. The clients should thank God they came for AIMIR to handle their project because if we don’t have excellent project skills and rich experience, it’s hardly possible to hand over such an urgent project on time. It is necessary to highlight that good quality rendering required enough time. And if you insist on high quality, but not well -cooperate with us, please postpone due time so that we can deal with different details. Otherwise, the quality will take a back seat due to insufficient time.
CASE 4 Lack of Progress Caused by Ambiguous Comments
Clear opinions are beneficial to move forward to the project. They not only save time but also help to move forward smoothly. However, there are some negative examples. For an instant, some clients tend to give us a few words when it comes to feedback, such as “Wrong”, “This effect doesn’t look good”, “I don’t like the tree”, or simply “This is not interesting”.
When this happens, we have to research information and files of the previous project to figure out what goes wrong. This client says the effect doesn’t look good and another one doesn’t like this tree. Which kind of effect and trees do the clients want? Without detailed advice or reference images, we have no idea about what to do because images in our mind may be different from the client’s. After all, different people have different tastes. There is no right or wrong answer about design and vision. In this situation, we hope to have further communication with customers. It’s appreciated if customers can offer us some detailed advice on where need be modified and how to do so as well as reference images of their ideal effect. It would be easy and efficient for us to make corrections. Some of the clients don’t answer the phone or respond to e-mails just stress errors over and over again, which eventually leads to the project stalled. It is doomed to be a lose-lose solution. Quite frankly, what a nightmare for us to come across clients who don’t cooperate with us and trust us! For this reason, several years ago we wrote a blog named 9 Tips on Providing Efficient Comments During Architectural Visualization Process. Hope it is helpful for clients to provide effective comments.
CASE 5 The Repetitious and Ever-change Comments
As an old saying goes: There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Different people will have different feelings or opinions about the same thing. But in the CGI industry, it’s always helpful to have the agreed comments from clients. Different people inside the same company give multiple feedback which leads to repeated changes and modifications. The outcome might be different from the original and the effect would be much worse than the beginning. All the effort we devoted to this project will be in vain. Not only does it waste time, but it also increases the money. It’s not a beneficial deal in all ways.
CASE 6 Do Not Have a Clear Picture of the Design
This is the most difficult case, where the architect/designer doesn’t have a clear picture about the design. In this case, the production process will easily fall into a situation where both sides are not satisfied with the work, and time-consuming at the same time.
At AIMIR, we’re proud of ourselves to be recognized as professional visualization consultant. However, we need our client to know what he/she wants in the design. In turn, we will help design what will be in the image. To be frank, AIMIR is an ArchViz studio which provides high-end rendering works and consulting services at the same time. Thus, we are not responsible for anything beyond. This is to maintain a healthy work process and guarantee the quality of the final works.
There are two reasons why we believe this is a hurt to production process. First, it is extremely time-consuming. The process is more like a test rather than idea exchange, which leads to the second reason: we’re consultant but don’t own the design. The designer should be the one who understand the design most. We don’t hope and are not capable of designing part of the project instead of its original designer.
So, instead of commenting “I don’t like this people here”, “I don’t like the color, replace it”, or “This looks terrible”, please share directly what you really want. You’re more than welcome to share the people you want to add, the color you want to show, or the layout you want to see.
The above cases may result in a terrible impact on project production. As we mentioned in the beginning, the production proceeds smoothly with the cooperation and understanding of both sides. AIMIR as always keeps an open mind and welcome any comments on the project. If you have any questions or doubts, please feel free to drop us a line at any time. Thank you for reading.
