We’re all creating our designs in different combinations of 2D and 3D. Our finished goal is a 3D room/apartment/home that we love! When we share the results of our designs with others, the presentation must be carefully designed too. We need to tell a visual story that helps us showcase and make our designs easy to understand. Now is the time to start thinking like a photographer. Light, perspective, composition and countless other things have to be considered. HQ Images help us tell a story that looks like it’s already done!
My first step is to create a mental storyboard that moves through the room(s) in a natural way and finishes up back near the starting point. A 2D plan view is great for this step. It allows me to see the locations and angles to get the best images. Usually, I start near the entrance and work my way around the project taking Snapshots at my pre-selected spots and looking for other interesting shots too. I arrange my images into a storyboard and that becomes the backbone of my presentation.
A big benefit of doing this is to find out where I want to use my HQ Images for the biggest effect. Using a stunning HQ Image is an excellent way to start a presentation!
Take a close look at images in architectural design magazines or online. You may notice that all the walls are straight up and down, not slanted. Professional photographers achieve this with expensive tilt-shift lenses – here in Homebyme HQ Image mode you can just hold down your left mouse button and move the scene carefully using the scene edges as your guides. Then use the height slider to get just the right “camera” position.
Since you’re already paying attention to the wall edges, check all the way around your image to make sure you don’t have odd things going on in the corners. Look at the first image of this post and you can see I should have paid more attention to the lower right corner. It’s easy enough to move the furniture a little, take your image and put it back.
If you have a limited number of HQ Images, try using Snapshots to fill in the gaps or make the majority of your images Snapshots and use the HQ Images as the “show off” shots. The Snapshot below is the same approximate view as the HQ Image above. Snapshots are taken through the avatar’s eyes, so the camera height is fixed.
When you show a large space sometimes it can look cluttered, especially when there is a large glass surface like the table top that lets the more complicated chairs become dominant. The same room with a solid table might help. It’s better to find out here than after it’s been delivered.
Background images make a big difference. They help make the image look even more realistic. Choose your image carefully and adjust your outside lighting to create a more vivid inside image. There is a window right next to the chair in the reading nook which helps make the whole area brighter.
One last shot looking toward the door the photographer came in. Thinking like a photographer helps you be more creative and may even help suggest some improvements. And for presenting your work, it is definitely helpful to think as though you were doing a photoshoot for the best design magazine you can think of . The details matter and HQ Images show them at their best!
Take a look at these additional resources showing how to create your HQ Images:
New fantastic HQ Images make your projects almost real – Homebyme blog post
How to use background images to your advantage – Homebyme blog post
Creating Realistic Renders – Homebyme video
Now, it’s your turn!