Updates: Going Social
I've been getting a lot of comments to start a Facebook page, so I thought why not. I like this idea because it creates an opportunity to get a community-like atmosphere going. The website currently feels very one-sided, and I'm looking for ways to improve...
New York Pics
I thought I would post some pics of my trip to NYC this weekend. I didn't get off as many shots as I would have liked, but I was able to find time to experiment with HDR and some other post processing techniques. While HDR can bring some life to a dull image,...
Kerkythea Tutorial Part 4: Post Processing
This is the last of the Kerkythea tutorials and thinking back on it, the video doesn't really have anything to do with Kerkythea. The video explains some basic steps I use to bring life to different areas of the base rendering in Photoshop. The burn and dodge...
Kerkythea Tutorial Part 3: Night Rendering
In Part 3 of the Kerkythea tutorials, I explain the process of creating night renderings. Instead of using Kerkythea lights, I go a different route and paint surfaces in Sketchup, then tell that material to emit light in Kerkythea. This method allows you create...
Kerkythea Tutorial Part 2: Soft Shadows
Just a quick tutorial looking at the shadow settings of Kerkythea. While adding soft shadows really increases the rendering time, the extra realism that is achieved seems worth it. The video also describes a quick way to change the lighting to an overcast day....
China Trip: HDR Photography
I have not had much free time over here, but jet-lag has has kept me up so I thought I would post some HDR (high dynamic range) photos that I have been playing around with. What is interesting about these particular photos is that I did not use the DSLR camera,...
Kerkythea Tutorial: Part 1 Basics
The video describes the steps I use when creating a base image for architectural illustrations. Kerkythea is simple to get started with, but has sophisticated settings to produce very professional final outcomes. Kerkythea and the Sketchup Plugin can be...
Photoshop Brushes
Check out this website for a huge archive of Photoshop brushes. Ive used this place for years and it has really changed the look of my work. I tend to focus in on the grunge brushes and the dry paint brushes. The effects can be see in the night Jindu rendering...
Ambient Occlusion Tutorial
I'm pretty excited about this video. It explores the idea of Ambient Occlusion shading to easily and quickly add realism to Sketchup images via Photoshop. This is done without ever using a rendering engine such as MAX or VRAY. The idea behind Ambient Occlusion...
Quick Sections
When I don’t have time to fully render sections in Kerkythea due to time constraints, I fall back on this method to get me out of jams. In fact, I used this method to create sections for my final thesis project and finished all three of them in an afternoon....
Photoshopped Landscape Tutorial
The illustration in this tutorial was used for a competition that another student, Jeff Kruth, and I worked on a few years ago in grad School. The video explains the work flow used to add tall grass to an otherwise dull Kerkythea rendering. Some important...
Depth of Field Tutorial
Adjusting the depth of field is an easy way to punch up many types of architectural renderings. I have been using this technique for a while now and have applied this concept to final presentation illustrations, model pics, and my graduate portfolio. There are...
Adding People Via Photoshop
I wanted to get in video form, some of the techniques I use to add people into my illustrations. This video outlines 3 situations I run into often including reflective surfaces, typical shadows, and people in motion. The libraries of people don't always fit the...
Design New England
The Honduras Project was recently published in Design New England. I was pretty excited to see the renderings make it in as well as the nice write up on the project. The office is hoping to raise money to build the church at no cost to the Guaimaca Mission....
KRob 2010
The Krob Competition just posted the winners for its 2010 competition. If you are looking to find some inspiration for final project rendering styles, This is a good place to start. The competition emphasizes more traditional, hand rendered styles, although it...