Cartoons have gone from celluloid to digital. Movies have gone from cinematography to computer graphics imaging. And architecture rendering has gone from pastels and paint pigments to fractals and figments.

The many benefits of architecture rendering in two-dimensions were enough to sell the simplest or grandest of homes. But the limitations were frustrating, too. Real blueprints had a limit to what they could do to provide accurate representation of the nuances of spatial arrangement, of the versatility of uses and applications of spatial visions, if you will. Real architecture renderings took time. Real renderings were not easily transported, exchanged, reviewed, and revised-considering, for example, how snail mail alone took days.

Architecture rendering by virtual design is used by virtual solutions agents, architects, real estate developers and brokers, and reaches the end user -the client- in a matter of hours (during the design and rendering period)? even a matter of seconds (during the transmission by email session).

Computer architecture rendering is becoming more and more cost-effective, more user-friendly, and more common in every stage of not only the building but the buying and selling process- replacing the drive-by and walk-through in real time with the fly-through in virtual (but almost as real) time.

And the newly adopted techniques of virtual solutions, computer graphics, and virtual reality, 3-d illustration have re-invented the architecture rendering style for not only those involved in home building processes but those in constructing milieus as disparate in character and personality as the one-floor community center, the massive train station with the vaulted ceilings that was turned into a world renowned museum, and the White House.

And architecture rendering has impacted the architect, the architecture student, and the artist by evolving into a practice that was once a solitary, two-dimensional craft and is now a versatile technique applied in a range of environs-from high-tech labs to interactive studios.

Whether in the high tech lab or as part of an interactive and dynamic network, architecture rendering has advanced to the point where building computer-generated models and environments has not replaced but enhanced the art of architecture.

Stephanie Hetu
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