Animation and rendering have great benefits for architects as these help them save a significant amount of time, energy and money on various projects. The best part is that animating the final render of the infrastructure can help ease communication between the designing and constructing teams. Most architects would rely on hiring an architectural animation firm for their 3D exterior rendering services. But if you are working on a minor project, or want to give rendering a shot yourself, here is a guide that will help you get started in architectural animation.

The Tools

The first thing you will need for architectural animation and rendering is the software. There are many professional suites available in the market, but since this is just a minor project, you can work with the free versions of AutoCAD 2019 or Blender. You can visit the official websites of the software, enter your OS type and download the software for free. You will also need to purchase a drawing tablet and pen since drawing with a mouse is extremely difficult.

The Basics

Since you’re already trained in architecture, you probably are aware of the various techniques and terminology used in drawing a building. The only thing that makes things different here is that you will have various tools to help you with various tasks. You need to draw out isometric sketches in AutoCAD and then animate them using Blender. These programs have amateur level support for 3D exterior rendering services which makes them great for beginners.

Get Started

Start by drawing out your visualization of the building in 3D. This will serve as your base. Now, draw the same from a different viewpoints. Once you are done drawing from all the viewpoints of the building, you can load them in Blender. Here you need to start drawing the interior of the building. Once that’s over you can load the 3D fly-through animation plugin in Blender and also create a 3D fly-through video apart from 3D exterior and interior rendering stills.

It may seem easy, but the above can support only the most basic projects. For any advance projects or large buildings, we recommend hiring a professional firm.