How to Use 3D Architectural Renders to Pre-Sell Projects

Need some extra help selling your next project? Here's how you can use 3D real estate renderings to pre-sell construction projects.

If you want to sell your next construction project, sell more than just an idea and the promise of a 'beautiful skyline.' Sell a story.

Give your building light, style, and life with state-of-the-art real estate renderings. You won't want to cut corners here.

A 3D rendering of the interior and exterior of your project allows potential clients to form an emotional attachment through visualization.

Help them see a home filled with sleek and modern furniture, and the sky glowing blue before dawn just outside their window. With your promise to make this appealing fantasy come to life, it won't be much harder to convince them to invest.

Keep reading to find out how to use 3D real estate renderings to make your next construction project come to life.

Pre-Selling a Project with Real Estate Renderings

You have to spend money to make money. But where do you get it from in the first place? 

Pre-selling condos in a new luxury building can support the cost of production. Clients are essentially paying the company to build their home, which may come at a lower price than the finished condos as an incentive. 

More equity capital means fewer loans in the long run, so get as many pre-sales as possible.

Without these investments, future loans become more difficult to get. Some investors even require a certain number of initial buyers before approving a loan. 

When selling your vision to potential clients, it will put them at east to know you've understood the risks involved. 

These risks include:

• Demand for property lessens and no one moves into the space
• Lack of funds to repay loans or complete the project
• Property loses value once built due to declining market
• Construction delays
• The completed structure being less or different than expectations

Several laws and regulations exist to minimize these risks for buyers. But showing that you are aware of the importance of this agreement can help establish rapport between the company and their primary investors -- the clients.

How to Make a 3D Model that Sells

More than just your good intentions, you'll need a stunning design plan to sell what is virtually just an idea. Queue the real estate renderings.

Here are a few crucial tips to give your architectural models the touch of realism they need to sell. 

Tell a Story

First and foremost, you're selling a story, not a building. Mostly because you don't have a building yet.

Providing context, such as the surrounding neighborhood, in your real estate renderings sets the backdrop of the life someone could live there.

Maybe the building has a line of trees canopying the road out front. A potential client may see that as the perfect setting for their morning run and be more inclined to look for more features they like. 

Give Your Architectural Rendering the Right Mood

Draw in your target demographic with a consistent mood or style in your 3D rendering. Architecture software makes it easy to fill up one space many times to explore different styles and the room's versatility.

The main thing to remember is consistency.

Trendy goes with trendy. Modern goes with modern. This includes everything from furniture and fixtures, all the day down to the temperature of light filling the room. 

Keep the mood in mind while staging the space to further build a story.

Give the Rendering Some Photorealism

If you've ever seen a really convincing robot or watched a zombie movie, you're familiar with the uncanny valley. That feeling of discomfort when you look at something that 'isn't quite right.'

Well, the same applies to your real estate renderings. If it looks like it belongs in a game of Sims, clients probably won't be able to envision making it their home. 

Luckily, there are numerous tricks to turn an unconvincing model into an attractive investment.

• Depth of Field - Give a flat image some depth by focusing on one aspect and slightly blurring everything else. This creates the illusion of distance between objects in the field of view.
• Physics - Nothing breaks the illusion of authenticity faster than noticing something physically impossible in a 3D rendering.
• Blooms or flares - Designers often mimic the imperfections captured on physical cameras, such as light flares or blooms. You may notice street lamps or other light sources bleeding into the surrounding area in pictures. A little touch of this in your rendering makes it feel more like a traditional photo taken of a real building.
• Distortion - Similarly, barrel distortion mimics a physical lens. It makes a room seem oddly proportioned, but the image more realistic. 

Composition Rules to Keep

• Diagonal Death - Frame a space so some diagonal lines "die," or trail off to the corners of the photo, pulling in the viewer's focus.
• True North Verticals - Architects have long realized this skill, but if you render tall buildings, keep the lines vertical. This is basically the equivalent of a vertical tilt correction feature on your smartphone camera, but it keeps the building from looming over the viewer and makes the image more visually pleasing.
• The Golden Ration (aka the Rule of Thirds) - If you've ever walked by a film or photography class, you've heard of the rule of thirds. Divide the image into nine squares like the Brady Bunch and set a focal point of the image (some object, person, etc.) on one of the four inside intersections.
• Don't Fall Flat - When objects in your virtual room, like a table and a dresser, end in the same spot, their edges form a straight line called a coincident edge, that robs your image of depth. Keep the room from looking flat and awkward by leaving each object a little room to exist.