How 3D Animation Services Help Architects Showcase New Properties & Buildings

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This post explores how 3D animation services can help architects showcase new buildings and properties. Recently, the field of architecture has undergone significant changes. Hand-drawn blueprints required pen and ink drawings that had to be painstakingly redrawn if someone made a mistake. In the present day, modern offices use a computer to help with illustration and many other aspects of architecture. 3D animations are relatively new to architecture but are becoming increasingly popular. A 3D animation company can help showcase new properties and buildings in a whole new way.

What does 3D animation entail?

Many architects are familiar with renders, i.e., the ability of a CG artist to take the blueprints of your building and turn them into a spectacularly realistic image of it. Renders are extremely useful in their own right, and most architects use them as part of their daily business. Animation takes a render and turns it into a moving image, a video, compared to a still image. Animations allow you to show a building from all sides, tour the inside, and more. Here are several examples of how animation can showcase new properties and buildings.

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Adding clarity to your presentation

While an architect can easily read a blueprint and know how a building will look, clients don’t always have this same skill. It can be difficult for them to look at a map of the building and envision where the doors are, how it will look walking in, or what it might look like inside. A 3D animation takes any confusion away. Your client will be able to visualize the building precisely as it would be once constructed, and they can see where the doors will be and what the building will look like and make changes along the way.

Animations improve on this view by letting your client take a virtual tour of the property. 3D architectural animation services allow clients to rotate the building, walk the halls, and more. This clarity makes it easier to communicate your work and receive client feedback. If they don’t like how the building looks or think a change will improve their experience with the installation, it is far easier to make these changes at the beginning of the creation process rather than at the end.

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Providing an interactive experience

With the globalization of architecture firms, competition for clients has grown. Clients have three companies nearby to choose from and the entire world. Because of this increased level of competition, it’s essential to stand out from others and give clients a reason to use and recommend you. Providing an interactive experience is one great way to impress clients and keep them talking about you. Clients can often feel like they are outside a project looking in.

They may have the opportunity to ask for changes. Still, without understanding technical maps or even 2D sketches provided by the 3D architectural drawing expert, they may feel unable to make those requests. An interactive experience, such as an animation of their building, can put the control back in their hands, giving them something to do and a way to provide meaningful feedback. It also helps make those long presentations full of dry data more exciting, especially with the movement and eye relief an animation can provide. A bit of motion amongst the dry data can be excellent for your client and significantly add to the value of the work.

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Helping to focus your inspiration

Architectural design professionals are creative individuals. Seeing your work and knowing where to make changes can help inspire you to push yourself to the highest levels and create something truly remarkable. Getting started on a new building or structure is an exciting feeling, and creativity can have its downsides too. Every Architect has drawn a new concept design and realized their idea wouldn’t work. A 3D animation can help you focus your idea, look at the building from a different perspective, and refine your concept to the highest possible standards.

You can refine your concept to its fullest potential by reviewing your creation from every angle with the help of 3D architectural visualization services. You can see for yourself what the strengths of the building are and shore up any weaknesses before presenting your work to clients. This creative process will be demonstrated in your final presentation as well. When you know that your building has been polished to the highest degree and that you have found and fixed any potential problem areas, you can be more confident in your work on display.

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Essential for marketing

Marketing is critical for any business. Marketing is how you share your skills with others, procure financing for new buildings, and so much more. Animation of your building can be essential to attracting new clients or qualifying for financing. It can cost millions of dollars to construct a new building. It’s understandable that anyone financing such a building would be cautious about their money and want assurances they will get a good deal out of it.

Animation can provide a clear picture of what the building would look like for potential financiers. A beautiful rendering of your building product by a qualified 3D rendering company can differentiate between a yes and a no for funding. Since the financiers can see every aspect of the future building through the animation, it can give them a good understanding of where the money will go.

Animations can also help encourage sales by adding an air of professionalism to a presentation. When you come to a meeting not just with information about how much it will cost, materials needed, and a few sketches, but a multi-media presentation as well, it looks much more polished. Potential financiers will appreciate that more professional air, making it much more likely that you will get the financing you need to create the building.

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Helping to market your skills

Your clients won’t be the only ones to benefit from your efforts. That polished presentation can also show off your skills to potential clients looking for architects. When your client is checking portfolios to see which Architect matches their needs, an animation will tell them much more than a drawing. A 3D animation can be a powerful tool in helping others decide whether you are the right Architect for them and enabling them to see you as a high-tech company that utilizes the latest technology. Animations add more to the picture than renders because they allow clients to see the building from multiple angles, inside and out.

With AR/VR architectural services, the animations can even be formed into stories for commercials and work to show off your buildings in a way that sparkles. They can be an impressive accent piece to a modern website, giving potential customers a jaw-dropping experience. This same animation can also be tucked into a portfolio, helping showcase an individual architect’s work in a way that catches the eye. After all, if a client has been looking at dozens of different architects with the same or similar skills, the only thing that may stand out to them is that spectacular animation waiting for them.

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Helping to save money

One of the most significant ways a 3D animation can help architects and their clients is by saving them money. The first and most obvious way an animation saves costs is to help clients spot changes they want before construction. If a client wants a change, it’s relatively easy to change a render to match what they want and to keep changing it until their exact desires have been met.

A render of a building is relatively cheap to make compared to the concrete and iron of a building. It is far easier to make a change to the plans of a building before it is created than to destroy a section of the building or make changes mid-construction. A 3D animation designer uses rendering software that can also help by listing the materials required and their cost. Renders can help clients get a feel for how much things will be, so there are no surprise costs added in the future.

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Rendering technology can also analyze and test the building against wind, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena simulations. This can sometimes help to save money by switching materials that may be excessively strong for the situation while never compromising safety. At the same time, analyzing the building for safety issues can help discover any flaws in the design that could cause catastrophic damage or even collapse.

By ensuring no safety errors are present, you can be more confident that you are providing a safe building that won’t cost you your business should your designs be found to have faults. Having the safety and material information to present alongside a flashy tour of the building can help add content to your proposals and make you sound more professional and knowledgeable while showing your structures.

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Helping you start a vlog

Video blogs, sometimes called V-logs or Vlogs, are blogs conducted through a video service such as YouTube. Vlogs are popular with architects because they allow them to showcase their work visually. Many architects use vlogs as part of their social media campaigns because of their potential for touring buildings, showing off designs, and discussing problems in the industry.

An architectural 3D modeling company can help by showing off a design before it is built. They can be done so that the viewer feels like they are touring the building, allowing the Architect to talk about each section of the building as it moves through. This gives the Architect an excellent opportunity to talk about their work and show it from every angle while it is still fresh in their minds, not months or years later when it is finally built.

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It’s also an effective way of utilizing social media while discussing something you are passionate about. Vlogs are a great way to enhance your social media standing and showcase your work to potential clients and others in the field. Taking the time to give your vlog depth and professionalism with a flashy new animation can leave a solid impression on those who view your work.

Helping with other forms of social media

Social media marketing is a critical part of advertising. Many people get their business recommendations through social media and trust their friends’ recommendations over those they see on review websites. Social media is also primarily visual, and Instagram, Facebook, and many other popular types of social media are extremely picture- or video-heavy.

An animation of a spectacular build can help draw the eye to your latest post and attract new followers to your page. At the heart of your social media content needs to be a jaw-dropping visualization that people are willing to share. A single animation can be enough for your fellow architects, clients interested in builds, and people who appreciate fantastic buildings to share your work.

Organic growth can be a rich source of advertising and can also help you if you want to specialize in a specific niche. For example, if green construction is your specialty, you may find your work supported and shared by environmentalists who like your ideas.

RELATED: How 3D product rendering and CGI help social media marketing for your company

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Helping with video advertising

Another common form of advertising is video advertising. Instead of a static ad, a video service designer can help you produce a video that is played. These videos can be played anywhere on YouTube, your website, or other people’s websites. Video advertising can be helpful in the right situation and help spread the word about your office or individual skills. While you might take aerial footage of actual buildings you have done, animations can be superior in many ways.

The benefit of a rendered version of a building—even one already built—is perfect lighting. An animation controls the exact angle you want, the lighting, the mood, and nearly every other detail. Animations are the definitive version of a video and lend themselves well to video advertising. If you plan to go down this route with your business, animations can be vital in helping you create an advertisement people will remember.

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Helping to speed up governmental approvals

The Architect will present your work to the government to apply for various permits. This can be a time-consuming process at best, and often permits are declined due to a problem with the blueprints. Animation can help speed this process by giving government workers a visual of the plans. They can review structural strengths, and tour the building, ensuring the blueprints conform to the animation. A graphic is always easier to read than a set of blueprints for the average person.

Your permits will be processed more quickly if an animation is included with other relevant data. An architectural visualizer service can help you save clients’ time and show professionalism. If your client is concerned about project length, your presentation can address concerns and find ways to smooth the process. Your client will appreciate your efforts and the speed with which they get back their permits.

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Conclusion

There are many ways animations can help in showcasing a building. Animation captures the look and feel of your building with the added depth of viewing a movie. The movement might involve a dramatic, sweeping aerial view or a warm and friendly invitation into the building for a tour. The possibilities of animation are nearly endless. You can use it in videos and advertising to add clarity to a meeting with your clients or speed up the construction process.

Animation can help showcase your building when you’re looking for new work or in the middle of development. Adding animations to your portfolio is an excellent start if you want to improve your business. Animations can help you present a more professional appearance, provide clarity for your clients, and improve your portfolio. Animations are cost-effective, especially considering what they can do for you, and are a great addition to your offerings as an architect.

How Cad Crowd can assist

At Cad Crowd, we have the privilege of working with hundreds of the best architecture professionals on the market. Regardless of the type of project you have, let us help. Find out how it works. Feel free to contact us today for a free quote.