Architectural Sketching or How to Sketch like BobArchitectural sketching is becoming a thing of the past at least thats how it seems to me most days. I graduated eons ago back in 1. This doesnt mean that everyone who graduated in my era could sketch far from it. What it does mean is that we learned how to think and communicate our ideas in a slightly different manner from the students graduating from modern day architecture programs. Now that Ive been at this architect thing for a little while, I can look at my sketches, all the way back to my time in school, and see how my sketch technique has evolved and how that technique has shaped my architectural solutions. Looking back over 2. Im not sure I would have made this observation had I not started writing this blog and posting my sketches for others to view. While I dont think I am particularly gifted at sketching beautiful drawings, I do think that I have a style that has become recognizable as my own and that is pretty awesome to discover. Over the last four years, I have published a handful of articles where I share my thoughts and observations on the process and value that I believe sketching offers an architect. Through these posts, I get a considerable amount of feedback from people who are kind enough to let me know that they like the way I sketch. Ive even mailed off a few sketches to people who have requested them a mind boggling idea quite honestly the people in my office get my sketches all the time and they end up in the recycle bin 1. Since I didnt have anything else to write am such a generous person, I thought I would pull the curtain back today and share with everyone a handful of the techniques I use when sketching. While this might burst the illusion for some of you that I can actually sketch well, I think youll see that these techniques are easy to incorporate into your own sketches and before you know it, youll be fooling people just like me Before we get to the actual tips, lets talk some tools of the trade real quick Almost 1. MachStudio Pro 2 is a powerful 3D visualization package that had hitherto cost 4000 but recently been released to the public absolutely free. Excellent news for. Top 100 of the Best Useful OpenSource Applications 022808. The following is a list of about 100 of the best OpenSource Applications, that. I use the Sharpie Permanent Marker Ultra Fine Point for my thin lines and the Fine Point for my profile heavy lines. I use a 1. 2 wide x 5. I sketch and I use the edge to tear the trace paper off the roll. On occasion, I will use an Alvin 1. Parallel Glider but normally only when I am sketching out dimensioned floor plan concepts. Arch2O-Architectural-Hand-Drawings-vs-Digital-Renderings-10-600x368.jpg' alt='Best Architectural Rendering Programs' title='Best Architectural Rendering Programs' />It drives me slightly crazy to have a roll of trace paper constantly rolling away when I am trying to sketch. A tip I learned from my current partner, some 2. Instead of the roll being round, its now oval shaped and wont roll away. It also helps me know which rolls of trace paper in the office are mine. Just some food for thought So lets get to it here are 5 Tips and Techniques that should improve your architectural sketchesall the images Ive used in this post were collected off the Life of an Architect site and Instagram feed from the last 4 years. It shows that Ive been consistent in using these techniques. TIP 0. The Hit Go HitI learned this technique from my friend Jon Kathol 1. The Hit Go Hit tip is a way for you to pick up and set your pen back down on the page as youre drawing in a purposeful manner. Why would you need to do something like that you ask Well, tip 0. Tip 0. Im not going to remake the graphic but whenever you are drawing a straight line, youll frequently find that you need to reposition your arm, or the paper, to continue drawing. Make that reset look intentional and add some graphic flair with this technique. If you use this Hit Go Hit technique, youll find that your straight lines will actually become a lot straighter. Its kind of amazing to see the difference a sketch with straight lines looks over one thats all squidgy and wonky. TIP 0. 2 Dont Move your PenPencil by Bending Your Wrist or ElbowI should also point out that you shouldnt push your pen across the page, you should always pull it. Lock your wrist and elbow into a comfortable angle and only move your entire arm when sketching. As you get more skilled, this tip can be relaxed and you can first bend your elbow and ultimately your wrist. In the beginning, by limiting your movement to the entire arm, youll end up with straighter lines. And since you can only move your arm so far, thats when the hit go hit technique comes in. Now all of a sudden you realize that you need to reset your pen on the page more often than you did previously. Using the technique where I only move my entire arm, my sketches have straight lines in them which really does make a big difference. TIP 0. 3 Incorporate the Use of Pen WeightThis technique is a biggie you have to use line weight to help convey depth to your sketch. More gifted sketchers and take care of depth using hatches and shading techniques so eventually thats something you can take on. In the meantime, use two pens and get some profile lines into your sketches. Dont know what profile lines are You need to know and I strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of Architectural Graphics by Francis D. K. Ching. Ive had my copy since 1. Chings book along with my studio professors taught me how to show profile lines their use defines the look of my sketches as well as a generation of other architects. Another benefit to using a heavy pen is that it can help show you what you should be looking at what the point of the sketch might be. Multiple pen weights help the viewer understand the order of things within the drawing, and through proper technique, they can also show to the viewer whats not important in the sketch. TIP 0. 4 Intersect Your Lines at the CornersThis is pure style and allows the inexact nature of a sketch to come across as what it is a delineated representation of a thought or concept. Sounds a bit like architectural mumbo jumbo but it really isnt. The inexact nature of the sketch when attempted to be exact looks sloppy and, well inexact. By allowing your lines to cross at the corners, you can still convey the thought or shape you are going after, without having to focus on making the shape perfect. There is a in the moment that sketches imply and if you look at the two rectangles illustrated above, I think the one on the left looks far better despite the fact that it is far less precise or exact than the rectangle on the right. I think this crossing of lines at the corners is a carryover from when I used to hand draft with a pencil. The beginning and end of a line had slightly darker marks than the middle of the line and they accentuated the edges very crisply. Just about every line I have ever drawn by hand in the last 2. TIP 0. 5 Trace Paper isnt Precious Draw in Layers The design process is typically additive so why shouldnt your sketches be as wellSince most of my sketches happen on trace paper and not in a sketch book, I am able to lay sketch upon sketch to build up and refine my finished sketch. I may start with a clean piece of trace paper for every sketch, but its only that first sketch that doesnt have the benefit of something prior to work from. A lot of the sketches I draw are the result of several iterations of tracing one idea superimposed over the other. Tracing allows me to take advantage of my previous work while experimenting with new ideas and concepts. The Most Popular Rendering Software Used by Architects and Designers. Rendering software has come a long way in the past 1. Technology coupled with an industry wide demand for high quality imaging has forced architects and designers to pump out life like renderings of their work. Thankfully, now you wont need a server farm and a Masters degree in computer sciences to do it. Its all there right at your fingertips your Dorito covered, sleep deprived fingertips. In fact, there are so many options when it comes to effective rendering plug ins and modeling software, it can become overwhelming and chaotic. The default for most is to use whatever was first put into your hands in school your x acto cut, glue crusted hands. However, if youre new to the game, or perhaps looking to expand your software knowledge repertoire, its good to know whats good, whats bad, and what will make the most of the tools youre looking for. The following collection of rendering software doesnt cover everything thats available, but it does represent the most popular programs used by architects, artists, and designers. VRay is the digital cream of the crop the golden child thats risen to the top of visualization software in the past 5 years. Developed by the Chaos Group, VRay is touted for its vast library of textures, and second to none realism. If youre a designer looking to recreate the most accurate real life conditions, colours, light and shadow, youll want to have VRay in your back pocket. With insane flexibility and a robust variety of options, VRay can get complicated for beginners. The good news is there are plenty of online tutorials and lessons to get you on the fast track to producing picture perfect renderings of your conceptual work. Light and shadow often referred to as an architects only real tools are VRays bread and butter. One can only dream what Alvar Aalto would have dreamed with such visualization power. VRay is compatible as a plug in with 3. DSMax, Cinema 4. D see below, Google Sketch up, Autodesk Revit, among others. Its versatility adds another level of intrigue for those who like to switch between modeling softwares. Mental Ray is probably the one render engine on this list that earns the closest comparison to VRay. Opinions of the two vary widely depending on who you talk to, many of which are based solely on personal preference and brand loyalty. Briggs Engine 31C707 Manual. Mental Ray tends to be a bit more user friendly, while not quite reaching the quality and level of realism VRay is capable of. I say po tay to po tah to. Mental Ray is a great product that deserves its reputation as a top tier renderer. Mental Images owned by popular graphics card maker NVIDIA developed mental ray in 2. Its particularly useful for architects because of its versatility and ease of use. While there is a lot to learn here, it tends to be a bit more accessible to first time users. Youd be amazed at what Mental Ray is capable of in the right hands. Many complain that Maxwell is slow. And it is. But if you have the time to wait for greatness, look no further. People who use Maxwell swear by it, and its easy to see why. Maxwell uses a unique lighting engine it calls unbiased rendering, which uses real life modeling techniques rather than tricks and shortcuts other renderers use. The trade off for realistic lighting is the lengthy render times that can result from complex, high resolution images. A helpful addition to the visualization software is Maxwell Fire a lightning fast engine that allows you to see a grainy version of the render you are about to queue up. This low res image accurately forecasts lighting, colour, and materiality without the wait. This is a great addition for architects and designers as it allows you to block out a presentation or deliverable without spending precious hours waiting for the slog of a print quality render. The Slogging will still happen, but only when youre physically and emotionally ready for it. With a name like Octane Render blowing in your sail, you better be rippin waves and turning out a gnarly wake of fast, furious, real world quality images. Nautical metaphor aside, Octane has a lot to offer designers and architects even though it isnt one of the big, well known names in the world of visualization. Octane is the up and comer. The new guy with a chip on his shoulder and a feather in his cap. This is both good and bad. With something to prove, Octane offers a slick features under the hood that it uses in attempt to stand out against the mainstays like VRay and Mental Ray. Namely, Octane uses the power of your graphics card to do a lot of the rendering calculations. As long as you have the resources to dedicate to this, its a huge plus. If you have a high end graphics card this will dramatically reduce rendering times. On the other hand, Octane doesnt have the wealth of resources that many of the others on this list do. That will change, or course, with time. Just keep in mind you might spend a bit more time searching for tutorials, lessons, or other free internet type help. Also keep in mind Octane only works with NVIDIA cards, which should deter any ATI users out there. Not just 3. D modeling software. More than a mere renderer. Cinema 4. D is the total package, giving users the power of having 3. D modeling and presentation quality 3. D rendering capabilities in the same tidy package. Build. Model. Texture. Animate. Render. Anything almost is possible with Cinema 4. D, as long as you have the time to dig in deep. There is lots to do here, which is great but can suck the life out of your days and nights. Keep a Red Bull dispensing cowboy had handy and youll be just fine. Also, If youre one of the defiant architects who swears by Archi. CAD or Vectorworks, youll want to put Cinema 4. D at the top of your list of add ons. The programs work seamlessly together like the four alternative kids on the playground sword fighting with twigs while everyone else is playing four square. Theyre different, but inseparable. Despite a lack of mainstream name recognition, Modo might well be the piece of 3. D software on this list best suited for architects. Like Cinema 4. D, Modo is an all in one 3. D modeler equipped with a powerful on board rendering engine. Where Modo sets itself apart is the ability to model and render within the same app. No more switching between different halves of the same program, handling cumbersome importsexports and screaming at your computer screen in fits of common sense rage. Modo leaves the middle man behind in favor of a program that goes back and forth on the fly. Furthermore, while most of the renderers on this list have preview capabilities, Modo is actually the fastest of the bunch. Even with a limited amount of computing power, Modo allows you to preview scenes with realistic precision in a fraction of the time of others on this list. A huge plus for architects looking for a down and dirty program that works quickly, and works every time. The one thing Modo is lacking is options. If youre in favor of controlling everything as many architects and designers are, Modo may not be for you. However, if youre looking for a clean bit of software that can do everything under one roof without breaking the bank retails at just under 1. While not necessarily the most critically acclaimed piece of software as it pertains to rendering, no one can argue the popularity of 3.