Surely you have come across with images created by a process known as 3D rendering, in advertisements, on social media, in newspapers and magazines. This process has become one of the most used by companies today.
According to the Threekit website “3D rendering is the process of turning information from a 3D model into a 2D image”. 3D renderings may include photorealistic or non-photorealistic looks.
Creating a rendering is a multidisciplinary task, that involves several fields of knowledge such as design, photography, technical drawing, math and so on. Usually the studios commited to creating these images (renderings) are commonly known as visualization studios, and the specific niche of business will determinate it's character.
As an architecture visualization studio (archviz studio) we usually receive rendering requests along with some assets or references that must be used in order to create the required image. Sometimes we receive the 3D assets from our clients, but those assets are usually created targeting other business fields but visualization, that is why most of the times modelling work must be done to adjust the files before we can start working on the renderings.
Rendering Time frames
Rendering is a complex computing process that requires massive amounts of computing power, therefore, the more elements, and the more information a scene has, the more time it will take to render (process) it. Also, the required output size will directly affect the production time of the images. The size increases proportionately to the amount of data that the final image contains.
With that said, there are 2 alternatives to choose when discussing output sizes: digital display and physical printing. When talking about digital display common terms as HD (1k), FHD (2k), 4k and 8K appear on the field. Those terms are related to the quantity of pixels contained on the width of the image, making the “k” a multiplier by 1 thousand pixels (it’s not exact, but it tends to be closer to that number), so HD has 1280 pixels width, FHD 1920 pixels, 4k stands for 3840 and 8k 7680 pixels.
FHD stands for Full HD is the typical resolution for Blu-Ray discs, digital television, and most high-def videos found on YouTube. 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions.
8k resolution is the successor to 4K resolution
DPI stands for dots per inch. The sharpness and the size of the final image will depend on this: the size of the image divided by the amount of pixels the printer is able to print per inch. Most home printers are able to print at 100DPI, and professional printers go from 300 dpi to 600 dpi. So the more DPI, the sharper the image will print and also the bigger the digital asset should be. The physical size of a Full HD (1920x1080) printed at 300 DPI will be 6,4” x 3,6”
