Hand Rendering v Computer Generated

This debate can bring out all sorts of passionate views about the personality, character and charm that a skilled hand drawn render can provide. And these are all valid points. Then we have the other side of the coin… the evil and nasty world of computer generated visuals. ‘They are cold’! And void of individual quirks’, I hear you shout!

But are they?!

No one can deny (even die-hards from the ‘hand sketched’ corner) that their accuracy and photorealism is astounding, impressive and dare I say breathtaking; the developments in 3D rendering have progressed so much that sometimes it’s literally impossible to determine whether the image is real or computer generated. Come on, that is impressive!

With computer generated rendering you have the obvious bonus of ‘undo’ – I NEED and WANT to shake the hand of the person who created this function!! And you can easily erase or re-arrange lines, geometry, objects, textures and so on. AND we can also make computer generated rendering appear as though it was hand rendered. How devious and disgusting!

The above image comprises an interior elevation that I previously designed for my interior design Diploma but I have combined various methods of achieving a rendered appearance. Do you have a preferred method? Have you suddenly shifted from one side of the coin to the other? Or are you still resolute in your original viewpoint?!

Below is the same elevation but in full context using Sketchup’s various ‘artistic’ styles. They are fairly authentic looking in my opinion and do have a certain rustic charm (although the middle variation does look as though it has been drawn by someone suffering the effects of alcohol consumption from the previous night!!).

Then we have the results of taking the elevation that has been rendered using Maxwell Render and applying various artistic effects via Photoshop. Again, quite realistic and conveying an element of individuality.

And lastly, we have the full computer generated elevation using Maxwell Render.

I think it’s fair to say that there’s no right or wrong answer in the ‘hand drawn V computer generated’ debate. Each method has its own unique attributes and maybe the answer is to make use of both when presenting design concepts.  This would provide accuracy, realism and  an individual approach.