Choosing a Rendering Style for your Project

Renderings can take many forms, from simple sketches to photorealistic images. Choosing the best style for your project comes down to several factors, including:

what stage of the design process are you in?
who is your audience?
what are you trying to achieve with the images?
what will your budget allow?

sketches

Sketches are perfect for reviewing conceptual ideas and establishing a design direction. They convey a message of this is just an idea. Digital sketches can be produced in styles ranging from napkin-like scribble to shaded black & white drawings. They intentionally lack details like materials and finishes, instead focusing on communicating form and spatial relationships.

Image of a sketch, stylized as black ink on paper — Sketch - ink on paper style

Image of a sketch, stylized as pencil on paper — Sketch - pencil shading style

illustrations

Illustrations are a step up from sketches. They show additional details like product choices, decor, materials and finishes. Illustrations are produced in color to convey spaces more accurately and can include effects that emulate shadows and transparency. They can be a good choice for “final” images since they provide a high degree of clarity without the time and expense of photorealism.

Image of an illustration with textures — Illustration with textures

Image of a shaded illustration — Illustration without textures

Image of an illustration, stylized as brush strokes on canvas — Illustration - brushed canvas style

Photorealistic

Photorealistic renderings are used when very accurate lifelike images are needed. Often used for higher-end design projects, they provide the wow factor that can sell a design. Photorealism is produced using highly accurate 3D models, applying realistic materials and lighting conditions, and adding details to a scene that give it life.

Clay Renders

Clay renders fall somewhere between sketches and photorealistic renderings. They do not include materials, finishes and other details, and they appear as if everything has been been painted flat white. In this way they are similar to sketches. However, they are produced with the same lighting conditions, reflections and effects that photorealistic renderings use. The result is a rather stunning image that enables the viewer to visualize spaces in a more lifelike way than can be accomplished with sketches. Clay renders are a great tool for finalizing a conceptual design before moving on to selecting materials, finishes and other design details.