Keeping it real with rain: Exterior visualization of a modern multi-family home

/in , , /by

Have you ever noticed how the atmosphere changes when the skies turn dark gray before the rain starts, and becomes bright again once it stops?
In theory, a gray sky sounds too gloomy for a real estate client presentation. In reality, the dramatic, high-contrast effects of rain and dark clouds add a much more realistic look and feel to any building.
We offer various light settings and weather options to present your project in an emotive, hyper-realistic environment. Contact us to find the right setting for you!

FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT OUR WORKS CAN BE FOUND ON
https://render-vision.com/type/3d-architectural-visualization-service/

Havbrukssenter

/in , , /by

This week, we want to show you the project of our regular client from Norway, Tanken Arkitektur.

There is only one image, but it is very detailed. The city from this aerial view looks alive due to the integration of people — someone walks along the embankment, another goes to the parking lot, some staff work in the building behind panoramic windows, etc.

The nature in the visualization is also alive and poetically sublime — a flock of seagulls sweeping along the coast, low clouds at the foot of the mountains, and a grey Nordic sky gives an eye-catching, unique atmosphere to the image.

MORE PROJECTS ON: https://omegarender.com/gallery

Ronen_Bekerman_mixedAI_Sunset_Serenity_in_Jaffa_A_mesmerizing_1920

It’s Gen-AI, Baby!

/1 Comment/in , , /by

A series about AI by Ronen Bekerman

It's Gen-AI, Baby!

Ronen here from Gen-X saying that we are currently in Generation Alpha, which is damn close to being called Gen-AI if you ask me and see what’s happening online. Crazy, fascinating, scary, mind provoking, unethical, the next evolution. You name it, and you’ll be right.

let’s dive into the rabbit hole – blue pill or red pill?

Reading time: 7 min 15 sec. Listen to the new AI experimental conversation podcast: 9 min.
" Are You Living in a Computer Simulation? "
Nick Bostrom Philosopher, In his 2003 paper

I’ll be writing this article and following up on it based on my experience as I go. Don’t expect any structure to it. Things change too fast anyway.

Sep 12, 2024: Adding a super cool experiment in which two AI speakers conduct a conversation about the article I wrote!

View on Zencastr

Getting philosophical about it

The idea that humanity might be living in a simulated reality gained significant attention in contemporary times due to the work of philosopher Nick Bostrom. In his 2003 paper, “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?”, Bostrom presented the Simulation Hypothesis, which posits that we may be living in an advanced computer simulation created by a highly advanced civilization. This idea is not new, and you can trace it back to ancient philosophical concepts like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which can be interpreted as an early precursor to the idea of “living in a simulation” in the sense that it explores the concept of humans being trapped in an illusory or limited perception of reality.

Allegory of the cave by Plato - Mixed matte painting + AI
Allegory of the cave interpretation - Mixed Matte Painting + AI

In the context of generative AI, these philosophical inquiries become particularly relevant. As generative AI models advance, they can create increasingly realistic simulations of various aspects of our reality, such as images, sounds, and even 3D environments. These AI-generated simulations may eventually become indistinguishable from the real world, leading us to question the authenticity of our experiences and the boundaries between simulation and reality.

There’s no need to venture into the realm of the Matrix to grasp the concept at hand. The mere presence of advanced text-based AI agents, voice AI agents, and visually stunning AI avatar agents operating freely in our digital environment is sufficient to illustrate this idea. Indeed, such technological advancements are already taking place, transforming our interactions and experiences in the virtual world.

Table of Contents

Getting the bad out of the way first

Generative AI has been a game-changer in numerous fields, but its rapid advancements have also raised several controversial topics and concerns. Some of the most prominent issues include:

  1. Deepfakes and misinformation.
  2. Intellectual property and copyright.
  3. Loss of jobs and skills.
  4. Bias and fairness.
  5. Ethical considerations.
  6. Environmental impact.
  7. Regulation and governance.

These controversial topics highlight the need for ongoing research, dialogue, and collaboration among various stakeholders, including AI developers, policymakers, and users, to ensure that generative AI, or what is now widely discussed as artificial general intelligence (AGI), is developed and deployed responsibly and ethically.

I’ll address these topics in follow-up posts.

Generative-AI, it is nice to meet you!

You know that feeling when you’ve got a super cool idea in your head, but you just can’t get it out for some reason? Like, maybe the process is a drag, you’re not in the right headspace, or the tools are just annoying. Well, guess what? This new AI stuff is changing the game big time! No more excuses – it’s time to unleash that creativity!

Like this "Stunning Mid-Century Modern House in California, photo, 24mm tilt-shift CANON lens, golden hour, vibrant color, kodak vision 2383" as an example made with Midjourney v5

 

Generative AI refers to a subset of artificial intelligence that focuses on creating new content, often based on a given dataset or a set of parameters. These AI models learn from existing data and generate novel output, such as images, text, music, or 3D models. They can augment human creativity or automate specific tasks, making them an exciting tool for artists and designers.

Some of the most popular generative AI techniques include Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), and Transformers. Each of these techniques has unique characteristics that can be harnessed for architectural visualization.

GANs

GANs consist of two neural networks, a generator and a discriminator, that work together to create realistic output. The generator creates new content, while the discriminator evaluates its quality. GANs have been used to generate photorealistic images, textures, and even 3D models, making them an invaluable tool for architectural visualization artists.

The diagram shows the generator and discriminator networks that make-up the 3D-IWGAN. Source: https://www.computationalarchitecturelab.org/3d-generative-adversarial-networks

VAEs

VAEs are unsupervised machine learning models that learn to encode and decode data, enabling them to generate new content based on a given input. VAEs can be used to create variations of existing architectural designs, interpolate between different styles, or generate new design elements.

Variational autoencoder. (2023, April 3). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variational_autoencoder

Transformers

Transformers are a type of deep learning model that has demonstrated remarkable capabilities in natural language processing and image generation. They can be used to generate textual descriptions of architectural concepts or create visually coherent images based on a given text input.

Transformer (machine learning model). (2023, April 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformer_(machine_learning_model)

New tools of the trade

So far, I’ve been exploring and using DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion for generating images. I’ve added ChatGPT into the mix very recently as a way to get better at prompting.

“prompting” refers to providing an initial input or a seed to an AI model, which then guides the model to generate new content based on that input. The prompt serves as a starting point for the AI model, shaping its response or output in a specific direction depending on the desired outcome. You can also use images as a prompt or as part of a prompt.

Prompting seems to be a rising skill, with talks about “prompt engineer” being a new job position created by AI already. Sure enough, you can already see such job posts published online.

Taking the previous "Stunning Mid-Century Modern House in California" for a spin with ChatGPT to be more methodical about the results

DALL-E

The first generative AI tool I encountered left me in awe. I was particularly impressed by its innovative “generation frame” feature, which resembles inpainting capabilities found in other tools. This remarkable feature enables users to extend an image infinitely, one square at a time, by utilizing various prompts—a truly captivating and unique experience.
RONEN + DALL-E - A photo from a distance of a triangular shaped cabin made out of Corten steel and glass hanging over the edge of a high cliff in Meteora Greece at dusk golden hour sun

And below you can see the result after several generation frames as I was aiming for an “epic” scene! Each new square with a prompt to generate the specific things I wanted in the “tile”.

RONEN + DALL-E - A photo from a distance of a triangular shaped cabin made out of Corten steel and glass hanging over the edge of a high cliff in Meteora Greece at dusk golden hour sun

Midjourney

The most exceptional generative AI tool I’ve used, in terms of output quality, has undergone significant improvements with the release of Version 5. This update has not only enhanced the overall output quality but also introduced innovative features such as “describe,” “blend,” and more. In comparison to Version 4, the new iteration produces strikingly photorealistic results, surpassing DALL-E 2, which I previously considered superior in this aspect. The advent of Version 5 has truly raised the bar for generative AI tools.

Below are the very first images I’ve made with Midjourney a year ago!

And below a few from the recent month!

Stable Diffusion

Boasting unparalleled flexibility and the ability to run on your own hardware, this particular generative AI tool offers a wealth of plugins, addons, and customization options for controlling the output, most notably through control nets.

bottom row is what you get with just the dog image + a prompt. Top row is when you use a control net on the dog image! Now translate that to architecture 🙂

I primarily use this tool for intentional generation, taking advantage of the numerous models available online or even training it myself. Furthermore, it paves the way for creating animations, an area I’m particularly eager to explore in the near future.

The art of the prompt

Or the modern-day equivalent of the California Gold Rush of the 1800s.

You can joke about it all you want, but you need the [blank] prompt to get the desired result. And I keep it blank since it is not “right,” “correct,” or “best,” to name a few options. It is undoubtedly something, but that is for you to figure out!

Much like digging for gold, the quest for success has remained the same: a combination of hard work, skill, and a bit of luck.

That was the point I decided to bring in ChatGPT. I’ve been conjuring up countless prompts on my own before that, but I decided to get more methodical about it.

Taking it for a spin in the #ChatGPT + MJ process I’m exploring. My aim is to make this look more like an architecture photographer professional has taken the photos. You can indicate a known photographer for the style (not sure how ethical that is, but it works) to get very interesting results.

This is totally text-to-image, and MJ decides about the output, but there is a lot you can do in a prompt to direct it.

Midjourney is far better (in my tests) than stable diffusion for generating the first result.

And an “old” black and white photo look to it!

More examples

The first (left) one is the result. The second one is an old matte paint I did. The process was feeding the matte paint to midjourney new describe feature to get some prompts, taking that to ChatGPT for making a better version to feed back to midjourney, using the original image in the prompt as well, upscaling a favorite result and back to photoshop for final edits. Overall “title” of the image remains the same for me.
For the “Plato’s Cave” image above, I employed a similar process. Crafting the image based solely on a text prompt proved to be quite challenging. To overcome this, I initially “guided” the AI using image blends and subsequently created a rough matte painting to serve as an image prompt. This approach facilitated the generation of the desired outcome.

What's next?

In upcoming posts, I’ll delve deeper into the challenges and concerns I mentioned earlier while also providing more technical insights on setting up various tools and techniques for generating images. Additionally, I’ll continue to share my ongoing exploration of this groundbreaking technology. Currently, I’m conducting experiments using AutoGPT and ChatGPT Agents and animations with stable diffusion. I’m also working on automating ArchViz-related tasks, such as Day-to-Night conversions, face replacement for 3D characters, complete character replacement or population, and even full image creation – from concept to the final result – based on a 3D model. Stay tuned for more exciting updates and discoveries!

Comments

Polytown Media LTD

© All Rights Reserved 2022

Navy 4 Panel Slab Bedroom Interior

/in , , , /by

Here’s another of our gorgeous CGI bedroom scenes featuring our client’s stylish bedroom furniture range. Our interior design team wanted to create a strong but sophisticated look for this set, and they achieved this with key statement props, abstract shapes and a punchy palette of navy, peach, and burnt orange. Once again we’ve included the 3D flat-lay render we created to communicate the vision to our client.
As usual our artists have tried their best to be meticulous with the details and lighting to create a photorealistic representation of our client’s vision and showcase their new bedroom furniture range in the best possible light.

La Réserve Resort in Comporta

/in , , /by

Believe in a paradise that you thought is lost.
Dream of a place that sand stretches as far as the eye can see, With the sea for single companion. Have peaceful dives in translucent water, with dolphins that play around your boat. Dream of a simple life that nothing is missing, and of a refuge where only the sweet song of the birds cradles the silence. Dream that you ride a horse on the beach, with the breeze that caresses your face and the sweet eddy of the waves that cradles your walk.

Dream of authentic flavors of the soil and the sea, and of a human warmth which seems that of a forgotten epoch.

Discover, now, that your dream is reality and that you don’t have to cross half the globe to arrive. Discover Comporta, the last secret that remains to be awakened.

Discover the Reserve, and join the paradise found.

Project: La Réserve Resort in Comporta
Client: Cascade Capital
3D Visualisation: VisEngine Digital Solutions ®
Location: Comporta, Portugal
Tools used: Corona Renderer, Autodesk 3ds Max, Adobe Photoshop

Interior visualization of modern apartments with breathtaking views

/in , , /by

Living the Swiss dream. When residents of these light-filled and luxurious apartments sit on their balconies, breathtaking views of the mountains surrounding Lake Lucerne lie literally at their feet. We made sure to give this 3D-rendering of the incredibly warm and stylish interior the photorealistic CGI representation it deserves.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR WORKS YOU CAN FIND ON
https://render-vision.com/type/interior-visualization-services/