WIP - Rio Vista Chrysler

[gregcashen]

Here is the final design (approved by design review, Chrysler and the client, which was quite a process) for a 4200sf chrysler, jeep, dodge dealership in Rio Vista, Ca, about 15 miles from where I work.

About the design...
Chrysler has "approved" designs that they tend to repeat over and over again to simplify the process of approval. They are very simple, in order to accentuate the cars, not the dealership. The town of Rio Vista recently underwent some frontage improvements on Main Street, about 300 yards from here, and this site is on the highway that runs through town. We tried to keep with the spirit of the historical main street. There is a lot more to this site...grading, planting, gates, walls, etc., but that was done on the site plan in AutoBAD by our civil engineer, so I fudged it with some walls and a foreground tree or two (thanks Q, Z, et al for that tip). We (boss and I) tried to spruce it up a bit with some eifs/stucco screeds and some split face CMU (which is hard to see in this image :( )

About the rendering...
I SUCK at renderings and this is the first that has at least some good elements in it (I think...), but it still needs some work. I should probably lighten it up a bit, heighten the contrast between the CMU and the stucco/eifs. I tried for a better background, but Revit kept crashing on me when I tried to import it. So this is, against my better judgement and the advice of Greg D., some of the stock sky that Revit ships with.

Anyway...let me know what you guys think. I had fun with this one because it was the first project I didn't have to engineer...the contractor is a distributor for a metal building manufacturer that is going to do it all for the client. So I got to focus on the building and the design...hope it shows a little. ;)
http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1260

[Steve_Stafford]

Hey I think it looks great Greg...don't be so hard on your self. It definitely looks like a "computer" image but it looks rich and the colors work even if a bit subdued perhaps. I think you did a nice job with the site entourage et al...NICE! If there was anything to be "critical" about...I'd try another sky background, one that is more in "tune" with the shadows on the building, it just seems a little bright for the shadows??

Keep up the good work Greg!

[beegee]

You keep doing this, we're gonna have to make you an 'onery architect, Greg. :)

[Dimitri Harvalias]

At least there is no red Porsche in the driveway :wink:

[gregcashen]

Dmitri, the original rendering used the Viper from rugi, which is mapped to a godawful "porsche red" color...literally. I had to change it. ;)

I am becoming more and more the multitasker and moving into the realm of designer to fill the lack of such skills in our office (besides the boss, that is!) I am disappointed that this shot does not show all of the reveals...there are quite a few variations in wall thickness and placement which gives the building more shadows. I am hoping to pull a rendering from another angle that will show this better.

Thanks for the kind words. I will post again with the updates...alas, the client only paid for rendering up to the point of design review approval, so this was done on my own time...

On a side note, how do you guys do renderings? I find that I may want to have Jeep in the rendering, but I really want some other cars in the plans, and laid out differently. I have made 3D car families that have symbolic plan representations. I think I prefer to have the 3D cars completely separate from the plan representations...then maybe put the 3D rendering stuff in a separate workset called "rendering" which will only be for rendering. What's the best practice?

[hj]

Greg,

I thought it was a nice touch to have the prowler in there...very appropriate :D

If you're going for photo-realism in a rendering, one of the best things to do, in my opinion, is use image maps. Nothing looks like the real thing...like the real thing!

[gregcashen]

Thanks Hiroshi, I have been working on the materials...but as I said, renderings are my weakness right now. I definitely want to use image maps on the next one...2-3 story custom residence on the river...masonry, post and beam, conventional stick framing, lot's of window walls.

BTW, i posted this same image on revitcity. ;)

[Martin P]

Hi Greg, I know what you mean about cars placed differently in plan etc... I often put a tree/bush car where there couldnt really be one on plan. I should probably use a linked file or phasing to do it, but Usually I just delete them once the rendering is done! The rendering and the building look spot on, but if you are going to replace the sky anyway why not go to the site (if its close enough!) and get digital pictures from the correct angle? You can add these as backgrounds in Revit, and some well placed bushes and cars hide the joins a treat (just remember to delete them from your plan) :D

[gregcashen]

Martin, I thought about doing this...was at the site ready to take pictures and thought, which angle do I want? The north shot showing the church construction in the backgorund...or the east shot, showing the vacant diner that's been for sale for like 2 years, which is falling into serious disrepair? How about the west shot, where the owner of this car dealership is also renovating the facade on his ford dealership and has **** all over the place? I decided to go with the standard just cause it looks like a construction crews dream over there. When the church is done, I figure that view will make the nicest backdrop :)

Thanks for the input...it's all of this little stuff that you don't think about when you press the raytrace button that adds up!

[Scott D Davis]

What about using Options to place various site components for different rendering views? You could have option 1 with some cars, people, and trees for one particular view, and option 2 with a different set of site components for a different view.

Haven't tried it, but I think it could work!

[gregcashen]

That's brilliant! I'll have to try that...that way you could work all the way through the project and in the end just discard that option.

[Scott D Davis]

That's brilliant!

It happens....every once in a great while!

[hj]

BTW, i posted this same image on revitcity. ;)

Yeah I noticed that, thanks :D

for some reason the option to notify me via email when a reply to my post is made does not work...does anyone else have this problem?

[gregcashen]

I think we all have that problem. By the way, probably not the best place to mention this, but the link on Revitcity to rate an image or upload seems to spit out an error whenever I use it. I need to rate my picture 5 stars and all!

[Arnel Aguel]

I like the design of the building looks simple but elegant. Rendering still have some room for improvement.

Nice one Greg.

[christopher.zoog51272]

IOTW, congrats 8)

[gregcashen]

Must be a slow week :wink: :D

[Scott D Davis]

Dang they'll make anything IOTW! Just Kidding!!!!!!

That actually is a really nice rendering, Greg! 'Specially for an engineer..... :wink:

[hj]

By the way, probably not the best place to mention this, but the link on Revitcity to rate an image or upload seems to spit out an error whenever I use it. I need to rate my picture 5 stars and all!

FYI - this has been fixed