Introduction to Hybrid Renderings

Tutorial by Abigail Merlis, Summer 2012

Software used: Photoshop (CS5) and Revit 2011

Hybridizing hand-drawn perspectives and collaged elements:

The following example offers a sense of how to work from a hand-drawn base image to create a spatial rendering.

1. Develop a hand-drawing (this example is graphite) and scan it to create a digital background for your collage. You will likely have to stitch your image together in photoshop. During this process you can determine how important it is that tones and edges are cleaned cropped. Consider the evocative qualities you'd like your image to have and what the ultimate narrative goals are of your rendering.

2. Beginning with the base/ground and background is often productive as it helps to create a unified image and can set the tone for what you place on layers above it in Photoshop. In this stage I used the pen tool to create a series of transparent ground planes. These begin to offer depth to the image.

3. From here I added the basic geometries of the structures I was exploring. To some of them, I added specific material textures, but many of them are fairly loose. This rendering along with the next example are from the schematic design phase of a studio project so this lack of specificity was appropriate. These techniques, however, can be adapted to many rendering styles.

4. Adding a cityscape in the background gives a context to your rendering and also helps contribute to the narrative of your rendering.

5. From here I added the soft structures on the site to allude to other types of program that might be situated nearby--in this case the raised garden beds were a conjecture on how the space would be used.

6. Along with the added structures, trees and wildlife help to make the rendering approachable. It is important for viewers to be able to insert themselves into the space that you're creating.

7. Populating your space as it would be used is another helpful addition to a rendering--not only does it help viewers imagine themselves within your project, it helps them understand scale and program.

Another example in this style done as an aerial rendering:

Hybridizing digital line drawings and collaged elements:

These 3 renderings were done in the same was as indicated above, but using an exported line drawing from Revit (and done more hastily!).

Hybridizing photographs and collaged elements:

This rendering was done in about an hour drawing basic geometry in Illustrator over a photographic underlay. Collaging illustrator drawings and entourage figures into the image using Photoshop as done above makes for a simple and straightforward rendering.