Real-time rendering and visualization provide architects and building professionals with an incredibly powerful way to design, communicate, and visualize their ideas.
And when combined with intuitive BIM software such as Archicad by Graphisoft, design workflows become more efficient, helping you to create and share your best work.
In this post, we dive into the key benefits of using an integrated design and visualization solution. We also hear from Fulton Trotter, an architectural firm based in Australia, on how they’re benefiting from using Enscape to create their Archicad renders.
Key benefits of using Enscape for Archicad
1. Design and visualize in one tool
One of the main benefits of using Enscape for real-time rendering is that it plugs directly into Archicad. This means that you can easily create 3D renders, video walkthroughs, visualize as you design and quickly test ideas all within Archicad itself. Thanks to a real-time sync that updates when you make changes to your model, there is no need to import or export files, providing you with a streamlined design and visualization workflow.
Enscape, through its direct connection to Archicad, enables users to access high-quality visualisation with a few simple clicks on their mouse. From photorealistic renders, panoramas, and fly-through movies to VR, Enscape provides everything I need to communicate my design with my clients.
Nathan Hildebrandt, Director, Skewed
Enscape + Archicad rendering by DataPlan Waikato Architectural Services
2. Easily create renders with very little effort
Enscape is renowned for being a simple-to-use real-time rendering tool. Its user-friendly interface enables users to get up and running quickly. With little effort, realistic renders can be created and shared with clients, who are often keen to see how things are progressing at various stages of the design process.
To create a render, Enscape takes the modeling information already inputted into Archicad, including geometry, textures, materials, and even BIM data, and automatically converts it into a 3D rendered image. As you make changes to your Archicad model, you can see how they impact your design in the Enscape rendering window.
3. Communicate design ideas with ease
Sharing renderings of your proposed project can significantly help others understand your design intent and fully grasp your vision of a future project. And our customers strongly agree. In a recent Enscape customer survey, 98% of the 900 respondents stated that real-time rendering helps them to communicate their ideas.
Whether it’s a still image, panorama, video walkthrough, or a standalone file of your entire project, using Enscape’s visualization capabilities together with Archicad improves design communication. When everyone has a clearer understanding of design, collaboration improves, decision-making accelerates, and projects move forward with greater momentum.
Take a look at this example of a residential panorama tour that was created by architectural services firm, DataPlan Waikato in Archicad and Enscape. What a great way for clients to see the proposed design!
Enscape has become an integral tool within our office through the design and documentation phases. It helps to better communicate in 3D the design not only to clients, but also to the project team.
Scott J. Moore, Architect, Fulton Trotter Architects
Enscape + Archicad rendering by Fulton Trotter Architects
4. Access ready-made assets to bring designs to life
Included in Enscape is a fully stocked Asset Library, with over 2,500 low-poly, high-quality assets that can be placed straight into Archicad. Save time looking online for the right project assets and instead choose from Enscape’s diverse range of people, vegetation, furniture, street props, and other objects. And when you need a unique asset, you can even import gltf, obj, or fbx files into the Custom Asset Library.
Other ways to help bring your designs to life include an integrated material editor featuring normal, bump, and displacement maps, animated video textures, self-illumination, HDR backgrounds and geo-location and time of day settings.
5. Benefit from direct access to virtual reality
The ultimate way to fully understand a project is to experience it in virtual reality. With Enscape, you can navigate from your Archicad model directly into VR with just one click. Virtual reality allows you and your team, plus clients and stakeholders, to explore a project and better understand every aspect of design. It’s as close to reality as you can get.
And as the cost of VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Microsoft Mixed Reality has dropped significantly, virtual reality is now a feasible option for architects and designers.
6. Identify issues before construction begins
Another benefit of using Archicad and Enscape is that BIM data and collaboration capabilities are available. With the ability to walk through your rendered model either on screen or via virtual reality, it’s easier to identify clashes and potential issues before construction begins.
And as you identify issues, simply create a record using Enscape’s Collaborative Annotations feature, or sync to BIM Track, for additional issue tracking capabilities. Alternatively, it’s possible to make corrections and changes on the fly as you collaborate with clients and stakeholders. Identifying and resolving problems before construction with the help of real-time visualization will save time and money further along the project timeline.
Success story: Securing project funding with realistic renders
Fulton Trotter Architects is an architectural and interior design practice with a team of close to 60 members, whose core values revolve around community. They use Archicad and Enscape and are based in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia.
The architecture we create enriches the community it serves and the environment it inhabits. We collaborate with a variety of clients across a range of sectors to connect people and places. Our role is to apply the strength of good design to make that happen. Our practice has endured for over 80 years doing exactly that, and we continue to build upon that legacy.
Paul Sekava, Director, Fulton Trotter Architects
For a recent community project, a quick turnaround was required in order to hit a funding application deadline. Fulton Trotter used Archicad and Enscape to create the necessary renders to help communicate the proposed design, largely due to the fast rendering speed and the realistic quality of light and representation of material textures. This would help everyone to better visualize how the project would appear and feel once completed.
Enscape + Archicad rendering: The Great Artesian Basin Centre
We have found that including high-quality 3D renders in funding applications helps to give a project more merit, and typically has a higher success rate. It is a more tangible representation of what the project would look like, rather than a plan. The ability to be able to do this quickly and efficiently with Enscape has become an integral part of our processes in the office.
Scott J. Moore, Architect, Fulton Trotter Architects
The Great Artesian Basin Centre is located in the Miles Historical Village and Museum, approx. 350km west of Brisbane. A small stage one upgrade was completed in 2020. This proposed second stage, which the renders above and below showcase, is a larger, more significant stage two addition to the Center. Funding is currently being sort from several levels of government.
Leveraging Enscape during the design process
When speaking with Fulton Trotter, we asked how they leveraged Enscape during the design process for the Great Artesian Basin Centre. We learned that Tom McCosker, one of their graduates, who didn’t have much experience with Enscape, created the renders in very little time, and no post-processing was used. They were very impressed with the results achieved.
Director Paul Sekava also explained that “Enscape renders helped to get a better sense of the scale and quality of materials being proposed for the building. A number of iterations were shared between the project team and client to refine the design before the final design and renders were settled on.”
Thanks to Fulton Trotter for sharing their Enscape and Archicad experience with us and we wish you all the best with your funding applications!
Create your own Archicad renders with Enscape
Enscape helps to speed up your design process and project delivery times thanks to real-time rendering that integrates into your authoring software.
And now that you’ve learned some of the key benefits of using Enscape to create your renders, animations, and virtual reality experiences, why not give it a go?
Try Enscape for free with our 14-day trial. And if you’re a student or lecturer, be sure to apply for your special educational license.
