Saul Bass, a famous American graphic designer, says, “Design is thinking made visual.”
In architecture, presentation is as important as design. Presenting your design is, in a real sense, an excellent opportunity for a designer to get creative and showcase their concepts and workflow to impress clients. In today’s times, there is a multitude of tools and software packages that help artists, designers, and architects to create exceptional visualizations. The key lies in knowing the right set of tools that turn our imagination into tangible results. Apart from CAD and various 3D software packages, Photoshop is undoubtedly one of the best software accessible to designers. Photoshop also plays a vital role in the life of an architectural photographer. If you are new to Photoshop, feel free to check out this link, to get a basic overview.
In this article, we have listed 15 websites that offer Architectural Photoshop Rendering tutorials to help you get a better hand at Photoshop.
1. Visualizing Architecture
Developed by Alex Hogrefe will help you enhance Photoshop and SketchUp skills with practical and quick techniques to create a stunning naturalistic image. The site has a YouTube channel where more detailed tutorials are available
2. IllustrArch
It is one of the influential and evolving websites which provides access to student and professional projects. Under the ‘Categories’ tab, you will find tutorials for Photoshop, Lumion, 3D Max, SketchUp, and many more visualization software. It will help architecture students to build an impressive portfolio, since having access to a library of rendered projects is equally essential to spark ideas. The site also has a massive gallery of architectural illustrations that are standard practices nowadays.
3. Dylan brown designs
It is a website that provides basic tutorials and guidelines for rendering images exported through Revit or SketchUp. The site will help you get a good hold of the basics of rendering theories. The portfolios listed on the website take you through a journey of various designs.
4. CG Architect
It is a prominent website and a professional community for architectural visualization. The goal of the professional community is to share the most up-to-date information and tutorials amongst members and help bring awareness to develop the industry. No matter which 3D modeling program you are using, the site remains relevant and provides valuable sources and tutorials for architectural visualization. The website’s strong member base is also an excellent resource to get your questions answered.
5. Arqui9 Visualisation
It emphasizes creating visualizations for the (un)built environment. They also feature a YouTube channel with tutorials on advanced techniques in Photoshop.
6. Ronen Bekermen.com
It is one of the most influential websites offering tutorials for 3D programs such as SketchUp, 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop, Maya, Cinema 4D, Modo, Maxwell Render, Corona Renderer, and many more you need. The site has an interesting podcast series called the ‘’SpectRoom’’ which explores the creative minds in Architectural visualization. The series includes insightful sessions with 3D artists, architects, photographers, and creative professionals.
7. SketchUp Artists
It is a platform to learn new skills and inspirational ideas which you can use in the projects. This site features high-quality tutorials from international professionals for all SketchUp users and CG (Computer Graphics) artists. The website also showcases different aspects of post-processing techniques and easy-to-follow instructions.
8. Show It Better
It has a vast collection of content related to representation in architecture. Flooded with visualization tutorials, you can find 3D modeling, plans, diagrams, tips, and tricks for post-production images in Photoshop. They feature premium content for rendering and visualizations in Photoshop, which is hosted by udemy.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_eRv_Rzr671BaKFtpYSi4A/videos
9. Digital arts online
It provides a vast library of innovative ideas for artists and designers around the world. Architect and illustrator Andreas A Tjeldflaat takes you through the post-production steps for architectural rendering in Photoshop. The process for the project shown below will walk you around the Photoshop techniques blending a CG building constructed in Modo and rendered in Rhino for the real photo.
Project is shown below: Composite a 3D building into a photo
10. Architect
It is a YouTube channel that provides limited tutorials in Photoshop. You surely need this one on your list as it features unconventional methods of rendering images and post-processing in Photoshop.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzHa8SoTTr8
11. OU Graphics
It is an international platform providing useful tutorials for architectural rendering and illustration. The site has a YouTube channel with a massive collection of post-production architecture rendering methods.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ptLbehYDNqwdnIGwLpysw
12. CGArena
CGArena offers videos for advanced post-production techniques in Photoshop. You can find their tutorials under the ‘free stuff’ tab. Moreover, the site also includes tutorials for other artistic illustrations.
13. EverMotion
It is a repository of 3D visualization tutorials on Photoshop, 3ds Max, MAYA, and many other packages. The Photoshop tutorials focus on a detailed, step-by-step rendering process for spaces in almost all settings. Their forum features articles and discussion topics on modeling, rendering, texture/materials, and animation.
14. Architecture Inspirations
It focuses on giving helpful tips and tricks about Photoshop, SketchUp, V-ray, Revit, and more. If you want to learn the minute details of Photoshop features, this is the right place. This website has a vast material library for rendering in Photoshop. In their YouTube channel, they give a Midas touch to mundane day-to-day spaces using fascinating rendering techniques.
15. Arch student
It is a splendid staging for tutorials starting from the elementary use of Photoshop in rendering images to the presentable high-end portfolio. The site caters to useful content for architectural students.
In the ever-increasing landscape of available data on the internet, the list in this article is not exhaustive, but definitely can be a good starting point. After all, learning software is:
As simple as it can be, as complex as it needs to be – Scott Singeisen.
