4 Weird Questions Clients Ask Us About 3D Architectural Visualizations
People are weird.
You tell them there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. But tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.
Yeah, we wish we came up with this, but the great George Carlin beat us to it. Still, it hits close to home when it comes to client management. It tells us a lot about human nature. We humans are often unaware of how irrational we can be and how easily we mix opinions with facts. Our beliefs can trick us into becoming biased or even shortsighted. Education is the key here (duh).
The main ways we learn are through experience, observation, and asking questions.
As a CGI studio, we get asked a lot of questions. Like A LOT.
Maybe even more than finance and banking professionals after the whole Reddit vs. The Wall Street GameStop saga. Okay, we’re exaggerating a bit. We don’t have to explain what the hell is “shorting” to dozens of average Joe’s on social media every single day, but we have our own drama as well.
Sometimes it seems like our clients are completely oblivious to the way things work in reality. Still, there’s joy in learning new things from them and helping them understand how we handle 3D architectural visualization.
We’ve collected some weird questions our clients asked us. Some will make you tilt your head in confusion (kinda like a golden retriever when you pretend to throw them a ball).
Without further ado, here are the questions.
Question #1: Can We Get 20 Interiors and 10 Exteriors?
Believe it or not, but we at Kaiserbold sometimes feel like we work at the farmers market. It’s almost as we get asked how much is half of a kilo of 3D renders.
Now, it’s not rare that the client doesn’t know how many 3D images they need. That’s precisely why they tend to order more than they actually need. So, why are we complaining? It’s more work for us, right? Well, yes, but it’s trickier than that.
Like young and inexperienced cooks, clients decide to buy more meat for the stew they’re making, thinking it will not waste. And then what happens? They end up with a meal that’s overkill and lacks balance.
We always try to explain the benefits of prioritizing quality over quantity. The amount of images you need depends on the project type and size. You don’t necessarily need 100 3D renders to visually communicate what’s the project about.
If it’s an apartment, there’s really no need to create 20 images of the living room. It makes more sense to approach 3D visualization from a quality standpoint and render one or two images that are really WOW. Especially in real estate, the image needs to convey an emotion that’s inviting and helps the end customers picture themselves in that space. That’s archviz science.
When the client primarily has a very high number of renders in mind, it’s somewhat a red flag. Well, let’s say it’s an orange one because there are exceptions. Sometimes, a number means that the client has carefully analyzed their 3D architectural visualization needs. But most likely, we’re looking at a situation where the client says they need 20 renders and we name our price while having our finger ready to dial 911 as we wait for the client to faint from shock.
Renders cost money? Outrageous!
We like to do business our way but we always try to find a common ground with the client. If we succeed at establishing trust, clients realize they can rely on us. We have enough experience under our belt to give good advice about the angles, lighting, composition, people, and objects that should be presented in the image.
Question #2: Could You Deliver Our Precious Render By The End of This Call? That Would Be Great!
As far as deadlines are concerned, this is an industry where most people just don’t have patience, understanding, or tolerance when it comes to getting their hands on what they want. It’s just wanting instant gratification, wherever you look.
Almost every customer wants the same: an instant, super complex render done in literally 3 seconds. It’s like we’re living in a sci-fi world with slave robots in our office that shoot out super-complex and photorealistic renders. Of course, these improvised R2D2s also have the ability to guess the customer’s feedback in advance and incorporate it in the image before we even send the first draft.
To be completely honest, we would love to have these fancy metal sidekicks, but this is not Narnia, this is real life. We don’t have a magical closet in our studio that will lead us to a parallel world where slave robots live and work for us because we’re the chosen ones.
In reality, in this industry, “the fast and dirty” approach usually equals a crappy product. Since we’re in this game to do quality work and not rob people out of their money by serving them art done in Paint, we tend to set reasonable deadlines.
When it comes to creating quality renders, the beauty is always in the details. And the details demand time and attention.
Don’t get us wrong, we can always produce something really quick and collect cash for that. The problem is that we don’t have customers that want “something”. We have customers that want “epic”. And that “epic” usually requires a lot of thinking and polishing which can never be rushed.
Here’s a video clip shared by our Art Director that shows why time is essential for quality. We know you can relate.
Question #3: Could You Please Read Our Minds Instead of Making Us Give You Input and Direction?
Oh, man. When we roll back the film and just look at the highlights from our “worst meetings ever” series, we immediately feel like a kid that gets an apple when he asks for sweets.
It’s hard to remember the exact number of meetings where the customer demanded that we do “something mind-blowing” without giving us an ounce of info of what that “something” might look like.
In our highlights, we have more of these meetings than Universal Studios has “Fast and Furious” movies.
As a client, you need to understand that “asking for a render” is not enough!
We cannot make a render without context.
You have to do a decent part of the lifting. Even though we’re here to help you impress your audience, our job becomes immediately impossible if you don’t give us enough info about the project, the people you’re trying to reach, and where our art lives in your overall marketing strategy.
To produce something that will help you generate desired results, we need first to understand what you are trying to accomplish and why. The “why” behind every image is what makes it work.
The “why” is usually made out of:
- Doodles, pre-concept art
- Briefs
- Sketches
- CAD drawings
- Reference materials
Anything you have, we would appreciate seeing. Don’t know what the brief should look like? We can help you out. We’re never scared to ask for additional information because that helps us do our job.
Question #4: Can You Do a Crappier Version for Less Money? We Don’t Need Top Quality, Really
This one is our favorite.
Yes, we’re being sarcastic.
For us, asking us to produce poor quality render so that you can save up a little is a huge turn-off. We don’t do that. It’s not that we don’t want to meet our client halfway, it’s just that we literally don’t know how to do that. If you’re good at what you do, it’s very hard to simply “undo” your expertise with a push of a button.
If we need to visualize a building or a house, we’re going to do it realistically, with all the attention to details that we’ve developed over the last decade. How are we supposed to create something that’s semi-realistic or on a concept level, with bad materials, people cutouts, and trees, for instance? Believe it or not, it would require more time for us to intentionally make it worse than to do our own thing.
What we could do is send a render before it’s finished, but that’s just plain weird. It’s bargaining for quality, which is not really the type of mindset that resonates with us. We believe the key here is to educate the client and change their perception from paying for renders (cost-focused) to investing in visual marketing (investment-focus).
You can also look at it this way: the amount of money you might save by paying for a mediocre quality is directly proportional to the amount of money you’re likely to lose because end customers are underwhelmed by your images. Just think of it as missed opportunity costs. Not smart, business-wise.
BTW, you might want to check how furniture rendering can save up to 70% of your costs. Please share it with your network, and help them stay woke.
Now, back to 3D architectural visualization and us making our point.
Here’s a type of conceptual 3d visualization of a random public space I find disturbing:
And here’s the photorealistic architectural visualization of a public space that everybody can relate to and feel the atmosphere within:
When speaking about “toning down” the quality so that you can save a couple of hundred Euros, I can’t help it but to reminiscence this brilliant image:
We’re sure your viewers will love the two-dimensional feel of the trees that look like you’ve created them with spray in Paint. Not to mention the people who seem like they are glued to their surroundings.
Kaiserbold is Your Go-To CGI Studio for 3D Architectural Visualization
If you need 3D architectural visualization services, we at Kaiserbold can help. We’re a no BS company that’s fully dedicated to creating renders that will resonate with your target audience.
With over a decade of experience, we’ve seen a lot and learned a lot. Now we’re on the mission to keep the quality bar high and help you sell more through the power of the image.
Drop us a message today, and feel free to ask any questions you might have. As you can see, we love answering them with great honesty.
Thank you,
