Principio de funcionamiento

Detailed and polished perspective views are generally the most accessible images in any presentation and a well chosen viewpoint will quickly convey the essential elements of the project. One comprehensive perspective may express all that needs to be shown, but it is always worth considering a number of views, each concentrating attention on different important elements. Such

shifts of attention are, after all, the normal response to a built interior, the eyes focusing consecutively on particular set pieces. It is also worth considering incorporating large-scale views of details, junctions of materials and pieces of built-in furniture. Such detail

Right

It makes sense to include a new street frontage as the first image in presentation material.

In this example it is presented as a flat plane behind which the shop and its customers set up the idea of perspectival depth and the pedestrians and pigeons suggest a pavement, as a receding foreground plane.

Below

The street frontage as perspective.

The computer makes it easy to manipulate a new elevation to match the perspective of a, preferably digital, photograph of surrounding buildings. These buildings may, in turn, be further manipulated within the computer to produce a more compatible alignment and graphic quality.

can create a sense of intimate involvement with the project. (For the principles of setting up perspective views by hand, refer to the section on ‘Making a simple freehand perspective’ in Chapter 1, pages 42–43.)

The advantage of drawing by computer is that, once essential information has been fed into plans and elevations, it is simple to extrude as many complex perspective views as is necessary or desirable. However, with too many such views the impact of the whole may become diluted. It is better to identify those that are crucial, and invest effort in refining them.

Constructing the real interior is necessarily a more difficult undertaking than generating an idealized image of it. If a rendering appears perfect, then a client may be entitled to assume that the materials and colours shown are precisely those that will appear in the finished interior – and any variations may lead to complaints. It is therefore sometimes sensible to offer a more impressionistic image of the proposal, one that expresses the essence of the project but is obviously not photographically accurate.

The conventional perspective view, neatly

composed within a rectangle, tends, like a photograph, to give equal weight to all elements within it whereas, when in a real interior, one is more likely to focus on visually assertive elements. In a drawing it is sensible to concentrate viewers’ attention on what will be, in reality, the most significant components, the impact of which may be lost if every surface is rendered with the same intensity. Content should be prioritized.

A strong argument can be made for computer-generated images that retain elements of the sketch. Sketches are always intriguing: they are not definitive, they leave room for the imagination to speculate – and they have spontaneity, energy and an intimacy that the perfection of the polished image inevitably loses. They remain accessible and appear to offer more evidence of a designer’s creativity.

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The most complex proposals may be easily and endlessly rotated in the computer for critical appraisal and presentation.

The components of a presentation 99

Left

While, at first sight, this image appears photographic, its concern is to convey a sense of machined perfection, so the surfaces are hyper-smooth and the whole is dramatically lit. Such distortion is legitimate in order to express the spirit of the project – as long as the manipulation is obvious.

Below

Artificial transparencies indicate obvious stylization, and in this example also express the aesthetic intention.

Below and below right These images explain how a palette of materials and colours runs consistently through a sequence of spaces. Created

‘freehand’ on computer, they describe finishes without the precision necessary to plot three-dimensional detail. Important elements, like the clothes-hanging recesses and sculpted ceilings,

Above and right

Neither of these images aspire to accurate perspective, but they make clear statements about the nature of the spaces illustrated: that on the left is tall and airy, that on the right smaller and more intimate. Both are very clear about finishes.

are delineated carefully, but the obviously deliberate discrepancies of size in the figures, as well as their extreme postures and costumes, confirm that literal accuracy is not intended. They suggest that the designer relished the creative process.

While it is standard practice to generate computer perspectives from plans and sections it is also possible to draw ‘freehand’, directly on to the screen. Program tools make it easier to delineate volumes with perfectly straight lines, rather than the undulations of the hand made, and to add blocks of colour, and to scan and paste in patterns, textures, figures and furniture.

The components of a presentation 101

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The flat, white planes of walls, floor and ceiling are represented by the white of the paper on which the image is to be printed. Only crucial elements are drawn. The stylization of the view is acknowledged by the obvious distortion of perspective, which is confirmed by the view of the street beyond the window