What? How often does this happen – art and science both contributing to the same space in our world? It’s not very common, but consider this. Prolific visualization specialists can be characterized as those who have talents that span the divide between art and science.
Why should you care? Because if you can score yourself one of these artists, or a firm who have such artists on staff then you can feel pretty secure about how your project is going to turn out.
As I was developing the content for this article, I began researching the studies that have been done and the observations that have been made with regards to the relationship, or lack thereof, between art and science. I discovered an article by Sharada Narayan in Berkley Scientific from February 6, 2014 entitled, “The Art of Science and the Science of Art”. Within this article, she writes of the lecturer, Lawrence Weschler whom in a speech noted that
“… the division between art and science isn’t entirely ‘natural’.
They’re certainly different, but far from antithetical. We’re used
to thinking of the divide between science and the humanities
(including art) as a separation of essentials- science is
fundamentally logical and rigorous on one side, while the arts
are free-flowing and imaginative on the other. But there’s also
no doubt that science is extremely visual; any student who’s
ever taken a science course knows that a good illustration is
worth more than a thousand words, especially if those words
are confusing and long-winded…In a
more metaphorical sense, ‘seeing’ is often synonymous with
‘understanding’. This has always been particularly true for
science, even if we now divorce the two.”
Not only is there reference to art and science colliding but specific reference to the concepts of illustration and the 3D world.
So, what does all of this mean for architectural visualization in particular? No matter what the medium, whether it be a traditional medium such as watercolors, or a 3D computer-generated software used to create still renderings, animations, or virtual reality, the artist will require the documents from the architect in their variety to depict exact measurements in every detail of the environment from window heights to stair configurations. It is vital that these measurements are accurate. In fact, it is because of this accuracy that architects can on occasion, identify errors in their designs. These calculations are hard and fast and cannot be deviated from. Upon completion of these components of the work, also known as the modeling, the other aspects of the environment can be added.
Enter that artistic piece. While one might suggest that if the work is meant to look realistic, art plays a small role, they would be wrong. Art and nuance, and having an eye for it are key. Involved in photorealism as it is called, is lighting and texturing. These two categories are huge in terms of making the piece look real. I must know exactly how the lighting should appear in a certain interior or exterior environment. How does the light bounce off of or how is it absorbed by each surface?
Fluorescent lighting and incandescent light create different scenarios from each other and are appropriately used in different environments. Now, what if the environment is being depicted outdoors? The sun and its affect on the environment is another whole ball game. Let’s expand on that thought. What shadows and color affects does the sun have on a building’s façade, on the people and cars staged here. Let’s take it once step further and think about weather and time of day. What if the preference is for a cloudy or stormy day, or a dawn or dusk image. All you have to do is run a quick search on google for 3D renderings and see the disaster that can be created by well-intentioned renders who do not qualify as artists.
The same can be true when addressing Texturing, entourage, and post production. We will examine all that goes into each of these separately in this book. But, without an artist’s eye and background, it is unlikely that the highest level of accuracy can be achieved in any visualization piece by just addressing the science behind the architecture and the software utilized.