According to TheStreet – Pending home sales rose by 7.3% in November to the highest level since April 2010, according to a National Association of Realtors report.

The index, which measures the number of contracts signed to buy previously owned homes in the U.S., rose to a reading of 100.1 in November from 93.3 in October as homebuyers look to finalize purchases before the homebuyer tax credit expires at the end of the year.

“Housing affordability conditions are at a record high and there is a pent-up demand from buyers who’ve been on the sidelines,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the NAR. “The sustained rise in contract activity suggests that closed existing-home sales, which are the important final economic impact figures, should continue to improve in the months ahead.”

What does that mean? It means start your marketing engines! Architectural Illustrations are a vital tool for marketing and advertising your projects to the public and planning commissions.

I just finished an architectural illustration of a new project being started by SunRiver St. George. This project will be nested within the beautiful valley of Green Springs in St. George, Utah.

This was a rush project created from designs by Jeff Andrews of Jeff Andrews Custom Home Design, Inc. Jeff is a wonderful designer bursting with creativity and a skilled knowledge of function. We both had only a few days to design and complete a rendering for this proposed 26,000 sq.ft. facility with all the fixins’ inside and out! Jeff has designed a beautiful garden for the residents to stroll through. I look forward to seeing the final built project.

This is what our client had to say about working with us

Jeff and Tina

Just Finished  the meeting for the community.  Both of your drawings and work received  rave reviews.  Thanks to both of you for all of your hard work in a very short period of time. I know that both of you lost many hours of sleep accommodating our timeline. It turned out well.

Thanks again!

Janeen

MTV, will feature a home that was part of the 2009 St. George Area Parade of Homes. Home #19, Maison Enchante is located in Santa Clara and was built by K. Welch Construction. The beautiful 15,053 square foot home and surrounding area will be featured this Saturday, December 12th at 4 pm on the MTV Teen Cribs program. Please check your local listings for the correct channel.

Core Zero Creative did the Architectural Rendering for this home.

I wanted to share a beautiful, thoughtful testimonial from a client of over 10 years. This will be our 10th year creating the architectural renderings for the St. George Area Parade of Homes in St. George, Utah. As Mari Smith stated below, The St. George Area Parade of Homes is a nationally recognized, award-winning event which draws tens of thousands of visitors in search of the latest in current building, decorating, and landscaping trends. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with the Southern Utah Home Builders Association developing such a successful event. Here’s what Mari said:

“Tina is an outstanding artist and continues to do an excellent job with the renderings for our annual St. George Area Parade of Homes. It is always a pleasure to work with her, and she goes above her responsibilities to help simplify the process for us. This event has earned an outstanding reputation because of our goal to look professional in all aspects. The renderings Tina has produced for many years have helped earn this outstanding reputation.”

This is from an article posted from the Philippine Association of Architectural Illustrators…

Photorealistic vs. Non-Photorealistic Renderings
in Virtual Environments

Runddy D. Ramilo, MSc, BSc (Arch) PhD (Architecture) candidate, Australia

Abstract
Design is a creative activity that is complex and influenced by numerous factors. The new trend in design presentations explore and takes place in a Virtual Environments wherein computer-simulated environment is used to communicate and perceive design. Most researches on Virtual Environments (VE) have been focused on Photorealistic (PR) simulation environments but there has been inadequate research on the use of VE in Non-Photorealistic (NPR) presentations to explore the most efficient method of interior design presentation.

This article discusses the use of VE to support the necessary means of interior design presentations i.e. Photorealistic or Non-photorealistic Renderings. Perception of spatial volumes within VE is assessed through comparison of representations using Photorealistic and Non-photorealistic means of presentations. A research was conducted to investigate the relative effectiveness of both Photorealistic and Non-photorealistic in immersive and non-immersive VE by interpretation and communication through design. It was found out that Non-photorealistic renderings are still the most preferred method of renderings by designers and clients.

Virtual reality is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment. Most current virtual  environments are primarily made for visual experiences that displayed either on a computer screen or stereoscopic displays with simulations which include additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers or headphones. Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) perceptually surrounds the user, increasing the user’s sense of presence being within it. Virtual environments have been increasingly used for a variety of contexts such as learning, business, engineering, architecture and design. As the modern world develops and utilizes design technology for architecture and interior design, the subsequent demand for digital presentations had popularly emerged. Current visualization research have focused on achieving Photorealism (PR) in which essentially concerned with rendering images as ‘realistically’ as possible through the integration of physics and algorithms (Halper et al, 2003). In virtual environments walkthroughs and picture-perfect simulations of objects have defined a practice where Photorealism  is considered as perhaps the most important measure of a successful representation (Roussou and Drettakis, 2003). Since its emergence, the field of computer graphics has concentrated on making 3d images that are indistinguishable from reality.

On the other hand, while most designers and researchers in design and computer graphics have focused on creating Photorealistic presentations some have concentrated on Non-photorealistic presentations. Some have evaded the use of technology and most are inspired by human drawing techniques that are water color, pen and ink, crayons, markers and pencils. With the traditional techniques and human skills a lot in interior design practice are still using these means of presentations as it relates to creative and artistic creations of designs. According to Mausch and Magdeburg (2002), Non-photorealistic renderings (NPR) are beneficial in many ways as they can support story telling, expressive, giving the image a certain artistic look and feel. Masuch and Rober (2001) also encourage the use of NPR as a good alternative as it is more artistic and convey a creative sense of design. A number of research article (Harper et al, 2003), (Kang, 2000) and Klein et al, 2000) states that Non-photorealistic .renditions appear more natural and are perceived far more easily than complicated technical drawings.

Design Presentations in Practice
In the beginning of the emergence of digital presentations in interior design, many have been enthusiasts and have taken advantages on the use of technology for precise creation of design and presentations. Several designers have focused in 3d modelling and construction detailing and others started creating designs in 3d worlds. Several big architectural and interior design firms like KPF, Aedas, HOK and many others appears to intentionally trash out the traditional non-photorealistic means of presentations and have shifted to 3d modelling resulting to produce a Photorealistic rendition that range from still life to walkthrough animations. Ramilo (2007) points out that Photorealistic renderings has been a good tool for visual communication wherein architects and designers can portray their imaginations into virtual reality. This provides the opportunity to extract the best from variety of different designs for built environment and realizing emotions of interior spaces.

However, as the field of digital media is becoming mature and virtual itself starts to develop a ‘picturesque language’ and even more realistic, there is a realization that in many cases what may interest is not so much about Photorealistic presentations but an image that communicates and easily perceive its underlying meaning. World’s leading interior design companies like Hirsch Bedner and Associates, Wilson and Associates, and Gensler are still using the traditional Non-photorealistic presentations and believed that it is about design as creating creative spaces and convincing environments, regardless if the imagery realistically emulates the physical properties of the world or not. Furthermore, as Photorealistic rendition is technically tedious and costly in which consumed a lot more time and efforts than Non-photorealistic. In many small and medium size design companies, Non-photorealistic  presentations appears to be more efficient as it can be done with several styles and options that is water colors, markers and others; in a lesser efforts that can be done by most of the designers.

Nowadays, finding the most quoted efficient interior design presentations has been a difficult task. What may appear graphically good and meaningful to other clients might be worst to other people with different background. In this study, it is argued that design is not just about form and images but about different layers of meanings. Interior spaces can be associated with different functional activities and values which may form a rich environment and cannot be understood by just watching ‘photorealistic’ representation instead ‘imbuing’ the place. For a better understanding and experience in a virtual design environment the most engaging environment is required, which may not necessarily be the most graphically realistic environment.

Visualization Issues
Despite of comparable technical research (Strothotte & Schlechtweg 2002) within non-photorealistic rendering (NPR), research doesn’t exist in evaluating psychological knowledge regarding its effect on human cognition and perception in interior design presentations. While the Photorealistic image is defined by the singular principle of appearing as realistic or ‘life-like’ as technologically possible, the Non- Normal 0 photorealistic image is virtually infinite and artistic and appears to have variety of styles (Harper, 2003).  The visual flexibility of Non-photorealistic holds inherent, though still undefined, potential to influence viewer responses in a variety of manners.

Conclusions
Non-photorealistic renderings (NPR) have long proven useful in the fields of architecture and urban planning: presentation techniques initiated by the Berkeley Environmental Simulation Laboratory (Appleyard & Craik 1978) have been designed to improve user needs when viewing planning alternatives. Additionally, communication between experts and laymen has also developed due to improvements in CAD, visualization, and simulation (Linneweber 1993). In terms of laymen—citizens, investors, and future users, participatory designs must facilitate interactions as well as basic design understanding.

Schumann et al. (1996) demonstrated that Non-photorealistic renderings (NPR sketch-rendered design qualitatively improves the dialogue between architects and clients, in contrast with dialogues elicited from Photorealistic renderings (PR) images. Psychologically, sketch-rendered designs maintain different affordances (Gibson 1977; Munz 1989), wherein sketched images appear preliminary, unfinished, and therefore open to change. Thus, the client is more likely to consider and suggest changes to the design. NPR can also be employed to guide behavior. Halper et al. (2003) demonstrates that increased levels of detail can effectively influence both navigation and exploration behaviors, wherein subjects asked to choose a path to explore or reach a goal in the distance tend to select the path with the higher levels of detail PR images. Potentially, subjects view in an increased level of detail PR is more interesting for exploration, relative to lower level of detail NPR.

Core Zero Creative specializes in NPR or Non-Photo Realistic architectural illustration. We pride ourselves on creating beautiful “digital watercolor” renderings.  We work on residential and commercial projects, helping our clients market their developments for many different applications, such as: sale, client review, city reviews, community introduction, etc. Take a look at our portfolio.

This past weekend I participated in my first 5k walk/run.  The Dempsey Challenge: A Journey for Hope.  A wonderful cause raising funds for The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing. I turned 40 this summer and since January have been on a crusade to lose weight and get in shape.  Participating in this 5k was a milestone in this continuing endeavor.

What a great experience!  I had my new running shoes, 40ish lbs lighter, and well on my way to be “Foxy at 40″ (the theme for the year). I was so hyped up…. right up until I made that first turn and saw the first hill!  I had no idea there would be hills.  Needless to say, I did not run up ANY hills, I walked as fast as I could breathing so hard I thought my lungs were going to deflate permanently. It was definitely a challenge.  A challenge I am proud to say that was completed without needing any medical attention and left only temporary pain that has been a constant reminder that I need to cherish my health.

Hello Eric, Tina, and Zaq

I just wanted to again thank you for all that you did to make my trip to Romania with the laptops so successful. We had a few glitches, but we felt those prayers, as I shared with Tina yesterday, and the Lord blessed the laptop program immensely. It couldn’t have happened without all of your help, so please know that you helped  8 little Romanian girls and their teacher to become very excited about learning on their laptops. Ana and Peter, the REMM directors, are also thinking of the possibility of opening an after school daycare program and using the laptops for the children to do their homework on, so God may use them to reach even into the community of Beius. This is important as the gypsy children and their families are treated like the lowest in the Romanian society. Many do not make it through school. I know that God is going to do great things because of these laptops! May He also bless you for your willingness to serve Him in this way. In His Love, Pat

Working, but still a work in progress.  We have been working diligently to update our new website.  We still have a way to go, but now the portfolio’s for Architectural Rendering and Website Development are set up.  We will continue to update our portfolio’s and pages.  It has been fun going through old projects that we’ve forgotten about and remembering how much we enjoyed working on them and of course some of the challenges that were involved.

Draft of Interior Walk Through