Secrets of Perfect Renders from a Planoplan Expert
Little Tricks for Professional Visualizations That Take Your Breath Away
- 19 may 2025
- 299
Creating high-quality visualizations offers numerous benefits for both professional designers/architects and those working on personal projects
It allows you to clearly visualize how a space will look, avoiding future disappointments and errors.
Serves as a source of inspiration and a guide throughout the project’s implementation.
Helps clients better understand the concept, streamlining the approval process.
Boosts chances of successful project presentations and sales while enhancing portfolios to attract new clients.
In this article, Dmitrii Mikolyuk, a 3D modeler/3D visualizer at Planoplan, shares tips to make your renders more professional and captivating.
Camera Settings
- Use a camera field of view between 35–60 degrees to maintain proportions and prevent distortions.
- Ensure the camera is level to keep vertical lines straight.
- Avoid clipping key objects at the frame edges to preserve visual coherence.
Composition
A well-composed image is easier to digest and visually appealing.
Select a main object (or group of objects) in the frame and emphasize it. This simplifies the viewer’s understanding of the scene.
Techniques to achieve this:
- Camera placement: Position the camera so the subject lies in one of the frame’s thirds (rule of thirds). Objects here subconsciously feel more important.
- Contrasting light: Use light that differs in brightness or temperature from the background to highlight the subject.
- Accent color: A vibrant object contrasting with the background draws immediate attention.
Remove excessive decor and adjust furniture for a cleaner, balanced frame. This minimizes visual clutter and ensures harmony, avoiding empty areas that disrupt the scene’s balance.
Lighting
Proper lighting creates a realistic atmosphere and enhances the image’s overall impact.
- Position the camera so light emphasizes object shapes and textures. Side lighting illuminates different facets, improving depth perception.
- Add supplemental lights if natural light is insufficient to brighten dark areas or accentuate forms.
- Sunlight creates dynamic shadows and highlights, boosting realism.
Material Settings
Fine-tuning materials enhances realism. Textures with balanced brightness create cohesive visuals, avoiding harsh contrasts that distract or unbalance the scene. In real life, materials rarely have extreme brightness shifts, so harmonized textures improve believability.
- Avoid maximum dark/light values in textures.
- Fully matte materials suit fabrics best; most surfaces have subtle reflections.
- Avoid low-resolution textures in the foreground when using custom assets.
Rendering
High-resolution, quality renders capture fine details, textures, gradients, and lighting, producing realistic, aesthetically pleasing images. This elevates professionalism, reinforces brand image, and is vital for portfolios.
- Use preview renders to test materials and lighting (low quality, fast processing).
- For final output, use high-resolution renders or enhance previews from the gallery.
Post-Processing
Post-processing adjusts color balance, saturation, and contrast to refine renders and boost appeal.
- Exposure correction: Brighten dark renders or tone down overexposed areas.
- Saturation adjustment: Fix under/oversaturated colors.
- Contrast: Add depth and volume.
Bonus Tips
- Attention to detail: Ensure furniture isn’t floating or overlapping, and display cabinets are styled with decor. This enhances realism.
- Close-ups add dynamism, showcase atmosphere, and highlight unique elements (e.g., heirlooms or decor). They demonstrate skill and attention to detail.
While these tips may seem minor, collectively, they yield impressive results. Combining all aspects will help you create renders that are both professional and breathtaking.
