by Darlene A. Brady

Mieczyslaw Boryslawski says that creating a beautiful, true-to-life image "is like playing music — one must experiment and practice until satisfied with the results." This is true of both digital and traditional techniques.

The greatest advantage of electronic rendering for Boryslawski and France Israel of View By View, a San Francisco based multimedia firm, is that their images can be changed relatively quickly and painlessly. Digital rendering enables View By View to preview images in a matter of seconds or minutes, allowing them to iteratively refine lighting, viewpoints, and other details. The resulting images are subtle and expressive.

Many architects have maintained that manual rendering gives an illustration a human touch, whereas rendering with digital tools results in a plastic appearance. Boryslawski and Israel agree this argument has some validity. Nevertheless, their work shows that experienced hands can produce electronic renderings with qualities to satisfy the demanding traditionalist.

An architectural rendering calls on the viewer to accept a visual depiction as an indication of the proposed physical reality. The material textures, patterns, and colors give substance and patina to the objects. They transport the viewer to another time and place.

This "suspension of disbelief" is equally important to renderers creating magical environments for games and to practitioners persuading clients of the viability of a proposed project.

For Boryslawski, the days of "scraping away, cutting, and pasting with paper and pen" are gone. The computer is also much more forgiving than watercolor paper. For example, it is possible to paint trees in a scene digitally and, if they do not look right, quickly revert to the original image — something that cannot be done in the traditional gouache medium.

From the game of "Qin: Tomb of the Middle Kingdom," a rendered view of the emperor's chamber with textures. Image: France Israel/ View By View, Inc. A rendered view of the emperor's chamber without textures. Image: France Israel/ View By View, Inc.   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.