Our 3D rendering project process, from brief to final files

The same process applies to every one of our 3D rendering services, from interior and exterior stills to floor plans, product images and animation; only the timings for animation, VR and interactive work differ, and those are set out below. This page is part of our series on how to buy 3D rendering.

What do you send to start?

To start, send the drawings or model, the materials and the views you want. That is what to send a rendering studio at a minimum; the more of the list below you include, the fewer questions we ask and the closer the first draft is to what you meant.

1. Send the drawings or model: Revit (RVT), SketchUp (SKP), Rhino (3DM), 3ds Max (MAX), AutoCAD (DWG or DXF), Archicad (PLN), IFC, OBJ, FBX or STEP, or PDF drawings, sketches and photos.
2. List the materials and finishes, with product names or codes where you have them.
3. Mark the views you want on the plan, or describe each one.
4. Add reference images for mood, light and time of day.
5. State the use and the deadline: planning, sales, a product page or a presentation date.

Our 3D rendering brief template has a field for each item, so a brief written on it is complete the first time.

What does a fixed quote give you?

A fixed quote gives you a firm price and firm dates within 12 hours of sending your files, so you can plan the presentation, planning submission or launch before any work starts. Our team includes architects and interior designers, and they read your drawings or model before quoting, so questions about missing heights or finishes come before the work, not as corrections after it. The quote covers modeling from your files at the level the brief describes, and it does not change unless the brief does. Every service, unit and rendering cost is on our pricing page.

Nothing is charged until you approve the quote, and if work has not started, the full payment comes back on request.

What happens between the quote and the first draft?

Between the quote and the first draft, we build the model, agree the camera angles with you on a clay draft, then add materials, light and post-production. The first draft of a still arrives in 3 to 5 business days from complete files; animation takes 2 to 3 weeks to its first draft, and VR and interactive work is quoted with its own dates.

1. Model the project from your files: walls, openings, roof, joinery and site, to your dimensions.
2. Set the cameras: height, lens and framing for each view you asked for.
3. Send a clay draft, a gray model with no materials, so you can confirm the cameras and layout while they are cheap to change.
4. Apply your materials as physically based textures and place furniture, planting, people and cars.
5. Light the scene for the time of day in the brief, render it and finish it in Photoshop.
6. Send the first draft for your comments.

For the technical side of each step, from meshes to ray tracing, our page on the process of rendering explains what the software does. If you need a draft faster, ask for rush delivery in 48 hours, subject to capacity.

How do revisions work?

Two revision rounds are included in every order: the first usually covers the camera and layout on the clay draft, and the second covers materials, styling and light on the colored draft. Send all comments for a round together, from one person, so that every change is made once; marking up the image itself is the clearest way. A change to the design itself, such as moving a wall after the draft, is new work and is quoted before we start it.

What do you receive at the end?

At the end you receive the final files in 4K, with full commercial rights to use them anywhere, for any time.

Ready to start a project?

Send the brief and files through the quote form on any service page, or contact 3DRenderingAgency directly, and we reply with a fixed quote within 12 hours of receiving them. We are a 3D rendering firm working remotely for clients in the US and worldwide.