The term rendering is used in graphic image processing, video sequencing, image synthesis, and also in web browsers for HTML rendering that works with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In the context discussed here, the goal is to generate a realistic graphic volume model, animation, or video sequence by rendering from a computer model. It is a job step in the creation of a graphical object or a media stream.

If simple models, such as wireframes, preview formats, or compressed data formats are used when creating complex graphic objects, animations, or video sequences, in the creation phase, detailed calculations must be performed when the object or animation is rendered. has completed to keep the computation time as short as possible. This includes not only realistic, but also partly photorealistic renderings.

Since the 1990s it has been possible to create three-dimensional models of a building in virtual space. If these models are further processed and images are produced from them, it is called rendering. When rendering, three-dimensional models are covered with textures, material properties and light sources are specified, as well as the defined viewing position and direction of the viewer. The result is realistic images that can hardly be distinguished from a photo.

The first representations were more like drawings painted in perspective. The textures were crude, and the surface structures and lighting effects were not yet fully developed.

In the past, every inch of a building or interior space was examined in detail using scale models. The plans, aesthetics and details of the project could be controlled and formulated in this way. However, building and incorporating changes to a real model takes a long time. Today, architecture and interior design are often articulated exclusively on computers.

A click on a virtual object is enough to change the surface or the material. As a result, to save time, design is also carried out virtually in many cases. Proportions, surfaces, materials, objects are changed until a satisfactory design is created, which is then implemented.

Thus, the rendering method offers many advantages in these industries. Materials can be rendered “realistically” in advance and their effect can be checked. Exterior and interior exposure and shading, as well as the positioning of the building on the property or of the elements that make up a room, can be done from the beginning.

The design phases can be checked by means of an image. Both fields are influenced by rendering possibilities. As a result, the procedures in the design process change. The models, which are very expensive due to the time it takes to build, are replaced by renderings. Modifying a three-dimensional physical model can take days or weeks, but creating a new image can take minutes.

Communication with customers is also simplified. Renderings can accurately define the dimensions and effect of a composition and make it easier to understand. Renderings can enhance the impact of a design through countless presentation possibilities to achieve the desired effects.