Creating an atmospheric office interior

The idea for this piece came from a practice assignment which I gave to my student. She made an interior visualization for modeling, lighting, and shader practice. After she had finished and sent it to me, I really thought that I could recreate the process and take it to another level.

Step 1: Inspiration

On my course I teach students to find references and try to model from a to z, and with my guidance try to achieve the final image. When my talented student Kazhal Javanmardi showed me this project from YoDezeen architecture, I found it to be a perfect reference for all interior lessons and techniques.

Office 44 by YoDezeen architecture

Step 2: Modeling

It's a vital step to have a detailed model to make the shaders as realistic as possible. The point that I always note is to have an applicable chamfer on each object, and consider the radius of chamfer as close to the real model as possible. I pay particular attention to the details of the models, as these are what can produce a realistic environment with actual scale and proportion. For details I used models from vizpark and 3dsky.

Modeling

Step 3: Framing

Using the basic rules of photography is always helpful for archviz projects, and in this project, like my other works, I try to use the golden ratio in each render frame. Maybe in the beginning it's hard for the artist to know how it works, and how they can use correct framing, but after a while studying other artists' works, and effort, it will become easier and easier. It's one of the subjects that I still study to find a better composition in each work.

Golden ration shows how I use this frame

Step 4: Materialism

As a vital part for showing the objects in most realistic way I never past shadering part so easy, and because of existence number of object its so important how we manage our materials to show each of them on the way that don't look similar to each other. For this approach in some case using different shaders for different obejcts or make the shader in most variety way. In my workflow there are priorities for making shaders and Ceilings, walls, and floors are in the head of this list because they contain a vast space in the scene its important to shows them how doesn't look similar or the same. So I make shaders as much as possible simple but in the most possible variety.

As you see simple with diversity

Step 5: Illumination

This is the most exciting part. I love lighting, and I really don't get hard on myself during this part of the projects. I just try to make it as easy and progressive as possible. I used a simple HDRI map from Peter Guthrie and a Vizpark collection for making the different moods during the different times of day. It was important for me how each moment and angle of radiation was projected, so I spent a lot of time producing the best angle of sun inside the images. For spotlights, I used a simple corona light to only illuminate certain areas.

These are the most useful maps in this scene

Step 6: Close ups

This step is when you can complement your own project. In this step, the rules of photography again play an important role, and as an artist we should consider some important points to make an applicable image. One of the most important points is to have a standard depth, and also a powerful focal point to make the depth as strong as possible. Also use the right aperture and setting for producing effects like bokeh, or enough bloom and glare.

The bokeh effect happens when there is a standard focal length

Step 7: Post-production

Last but not least, we arrive at the final part, and it is the post production. In this step, I only use a few steps to change the contrast and color. In my personal workflow, I believe an image should already work, from the modeling and composition, before getting to the post production. As you can see, I used some render elements to increase the contrast of the image, and used some simple tools for changing the color balance and hue. If you have a successful workflow this step will be enjoyable, otherwise it will be a terrible headache.

So simple, adjust some layers of color and contrast

Render shots

Related links

Mohsen Hashemi: arch-viz artist interview
Check out Mohsen's website
Mohsen on Behance
Mohsen on Facebook