L'immagine costruita. La formazione, il ruolo e le tecniche del CGartist nella visualizzazione architettonica

The research focuses on the cultural background of the computer graphics artist (CG artist) and on the primary methods by which computer-generated imagery (CGI) is created within architectural visualization (archviz), to highlight the leading role of visual arts and visual culture in the development process of rendering. The increase of computer representation possibilities led the architect to outsource the project communication employing professionals and visualization companies. In the current period, the discussion of tools, techniques, and disciplines at the base of architectural rendering is not very accurate, despite the high demand for images and architectural illustrations. Furthermore, to be overlooked is the relationship with the tradition of painting and architecture drawing, where the rendering is in historical continuity. The current CG artist shares with the perspectivist painter — or renderer from the past — much of the compositional strategies underpinning a compelling and persuasive visual communication. This research adopts the historical parallel between the two figures to understand how, despite differences in the tools and technologies used, the links between the pictorial image construction and architectural rendering are now merged in the techniques of digital processing, compositing, matte painting and in the phenomenon here defined as natural visualization.