The highly anticipated Freedom Tower as seen in a night view with the Statue of Liberty and with the Brooklyn Bridge. Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. Rendering: dbox.

Sears Tower, Trump Tower, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, London’s Natural History Museum, IBM World Headquarters, Sotheby’s Worldwide Headquarters, buildings at Yale University and the University of Chicago and the newly planned Freedom Tower in New York City?

What do all of these places have in common?

Like many examples of today’s finest architectural design, they have the motion picture industry to thank for their construction coming to fruition. All of the above structures were designed using 3D imaging software programs that were created specifically for the film industry so that clients of architectural designers could better visualize the final product.

Architectural firms all over the world are finding that in order to keep up their competitive edge, win new commissions and secure approval for high-profile design contracts they cannot live without 3D imaging software. Accomplished designers from such firms as Arup, Perkins & Will, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Kohn Pederson Fox, Ellerbe Becket and Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum employ a range of design visualization solutions from Autodesk and its motion picture division, Discreet.

Autodesk VIZ, which is used for design concept exploration, photorealistic renderings and fly-through animations was primarily created for design visualization. Discreet’s 3ds max and combustion software, on the other hand, were designed specifically for motion picture professionals and motion picture-quality 3D content. In fact, 3ds max has the largest install base of any 3D animation software in the world, topping 280,000 installed users. This number includes many architectural designers who are using it to create a client presentation that is packed with stunning realism. In addition to VIZ’s capabilities, with 3ds max and combustion designers get sophisticated character animation and environmental forces such as gravity and wind. They can perform sub-object animation for life-like actions from curtains swaying in the breeze to an earthquake simulation, and they can show event-driven particles that mimic environmental effects such as rain, snow, dense fog and cascading fountains.

“3ds max’s main focus is on entertainment,” suggests Dave Campbell, product marketing manager for animation at Discreet. “It was actually designed for film-based customers while Autodesk VIZ’s development emphasis is to solve those problems specific to design visualization. It so happens that there is a little bit of overlap.”

Design firms are discovering that they can’t live without 3D imaging software. Courtesy of Autodesk® VIZ/Discreet.

Michael Woodcox, product manager for VIZ software, states that VIZ and Discreet 3ds max, are branches of the same application. “3ds max just adds additional animation features. So, if you really need to give cinematic presentations, 3ds max is definitely the thing that’s going to be able to deliver that for you. VIZ is just a version of 3ds max with limited animation features. It’s really intended more for the designers who are creating buildings so that they’ll have the same level of rendering capabilities (as 3ds max users) and it’s a little easier for them to deal with.”

“Both of these solutions from Autodesk and Discreet allow our customers’ clients to immerse themselves into a space virtually before committing to a plan,” adds Marc Petit, vp of product development.

It can be said that the demands of the motion picture industry actuated the development of both programs. According to Campbell, “The very rendering core of Autodesk VIZ as well as 3ds max are both heavily influenced by the needs of the film industry, particularly now because it’s based on mental ray, which is one of the two legacy renderers that have really pushed the film industry to the heights it has gotten to today in terms of fidelity.”