Renderings vs. Physical Models I

Recently I have found a lot of pleasure in working with 3dmax. In a way it feels like painting because it is very much about creating the illusion of reality. When creating a scene the concerns match the ones working on canvas such as plasticity, light, reflections, refractions, materiality, colors, textures and composition. If there is a difference – well - I am missing the smell of oil paint, the brushstrokes, mixing colors and of course working physically. But it is not my intention to say 3d modeling may replace painting - I rather want to express my newly gained pleasures in a media that I have been struggling with. In fact I used to think that a physical model is always the best way to verify a design physically. So throughout my recent findings I would like to give credit to both types of modeling. Renderings turn out to be strong to arouse empathy to what it is like to be in a place from the human scale and perspective, certainly a weak point of the physical model that we tend to watch from above and always with a scale factor. Also related, physical models have difficulties to express materiality and usually end up uniquely colored depending on a material that is better for modeling than for representation such as cardboard or wood. A big plus of physical models though is how they make us understand tectonics. We understand how material reacts to gravity, connects and braces each other. We also experience their limits. This is the big weak point of renderings in which slabs, walls and columns usually float in space without required loads, support, bracing and connections. In fact it is dangerous to only rely on a rendering because we may be misled and an attractive concept turns out to be very difficult and costly to construct. As a matter of fact we need both media to make good judgment over our designs that are to represent the invisible forces idea, light, and gravity. Therefore renderings are good for light studies and materials, and physical models are good for studies of physical matters.