What time of the day and month we should set for our renders

SketchUp Pro
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Hello

hope every one is well.

I need to know what time of the day and month we should set for our renders. I know it all depends on what we want to achieve from our project, but as a beginner to rendering what should I start from?

thanks

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This is your answer.

Beach house that you want to feel warm and cozy? Summer, late afternoon sun.

Mountain cabin in the snowy forest? Winter, early morning or late afternoon.

Suburban parking lot at a large shopping mall that you want to feel desolate and alone? Mid day, winter.

Look at architectural photography and find examples that you like then try to copy those.

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Daylight external renders come out better if you start them just after sunset as you get a better contrast.

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Like others have said, it really depends on the circumstances of the project, location, goals of the client, what sells the product best etc. To add, you also may want to factor the STYLE of the rendering and themes you are trying to convey of what you are looking to output and not just the lighting of it to inform your decisions.

As example, if you are trying to show a light grey paint on light tan oak floors then you don’t want warm interior lights or sunsets changing/skewing the colors of these things even though it may look cool in an overall way. you would probably want a noon lighting or even a white overcast outside and inside to show true colors of the objects of something like overcast colors with a grey palette.

I recommend keeping a collection of CG renders (and architecture photography) from others that you like and can use as a reference for themes or styles or color palettes or mood etc you may want to go for or make you think in different directions. My current collection is almost 1500 images just in cg images…

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waoo 1500 images. I have just started with rendering so I was very confused what time of the day month I should set. but I like the suggestion to take interior/architecture photography take those as reference and start practicing … thanks for all the support and help

Regards

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To be honest it depends on the skill and knowledge of the renderer with the tool he uses, be it Vray, Enscape, Bellarender, D5 or lumion, so if you have a good control of all these render engines you will be able to make quality renders in daylight, evening or even at night.