Commissioning CGI can be a major undertaking, especially if you are building a large, complex development.

If you’ve never worked with The Pixel Workshop before, we thought it would be helpful to create a step-by-step guide to what to expect.

Step one: consultation

This can be a phone call, an online meeting or a face-to-face meeting. We will talk to you about your development’s key features, including:

• its location;
• the number of houses or apartments you’re selling and their market value;
• the USPs;
• any nearby competition;
• any issues you anticipate in selling the properties (for example, no public transport nearby).

We’ll ask when you are planning to market, whether you are marketing off-plan, when the development will be ready to move into, and how you plan to market it. Who is your target market? What is the price point? If you can give us an idea of your budget, we will always do our best to reconcile it with as much CG imagery and animation as we can.

Sole trader or national housebuilder: we adapt to your needs

We work with a range of clients, from the sole-trading house builder who has never commissioned CGI before to national housebuilders such as Churchill Retirement Living, who need to reconcile the expectations of several departments (sales and marketing, design and technical) to make the right decisions on each CGI. That means we’re used to working with people who are new to CGI as well as people who are well versed in the processes involved.

Why it helps to ask these questions

From the outset, we want the CGI package we create for you to be the best balance of content to achieve your aims, whatever they are. Because we produce brochures and micro-sites to put our images and animations in context, we’ll make sure you don’t order too many images, and asking these in-depth questions helps us make sure you get the best-value package possible.

Step two: quotation

We’ll send you a no-obligation quotation, detailing the choices we’ve discussed and giving you key starting points for CGI creation. It’s emailed across as a downloadable document.

As well as pricing information, it contains relevant examples. For interiors, it will include previous CGIs we’ve created that we feel would suit your development, which we can use as a design template. It also includes proposed camera angles: after we receive your plans, our senior account manager, architect and creative lead meet to decide which shots and angles would best sell your development, based on what you’ve told us. The angles are starting points, but they give you a good idea of the images you’ll receive.

Step three: production begins

Once we have agreed exactly which content will be produced, we’ll book your project into our studio.

We’ll need you to send us all the information needed to produce your images, animations and brochures. Creating photoreal images and animations from 2D drawings can be complex, but after years in the business we’ve experienced all manner of issues and honed our systems to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Each project is carefully vetted first

Our architect will check through your drawings and materials references. If there are any discrepancies, we’ll flag them so any technical issues can be ironed out at the start. If you’re having trouble getting hold of any information, or you just haven’t decided yet, we’ll give you a choice of options we can use instead.

Our entire process is designed to get you the images you need with the minimum involvement required to achieve that goal.

If we are producing interiors, we’ll arrange a 15-minute meeting with our in-house stylist, who will nail the brief for each room we’re designing so we can create mood boards for our artists to work from.

Step four: raw renders and white blocks

Raw renders are sometimes needed when there are several options for angles, to make sure we choose the right ones.

For interiors, you will first receive ‘white block’ versions of your images, to make sure everything is correctly positioned and all your USPs are included.

In both cases, this is the stage where you start to get an idea of how your final image will look, and it’s the perfect point to make any technical changes that might be required.

Step five: low-resolution images

Once the best angles and furniture placement have been agreed, we will let you know when to expect the first low-resolution drafts.

These are full-colour, fully textured images, 90% of the way to the finished article. At this stage we can still change colours and propping before you receive the final, high-resolution images.

What you can always expect from us

Responsiveness. We believe in excellent customer service, and the first step to that is effective communication. There is always someone at the end of the phone who understands your project and can answer any questions you may have.

Teamwork. We see you as part of our team, working with you to achieve your goals and meet key deadlines.

Transparency. We will always be clear about what stage the project is at and whether we need anything else from you. We’re well versed in striking the right balance between enough client involvement to achieve your goals and not adding too much to your workload. You’ve got enough on your plate getting the development out of the ground; our job is to take the stress out of creating your marketing collateral and make sure you get the content you need, when you need it.