Glossary
Architecture and rendering, word by word
The terms that come up in drawings, renders and client meetings, each explained in a few lines.
A
- AI renderingMaking a render with a model that has learned from millions of images, instead of simulating light ray by ray. It reads a sketch or a model and produces a finished picture in seconds, guided by a prompt and a style.
- ArchvizShort for architectural visualization: the images and films that show a building before it is built, and the people and studios who make them.
- Aspect ratioThe proportion of an image, width to height: 16:9 for a slide, 4:5 for a post, 1:1 for a square. A render made for the right ratio beats a crop.
C
D
- Design developmentThe phase after the concept is chosen: materials, structure, systems and the details that make it buildable. Renders here answer specific questions, not whether the idea is right.
- Diffusion modelThe kind of AI model behind most image generation. It starts from noise and removes it step by step until a picture matching the prompt and the reference remains.
E
F
- FacadeThe face of a building, usually the one seen from the street. Facade studies, trying materials and openings on the same volume, are a common use of fast rendering.
- Floor planThe drawing of one level seen from above with the roof removed: walls, doors, windows and the rooms between them. A plan can be rendered into a furnished top view or a room.
G
M
- MassingThe overall shape and volume of a building before the details: how big, how tall, how it sits on the site. Massing studies are the first images in most projects.
- MoodboardA collection of images, materials and colors that sets the feel of a project before anything is designed. In Rendair a render can be turned into one, or made from one.
N
P
- PhotorealisticA render that reads as a photograph: correct light, believable materials, a real camera view. The usual target for client presentations and marketing images.
- PromptThe words that tell an AI model what to make: the building, the materials, the light, the mood. A good prompt is short and specific; the image it is paired with carries the rest.
R
- RenderAn image of a design made by a computer rather than by hand or camera: the geometry, materials and light computed into a picture. In Rendair a render takes seconds from a sketch, a plan, a photo or a model.
- ResolutionHow many pixels an image has, or how many dots per inch it prints at. A 4K render is about 4000 pixels wide; 300 dots per inch is the usual target for print.
S
- SectionA drawing that cuts through the building to show what is inside: floor levels, heights, the structure and how the spaces connect. Rendered sections explain a building faster than any plan.
- SeedThe number that starts the random noise a model works from. The same seed, prompt and settings give the same image again, which is how a result is reproduced or varied on purpose.
- Sketch to RenderTurning a hand drawing into a finished image. The model reads the lines as geometry and fills in materials, light and context from the prompt and the style.
- Style presetA named look applied to a render, such as photoreal, watercolour or architectural drawing. In Rendair a style is chosen per run and leaves the design itself unchanged.
U
V
- Virtual StagingFurnishing an empty room in a photo, for a listing or a presentation, without moving a single chair. The walls, floor and windows stay as photographed.
- VisualizationThe craft of showing a design before it exists: renders, animations, walkthroughs and the boards they go on. Architectural visualization, often shortened to archviz, is a profession of its own.
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