Industrial Architectural Visualisation Studio | StratumCGI

Pure volume, nothing else. No cladding, no windows, no materials. White blocks on a site model. The point is to test scale, footprint, and how the building sits against its neighbours without getting distracted by the elevation treatment. StratumCGI produces massing studies when the design is too early for anything more committed but a decision still needs to be made.

Usually during pre-application discussions with the local planning authority, or at the feasibility stage when the scheme is still being tested against floor area targets and planning constraints. A massing CGI is the cheapest way to settle an argument about height, massing, or site coverage before anyone spends money on detailed design.

Typically two or three, shot from the same camera position so they can be compared directly. Fixing the camera early is important, because the value of a massing study is in the side-by-side comparison, not the individual image. Extra options or extra viewpoints can be added without rebuilding the base model.

A verified view is a photomontage built on top of a survey-aligned photograph of the actual site. Standard CGI shows the design, a verified view shows the design inserted into a real view at the real scale. You need one when the planning authority or an LVIA consultant requires proof that the image is geometrically accurate, not artistic.

Camera positions are fixed using total station or GNSS survey data, focal length and sensor dimensions are recorded, and the 3D projection is calibrated against those values. The calibration sheet is delivered with the images so the LPA or inspector can scrutinise how the montage was built. It is designed to survive hostile examination, not just to look plausible.

Usually agreed between the applicant's LVIA consultant and the local planning authority during pre-application. StratumCGI works from the agreed viewpoint schedule and will flag positions that are technically difficult or unlikely to demonstrate the scheme fairly. Agreeing the list before survey day keeps the verified view process from sliding.

Accuracy scope. A verified view is calibrated with survey data and built to satisfy formal LVIA scrutiny. A before/after CGI is a matched-perspective composite, good enough for pre-application, community consultation, and marketing, but not for formal photomontage methodology. StratumCGI produces both, and will tell you which one your submission actually needs before quoting.

Daylight, overcast or lightly overcast sky, and a calibrated camera at an agreed viewpoint. StratumCGI issues a photography brief for each view so the client or their photographer captures the right frame, or StratumCGI can do the site visit and take the baseline images directly. Bad baseline photography is the main reason before/after composites fail.

Full resolution side-by-side is the most useful format for planning. For public exhibitions or presentations, StratumCGI can deliver an A3 layout or a digital slider. Worth agreeing the format early, because it changes the camera composition, a slider needs a tighter frame, an exhibition board wants a wider one.

When the issue is heritage, conservation area character, or settlement setting, not just visibility. Townscape CGI is the format used to answer a TVIA consultant or a heritage officer who is asking how the scheme affects a listed building, a conservation area, or a designated view. StratumCGI produces it to Historic England methodology or the equivalent devolved guidance.

As important as the proposed building. A townscape assessment is a comparison of before and after, and a sloppy roofscape or missing street trees makes the after look worse than reality. StratumCGI builds the existing scene from survey data and aerial imagery with the same care as the proposed model, because that is where the assessment lives or dies.

Usually three to five, spanning long, medium, and close range. A long-range view shows the scheme in the skyline, a medium-range view sets it in the public realm, and a close-range view tests the street-level relationship. The viewpoint list is agreed with the planning authority and the heritage consultant before any survey happens.

Because a masterplan is about relationships, building to building, building to access, phase to phase, and you cannot read those relationships from the pavement. StratumCGI uses a 45 to 60 degree perspective elevation as standard, which shows roofscape and facade in one image. Orthographic plan views are available too, when the output is going into planning drawings.

Yes, and this is one of the most useful things the format does. StratumCGI builds one model of the full buildout and renders Phase 1, Phase 2, and completion from the same camera position. The phase comparison is a strong committee and investor tool, because it shows programme certainty without requiring anyone to read a programme bar chart.

As much as the planning examination zone of influence requires, and no more. StratumCGI models neighbouring roads, buildings, and landscape from OS data and aerial imagery. Extra context inflates cost without adding clarity, so the extent is agreed at brief stage based on what the application actually needs to prove.

Explaining volume. A normal exterior render tells you what the building looks like, a cutaway tells you what you can fit inside it. Racking heights, mezzanine levels, plant zones, clear span, all visible in one image. StratumCGI produces cutaways most often for pre-let marketing and investor decks, where the audience needs to understand usable volume, not elevation treatment.

Wherever reveals the most. For a standard warehouse that is usually a transverse cut from floor to ridge showing full clear height. For multi-level or mixed-use buildings, a stepped cut exposes more than one floor at once. StratumCGI agrees the cut with the client before modelling, because the wrong cut plane produces an image that answers nothing.

Section drawings, floor-to-floor heights, and the fit-out or racking spec. If section drawings do not exist yet, StratumCGI works from plans plus the structural engineer's frame schedule to build the cut accurately. A cutaway built on guessed heights loses credibility immediately with an occupier who measures in pallets.

Usually steel frame erection with partial cladding. That is the moment a building looks most dynamic, scale is legible, structure is visible, and the programme feels alive. Early groundworks look like a muddy field, practical completion looks like a finished building. StratumCGI can render any stage, but the mid-build shot is what investors and hoarding artwork almost always want.

Yes. Construction phase CGI is produced at print resolution for standard 2.4m hoarding panels, with safe zones accounted for at the panel joints. Delivery is print-ready PDF alongside the standard digital files. StratumCGI does not handle printing or installation, but works directly with the client's hoarding contractor so the artwork lands correctly on site.

Usually yes. A construction phase render without activity reads as a dead site. StratumCGI populates the scene with tower cranes, mobile plant, welfare units, and PPE figures agreed with the client. Where the contractor's methodology is known, the plant matches it, which makes the render useful for programme storytelling rather than just decoration.

Because daytime renders say nothing about how the site behaves after dark, and external lighting is one of the most conditioned elements in industrial planning consents. A night render shows the security lighting scheme, CCTV gantries, access control, and the spill pattern in one image, which is what planners, insurers, and occupiers all want to see before signing off.

Yes. StratumCGI models luminaire positions, mounting heights, and distribution patterns from the lighting engineer's drawings, then renders the scene from viewpoints near the sensitive receptors. The CGI sits alongside the photometric calculations, the numbers quantify the impact, the render shows it. Together they are much harder to object to than either on its own.

Developers discharging planning conditions on external lighting, occupiers assessing site security before signing a lease, and insurers reviewing risk. One image usually serves all three audiences, which is why the night render is often produced alongside the standard daylight hero shot rather than as a standalone commission.

Clear height and racking density. Pre-let occupiers decide on a building based on how many pallets it holds and how their MHE moves through it. A CGI that shows the correct clear height, the right racking type, and realistic aisle widths is a much more persuasive pre-let tool than a plan drawing, especially for speculative units with no confirmed tenant.

Yes, and it is often worth doing. Pre-let marketing usually wants the clear working height called out on the render, floor to underside of sprinkler or haunch, so the usable envelope is legible at a glance. StratumCGI produces a dimensioned version alongside the clean version, so the same model serves marketing and technical audiences.

VNA, wide-aisle adjustable beam, drive-in, push-back, and mezzanine decked systems are all standard. The layout comes from the racking supplier or the warehouse design consultant. Racking type changes the visual density of the interior completely, so getting it right matters, an occupier comparing a drive-in render to a wide-aisle render will spot the difference immediately.

60 to 90 seconds, usually. That is long enough to cover four to six scenes, exterior approach, perimeter views, a yard or operational shot, and a closing overhead, without losing the audience. Longer runs are possible for complex sites, but the marginal value drops fast after ninety seconds, and investor audiences stop watching before the end.

With a storyboard. Every major keyframe is presented as a still image showing the camera position and framing at that moment. The client approves the storyboard before any animation renders, because revising a flythrough after rendering has started is expensive and slow. Fixing the path upfront is the single biggest factor in keeping the budget honest.

Standard delivery is a 4K UHD MP4 at 25fps plus a 1080p web version. Audio, music, and voiceover are optional extras. For clients with in-house video editing, StratumCGI can also supply frame sequences so the animation can be recut in post-production without going back to render.

An equirectangular JPEG plus a web viewer link that drops into a project website by iframe. The same file works in VR headsets for client meetings and pitch presentations. It is the cheapest way to let a prospect feel what it is like to stand inside a building that does not exist yet, which is why industrial park marketing suites have started building around them.

Yes. Unit number labels, GEA callouts, amenity markers, and arrows linking between multiple panorama positions can be layered over the base image. A set of three or four connected panoramas effectively turns the marketing page into a virtual site tour, which matches the Matterport experience prospects are now used to from existing buildings.

Depends on the purpose. For marketing a warehouse unit, yard-level at the main entrance and inside a representative bay. For masterplan context, an elevated or rooftop position. StratumCGI agrees the camera positions at brief stage, because 360 cameras pick up everything, and a poorly chosen spot shows you the wrong side of the site.

Because sometimes the building is the story, not the site. A turntable shows all four elevations at comparable screen time in a short seamless loop, which is exactly what you want on a website hero, a marketing suite display, or a social media post. Flythroughs are for places, turntables are for buildings.

Three standard options. A low ground-level orbit for facade detail and yard activity, a mid-level 30-degree orbit showing the full building profile, and an elevated 45-degree orbit that reveals the roof. The choice comes down to which elevation is the building's strongest asset, so it is usually agreed at brief stage against the actual design.

An MP4 loop at 1080p for website embed, a compressed WEBM for web performance, and an optional animated GIF for email and social use. A 4K UHD MP4 is available for presentation display screens in marketing suites. Loop duration is typically 20 to 30 seconds, short enough to hold attention, long enough to read the building.

The four stages a CGI goes through on its way to the hero image. Wireframe, grey model, textured, and final photoreal. Each stage exists for a reason, wireframe for geometry checking, grey model for camera and massing approval, textured for materials review, photoreal for the final output. StratumCGI delivers progression visuals so clients can see where their input is needed.

At the grey model stage, before lighting and materials are applied. Changes are cheap when geometry is still flexible and expensive once the renderer has started doing atmospheric work. StratumCGI builds explicit sign-off gates at grey model, materials, and final lighting so clients know exactly when each type of change becomes hard.

Mostly for pitch decks, proposals, and studio profile material. A side-by-side progression from wireframe to photoreal explains the CGI production process to clients who are commissioning visualisation for the first time, which takes a lot of friction out of the onboarding conversation and makes the process feel less like a black box.