Outsource 3D Rendering

Why should you outsource 3D rendering?

When you outsource 3D rendering, this basically means that you hire an external, independent artist who will produce your architectural visualizations rather than having to create them in-house. In practice, this is by far the cheaper and more flexible option for most architecture and design practices.

When it comes to quality, you get top-grade, photorealistic images. You get them on time, exactly when you need them in your project timeline, and you completely avoid the high costs of rendering software licenses, powerful computer hardware, and keeping a full-time visualizer on the payroll between active projects.

What exactly can you outsource?

You can literally outsource almost any architectural visualization task you can think of. This includes exterior renderings of houses, apartment complexes, and commercial buildings. You can also outsource interior renderings of kitchens, living spaces, and hospitality venues. Easy Render artists can also take care of sweeping landscape and courtyard views, dramatic aerial shots, and there’s even an option for pure 3D modeling straight from 2D drawings.

A very common and successful approach is to start by outsourcing a single image. Once you find an artist whose specific style perfectly fits your needs, you can easily keep working with them on future projects.

Who uses 3D rendering outsourcing service providers?

Here on the Easy Render platform, we see clients who are active in architecture practices of every size. We have interior designers, property developers, home builders, real estate agents, and even furniture brands. Smaller practices often outsource all of their visualization needs to us, while larger firms tend to outsource their overflow work or highly specialized projects.

The best part about Easy Render is that we have artists who work from all over the world. Therefore, you have the unique advantage of finding someone who specializes in the particular aesthetic style, software, or building type you’re looking for. As you probably know, finding this type of artist locally can be incredibly difficult.

How do you outsource rendering without losing control?

The biggest worries people have when outsourcing architectural 3D rendering services are vague briefs, missed deadlines, and ultimately paying for something they didn’t want. Luckily, you can easily avoid all of these pitfalls by following a few simple steps:

• Write a complete brief: Send your 3D models or CAD drawings, clear material specs, reference images, and the specific views you need. This guarantees that every offer you receive is based on the exact same information.
• Hire based on the portfolio, not just the price: Always look for an artist whose previous work matches the exact aesthetic and quality you are trying to achieve.
• Lock in the scope upfront: Before any real work begins, make sure to confirm the total number of images, final resolution, revision rounds, usage rights, and the delivery date.
• Review early drafts: Check the 3D model and the camera angles during the very first draft. At this early stage, making changes is fast and pretty affordable.
• Pay in milestones: Protect your budget by releasing funds only as you approve each stage of the project. That way, you never pay the full amount for work you haven’t even seen yet.

Should you keep rendering in-house or choose to outsource?

Deciding whether to keep your rendering in-house or outsource it to a professional really comes down to how steady your workload is throughout the year.

• In-house: When you keep it in-house, you are paying for a salaried visualizer, expensive rendering software licenses, and high-end workstations. These are fixed costs you have to cover even during slow months. While you do get direct control and fast iteration, you are ultimately limited by one person’s specific style and working capacity.
• Outsourced: On the flip side, outsourcing means you only pay per project, exactly when you need the images. You gain the freedom to choose a completely different specialist for every project type, and you can instantly scale up to meet tight deadlines without having to hire new full-time staff.

Firms with a massive, non-stop volume of work sometimes keep an in-house visualizer and only outsource the overflow. However, for most other practices, outsourcing project by project simply provides much better value.

How much do 3D architectural rendering outsourcing services cost?

On Easy Render, pricing is never locked into rigid packages. Instead, the final cost is determined by custom offers from our artists. If we look at the 100 most recently completed projects on our platform, the typical project cost was around $270. When considering the middle half of all projects, the price landed somewhere between $150 and $450.

Furthermore, most of our clients successfully hire an artist within just 2 days of posting their job, and the median time from hiring to final delivery is only 15 days.

Easy Render vs. a rendering studio vs. a freelance marketplace

There are three main roads you can take when you want to outsource architectural visualization, and each one fits a slightly different need.

• Rendering studio: A traditional studio manages the entire job using an in-house team. This is a great option for very large, high-profile projects, but you will end up paying for the studio’s high overhead costs, and you don’t get to choose which specific artist will work on your project.
• General freelance marketplace: A general marketplace gives you a huge pool of talent, but the vast majority are not specialized in architectural visualization. You will likely waste a lot of time sifting through irrelevant portfolios and double-checking if they actually understand your architectural scale, materials, and complex drawings.
• Easy Render: Our platform is built exclusively for 3D rendering and architectural visualization. You post a single brief, and specialized artists send you custom offers. You can then easily compare their portfolios and prices side by side before committing. Plus, your payments are safely released in milestones as you approve the work.

If you want to check some real numbers on budgets and turnarounds from completed projects, take a look at our 3D rendering cost and turnaround data. Still on the fence about who to hire? Our guide to comparing 3D rendering companies covers exactly what you need to check before making your final decision.