{"id":12338,"date":"2024-05-29T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T08:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arredocad.com\/blog\/real-time-rendering-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:19:06","slug":"real-time-rendering-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arredocad.com\/en\/news\/inspirations\/real-time-rendering-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Real time rendering: what is it and why is it important?"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 2024<\/p>

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In the fields of architecture <\/strong>and interior design<\/strong> the use of a rendering software<\/strong>, that is 2D digital images that simulates reality, has become essential nowadays because it allows to visualize a project before it becomes reality.
The rendering technology<\/strong> offers the extraordinary possibility to photograph virtual spaces or buildings<\/strong> that are still projects on paper and don’t exist yet. This explains why it has become so popular: thanks to rendering it is possible to show the project changes to your customers or to your staff clearly and in detail, long before actual remodeling or building is carried out. That’s why it is a powerful and effective communication tool<\/strong> remarkably reducing errors and misunderstandings, allowing enough time to make eventual changes. In the era of Metaverse <\/strong>and Virtual Reality the popularity and the performances of these techniques will undoubtedly increase. In particular the expression Real Time Rendering<\/strong> is more and more often used today. But what is it exactly? <\/p>

What is Real Time Rendering?<\/h3>

This expression reflects the extreme speed of the rendering process: circa 30 images or frames per second created and visualized instantaneously. Thanks to this characteristic the real time rendering engines <\/strong>allow to quickly create real animations of the rendered project like those that you can create using software like Lumion <\/strong>or Twinmotion<\/strong>.
In this case the illusion of movement is created in much the same way as the single frames that follow one another in a film (2D static images, like a photograph) passing quickly in front of a film projector. Thanks to the extremely high processing speed and therefore the possibility to create and show instantaneously different images, Real Time Rendering allows simulating real time navigation<\/strong> inside your project, being applicable to the creation of virtual worlds but also to experience augmented reality. <\/p>

The user can turn the gaze in all directions, like moving in a 3D scene, just as it happens in video gaming for example. In this case the experience becomes even more immersive and realistic if the navigation occurs through a Virtual Reality Visor. <\/p>


ArredoCAD Virtual Reality Experience!<\/strong><\/p>

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Real Time Rendering developed in the world of videogames <\/strong>when Tim Sweeny, founder of Epic Games, released the first version of Unreal<\/strong> in 1998, a computer graphics game engine. The increasing popularity of this technology in other sectors like architectural and mechanical design, furnishing as well as animation or the creation of special effects began after the release on the market of Unity, a real time engine that became freely accessible thanks to the decision of its creators, adding to the popularity of this engine as well as the fileds of application. <\/p>

What is the difference between Real Time rendering and Offline Rendering?<\/h3>

Rendering is the conversion of a 3D geometric model to which textures are applied into 2D digital images that are as similar as possible to reality. The realistic final effect is created through the use of different calculation methods and light source simulation, such as Path tracing<\/strong> or Ray tracing<\/strong>, that have the purpose of producing lighting of scenes as close as possible to real scenes.<\/p>

Basically, there are two types of rendering: Real time rendering <\/strong>and the traditional rendering engines, also called Pre-rendering or Offline<\/strong>, like Vray. The time reference “real time” means processing dozens of images per second created in real time. This is the main difference compared to offline rendering. It processes the rendering of one image taking some seconds or some hours depending on the complexity of the scene, the presence of reflecting or transparent surfaces and on the image format needed. <\/p>

The advantage of offline rendering lies in the possibility to render scenes in high resolution<\/strong>, with higher precision of calculation and, above all, with a higher rendering quality that can reproduce photographically realistic effects. This happens thanks to a control of the parameters that are often numerous and determine the final results, undoubtedly higher compared to that of Real time rendering. Moreover they requireless performing hardware requirements<\/strong> and are therefore more affordable. <\/p>

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Advantages and disadvantages of Real time rendering<\/h3>

Due to the very high number of images to be processed very quickly, Real time rendering has been developed in order to find the best compromise <\/strong>between speed and the final image quality<\/strong> that has improved in the latest years thanks to technology development. For the same reason particularly potent hardware equipments, which are therefore, very expensive, are required, especially concerning the Graphic Card (GPU), the device that is more often used during rendering. <\/p>

On the other hand, the advantages of Real time rendering are remarkable compared to the images created using Offline rendering, Let’s see which are the main ones: <\/p>