TOOLBOX / BSLA
Designers, authors and educators
Dan Tal, ASLA and Jim Leggitt,
FAIA have been collaborating
on design projects for the
past decade, each bringing a
unique set of visualization skills
to create very successful design
representations for numerous
domestic and international
projects. As a result of their
combined investigations into
developing new design
communication techniques (and
their passion to communicate
those discoveries with industry
peers) a new form of “Hybrid
Visualization” has emerged in the
design community. This has the
potential of reviving traditional
hand drawing skills by boldly
merging them with rapidly
evolving 2D and 3D digital
visualization software.
—Evolution of Renderings : From
the Surface to the Screen
hybrids? Hand drawn illustrations tend to
have more life, activity and context, while
photorealistic images can provide a greater
overview and relative reality to a design. In
the past, the choice between the two was
up to the designer and team. Talking to
many firms across the country, they report
that clients have started to demand several
things. First is the expectation of a 3D model.
For clients this is important since a 3D model
is much easier to understand than a plan
drawing. Couple this with client preferences,
hand drawn or photorealism, and many
firms are begging to understand the need to
provide 3D models to clients.
An important consideration in this regard is
access and process. Many firms now rely on
3D modeling as part of their basic workflow.
This has made the creation of 3D graphics the
lower hanging fruit. But that does not mean
that clients or designers do not want hand
drawn illustration. This combined need is
where hybrid drawing methods can shine.
Hybridization: The Hand/Digital Mashup
It’s unrealistic to imagine neither returning
to traditional hand drawn renderings, nor
saturating our profession with photorealism.
Hybrid visualization forms a perfect
bridge between the two methodologies. By
combining hand drawing directly with 3D
modeling, one gets the accuracy of a computer
generated form and the authentic character
and craftsmanship one can only create by
hand. Each hybrid drawing is a unique and
individual work of art that establishes the
individual drawing style of the designer and
responds to the variables of time investment,
project phase, and client expectations.
Basic hybrid drawings can be created by
simply hand tracing over a printed view of a
3D computer model onto a sheet of tracing
paper. This “overlay and trace” method utilizes
the digital model view only as a traceable
base for what eventually becomes a 100%
hand drawing. Another more complex hybrid
drawing method also involves drawing over
a digital model view on tracing paper, but
includes scanning both the hand drawing and
the model view together in a sort of double
exposure or “composite scan” in which both
the computer model and the hand drawing
share equal dominance in the image.
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook
21