Rendering style and viewer’s perception of historic virtual architecture

Abstract

The paper presents a study that investigated the effect of rendering style on users’ perception of 3D historic architectural environments. Three architectural styles were considered (Traditional Chinese, Gothic and Classic Greek) and three rendering approaches (photorealistic, non-photorealistic – watercolor, and non-photorealistic – technical illustration) were used to render two landmark buildings for each architectural style. One hundred and fifty subjects were asked to rate the rendering results according to different aspects of perception. Findings show that photorealistic rendering was rated highest for visual appeal, suitability, and accuracy of representation of the architectural style, design elements and architectural details; recognition of the architectural style was highest for the non-photorealistic watercolor renderings.