The importance of fly-through videos in the masterplanning process

A CGI or sketch of a project can give a flavour of what a finished built environment will (or may) look like, but they cannot fully convey the design vision in its entirety, the ways each element relates to others or the dynamism of the spaces when in use to the same extent that architectural fly-through videos can.

Multimedia and fly-through videos are excellent tools for giving clients, stakeholders and the public an immersive and holistic representation of the spaces envisaged by architects. The fly-through format engages viewers in a very exciting way, making the design more “real” by means of a journey into its various spaces.

In a matter of seconds, the viewer gains an in-depth understanding of a project, with views from above giving a sense of the whole site and its wider context while perspectives from within the scheme, along its thoroughfares and inside its buildings, provide a detailed insight into what it would be like to inhabit the finished development.

By combining multiple perspectives within a few seconds, fly-throughs are invaluable for enabling interested parties to appreciate the design intention in a holistic manner, which would otherwise require many pages of text, or dozens of sketches, maps and CGIs to describe properly. By including movement rather than just being static, these videos also bring the spaces to life, showing the vibrancy and dynamism that is essential to a project’s success.

Chapman Taylor makes extensive use of architectural fly-through videos, believing that they can be used alongside sketches, CGIs, 3D BIM models, physical models and other multi-media presentations to give a much more complete understanding of our ideas to clients and others. We believe that they are particularly beneficial for large-scale projects, including masterplans and larger buildings, because they can show how several different areas relate to each other and combine to form a unified whole.