Mountain Rustic Lodge | Praxis Studio

Project Overview

We approached Mountain Rustic Lodge knowing the custom home builder had a tight window and high expectations. 6 perspective views needed to cover eye-level, elevated perspectives — and each one had to stand on its own.

Same mountain lodge as ‘Back side.

The Challenge

At 6 deliverables, there’s a real risk of redundancy — views that look too similar or don’t add new information. We planned the camera positions deliberately so every image earned its place in the set.

Stakeholder alignment was part of the challenge. Multiple decision-makers had different priorities for what the renders should emphasise, and we had to find compositions that satisfied all of them without diluting any single perspective.

Getting the materials right was non-negotiable. The custom home builder had specific finishes in mind, and anything that read as ‘generic CG’ would undermine the credibility of the entire package.

Our Approach

We leaned on physically-based rendering throughout. Every material — glass, stone, metal, timber — was defined by real-world optical properties. That’s what makes the difference between a render that looks ‘nice’ and one that looks true.

Feedback cycles were structured. We presented renders in context — placed into the marketing layout or presentation deck — so the custom home builder could evaluate them as their audience would see them, not as isolated files on a white background.

Landscape and entourage came last but mattered enormously. Trees, people, vehicles, sky — these contextual elements are what make a render feel like a photograph instead of a diagram.

Lighting development ran parallel to the modelling. We tested multiple Daytime, Dusk / Twilight setups early — before the geometry was even finished — so we could lock in the mood and atmosphere without burning production time later.

The rendering pipeline was set up to handle 6 outputs efficiently. Shared lighting rigs, consistent material libraries, and a standardised colour pipeline meant every image maintained the same visual standard.