Picturing the future: entrepreneur 'realizes' renderings.

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Last spring when architectural project manager and laboratory designer Robert Meyer showed Alaska state officials renderings of what their Department of Health and Social Services state virology laboratory at the University of Fairbanks would look like, he said they were pleased but a bit perplexed at the sleek, white, multi-story structure nestled in a winter snow.

"We received lots of nice compliments when we showed the building to them, but people asked how we could take photos of a building that wasn't built yet," said Meyer, of Anchorage-based architectural firm Livingston Slone Inc. "We told them we used our time machine."

This time machine, Meyer said, is actually Anchorage-based 3-D graphics firm Resolution-3D LLC (Res3D), and its owner, Dov Margalit. Res3D uses powerful computers to combine digital outlines of structures with photographic samples to create jaw-dropping, photo-realistic images of projects not yet built.

A sampling of Margalit's work: A tropical condo bungalow at night is illuminated in seeming time-lapse photography by evening lights, then sunrise with the rising sun. A nondescript, two-story office building rests under the Arctic sky with a pickup truck parked out back, distorted images of cars in a parking light reflected in the building's windows, seemingly waiting for the end of the workday. A moving view, such as one would have from a video camera, seems to glide through realistic, furnished rooms, much as a prospective buyer would. A super clasp of a leaf captures a water drop's roll in mid-motion. (These and many other images can be accessed on the Res3D Web site at http://www.Res3d.com/.)

CONVINCING THE ARCHITECTS

Margalit's wizardry is winning over a growing contingent of architects, product- and interior designers and developers by using renderings and modeling to show them what their buildings and products will look like.

"He did such a good job and generated the depictions with very little guidance, which is exceptional," Meyer said, referring to Res3D's work on the virology laboratory. "We talked about a winter or a summer scene, but this is Fairbanks, where there is snow on the ground more often than grass. So Dov produced depictions he said were in the morning at 10 a.m. in March. He was able to factor the sun in at that time of the year so that it looked realistic."

That willingness to push the edge sets him apart from many who use off-the-shelf graphics programs to generate renderings, said Brian Meissner, an architect at Anchorage-based architectural firm ECI/Hyer Inc.

"On an intermodal railroad station project, he did a first rendering depicting the facility after a rainstorm with the streets wet, the tracks wet, and everything glistening," Meissner said. "We thought we were going to make it sunny, but his depiction forced us, as architects, to think what we would do with that water because that's what it's like there. In addition," he added, "by presenting it in that context, the project connected more with the locals, not just the tourists. It's not just about doing a rendering to him. He wants to express himself. I can render in Form Z (software), too, but it always looks like a Form Z rendering."

BUILDING THE RIGHT BASE

Res3D is a tight operation. Margalit works from a small office in Anchorage with J.R. Garcia, a graphic designer, illustrator and Web designer who works on a contract basis. Then there are part-time contractors who lend a hand: the subcontractor in Lvov, Ukraine, who helps with computer modeling when things get busy, and the guy in Mumbai, India, who helps with Web programming, and a third contractor based in Alaska who is a database programmer.

While Margalit is decidedly non-conformist and candid in style, he is disciplined with respect to his craft. Margalit, 37, attended the Pratt Institute of New York and graduated in 1993 with a degree in industrial design. The first two years of his five years of training there, however, were dedicated to architecture, which, he said, has proved an invaluable edge in serving the architectural clients that comprise a large segment of his clientele.

"That architectural background gives us an advantage over other modelers doing similar work who don't have that background," Margalit said. "It allows us to intuitively read blueprints without having to ask what things are. What architects draw are symbols; you have to know what they are. Also because of that experience, I have extensive knowledge of AutoCAD, which is the basis of the 2-D drawings we have from architects. I also understand the language of architects, what they are looking for, and how to present a building for zoning approval."

Despite the architectural training, Margalit found himself gravitating toward 3-D modeling, in part, he said, because it became apparent his talents lay there as opposed to hand-drawn renderings in pen and ink. He had worked as an intern for an internationally renowned designer, Karim Rashid, and had later spent two years in Singapore working as a project designer for Chan Sau Yan Associates, where he helped to design and present high-end residences.

STARTING OUT IN ALASKA

During travels from Singapore to New York, Margalit often stopped off at Alaska.

"The first thing I remembered about Alaska was the smell, the freshness," he said. "It was so different from New York. That resounded in me, and I wanted to move to Alaska based on that olfactory experience. I dreamed about it."

Margalit realized his dream when he came to Alaska in 1997. For seven years, he piloted commercial twin-engine turboprops for various carriers' passenger, medevac and cargo operations. In 2002, when his medevac carrier lost its contract with a hospital, Margalit decided to focus on graphics full-time, working for architectural firms Kumin Associates Inc., and later, briefly, at ECI/Hyer Inc.

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In 2005, Margalit founded Res3D.

"I had no outside funding, and I started in my own home by offering services to architects I had worked for," Margalit said. "The reason I decided to do this was that I enjoyed the computer modeling part of it, and at architectural firms, you only get to do that on a limited basis."

IT'S ALL IN THE SOFTWARE

Margalit said his primary expenses are computers and programs. The computers, which have cost Res3D $50,000 to date, are not terribly expensive, partly because he and others build them themselves, saving 30 percent off the retail price. Not so the software programs, which can cost $3,500 a pop and must be upgraded frequently. These software programs have cost him $15,000 so far, he said. While still operating in the red, Margalit said Res3D has roughly doubled its revenues in each of the last three years, and may become profitable in the near future.

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Creating a three-dimensional rendering involves only a few key steps, Margalit said:

"With computer modeling, I get a set of building or product plans, elevations and sections (basically 2-D representations of the building or product to be fabricated), and we draw a three-dimensional wire frame from that on the computer. We then use the computer program 3D Studio Max and dual- and quad-core computers to start making the model and applying the photos. We then apply shade and shadow to the texture of the model."

The trick, he said, is to do it realistically, which involves sampling from real life and applying a mixture of photographs and illustrations to the texture of the image to create life-like realism. His 300-gigabyte library of such materials is one aspect that sets him apart, he said.

"Many architects do this in-house and you may ask why they would hire me," he said. "But most of the time, these renderings require an extensive library of materials. If you don't do this all the time, you won't have those materials. I'm always taking photographs.

"We also do advanced techniques most of them don't do. We do something called HDRI photography--High Dynamic Range Imaging--which involves taking a 360-degree image and inserting it into a rendered model, creating the model for lighting, reflections and refractions. That creates the realism. We also have to match that to the specifics of the site," he added.

TELLING THE STORY VISUALLY

Architects say Res3D allows them to concentrate on pure design, saves them from the tedium of multiple renderings, and allows them to see what design changes will look like quickly and accurately.

Bill Kontess, a project manager at Anchorage-based architectural firm kpb architects, used Res3D to render the Atwood Building Parking Center in downtown Anchorage near the new convention center. The project will have 10 stories, and will hold 850 cars with retail space on the ground level.

"This facility is not just a parking garage, but also a series of street-level restaurants and other businesses that generate destinations, activity on the street and nightlife," Kontess said. "All those characteristics had to be conveyed by Res3D to capture the visions of the architects.

"Dov depicted the project in a variety of lighting conditions, and helped tell the story of what the building would be and how it would enhance the context of the downtown neighborhood. With his graphics, we were able to gain approval from clients pretty quickly," said Kontess, who added that Margalit performed the majority of his work last fall and winter. Construction began in March and the building is scheduled for completion in August 2008.

SPREADING HIS WINGS