4DGraphics Services

The following services are by no means a complete list of our capabilities. If you don't find an exact match for what you need, just contact us! If we can't provide what you need, chances are we can direct you to someone who can. As you read through our main categories, you will note that they are closely related to each other. Many clients will take advantage of several of these services, and we can adjust our costs for these services accordingly.

Preliminary GIS Studies

With so much data currently available online from state or federal sources, it can be challenging to sift through it all. Our experience with ArcMap will produce an A-size color plot (or larger depending on the site) showing the subject property and any surrounding cultural, natural, or environmental concerns, as available from state and federal sources. We can also plot soils, FEMA flood zones, and provide digital elevation data at as little as 2' contours. As many states and counties start making their GIS data available, it becomes easier to develop quite informative  GIS maps.

Contract CAD Services

With over 22 years of AutoCAD experience, both 2D and 3D, we are prepared to provide a variety of CAD services. We can modify existing drawings, or create new drawings from sketches, photos, and verbal descriptions. Our work is always dimensionally accurate to the extent possible from client-provided information. We can provide fixed-price estimates or hourly rates that are appropriate for the work to be done, and our prices are highly competitive.

Architectural Designs for New Construction and Renovations

Currently we are working closely with several clients on Odesk, Elance, GetAFreelancer, and Guru. You are welcome to visit those sites and read our reviews. We are experienced residential and commercial architectural designers, and use Chief Architect and AutoCAD to develop detailed interior and exterior design, including site and landscape. Our ability to take general concepts and ideas from photos and turn them into detailed architectural plans has brought us great respect and many compliments from our clients. Our architectural clients are a mix of both architects and private parties who value our ability to expand on their ideas and create working plans, quickly and accurately.

Civil, Site, and Terrain Design

With over 12 years of extensive civil design experience, we are able to develop detailed site plans to show compliance with ordinances, environmental guidelines, and stormwater/utility considerations. From our concept plans, we develop accurate site layouts, including structure locations, walks, driveways, parking areas, and access roads. These layouts are further enhanced with detailed site grading and drainage designs, utility routings, and conceptual landscape designs. When we have completed the site design, we create full construction sets, including details, title blocks, bulk requirements, etc. We work quickly once a concept is approved, and clients can usually expect a fully designed site within about 2-3 weeks from concept approval (based on a site size of about 15-30 acres).

2D Renderings

We can take any site, furnished to us in either AutoCAD or hardcopy, and turn it into a 2D rendering. The finished product can be printed in color, furnished as a drawing or PDF file, in almost any size, mounted on foamcore, laminated, or simply printed to A-size for handouts for meetings. We will work closely with our clients to insure the proper color, texture, and focus on areas of interest are taken into account. If required, we can also blend the 2D rendering into a full-color aerial photograph of the surrounding area. This presents the viewer with a clear idea of how the proposed project will look when complete, and how it fits into and compliments the surrounding properties and landscape.

3D Models

To build an accurate 3D model, we need accurate 2D information. Our preferred source for this is the actual design drawings, in electronic format. However, we can also work directly from blueprints, sketches, or other data, as long as we have access to all dimensional information. Equally as important are the colors and textures to be applied, and the lighting style. When a model of a house is to be used as part of a larger model, the accuracy of the model is not as important, but when the house will be used in a rendering or animation that requires close-up views or interior views, the required time to build that accuracy into the model does go up. Because of our extensive civil and site design experience, we can also build highly detailed site models, showing accurate slopes, retaining walls, ponds, waterfalls, etc.  And to that, we can add extremely realistic landscaping, not those "rubber-stamp" trees you sometimes see. Here again the level of detail of the model will depend mostly on the intended end-use for it. If you're going to use it in a brochure or ultimately in an animation, then the level of detail can be compromised somewhat. But there is one thing to keep in mind. If there's even the slightest chance you will need more detail later, it's usually more cost effective to add it now than to try to come back at some future date and try to modify the model.

3D Renderings

Obviously a good 3D model gives you the advantage of being able to select rendering vantage points from just about anywhere in the scene. We always insure that the natural lighting is appropriate for the site location, and when we "composite" a model into a photograph of an existing site, we will adjust the lighting and atmospheric conditions (fog, haze, wind, snow, etc.) to match the scene perfectly.

Animations and Walkthroughs

As humans, our best learning and understanding comes from visual cues. While many of us in the design and building industries can easily visualize in 3D just from looking at a 2D plan, that's not the case for the majority of the population. Very often, an animation or walkthrough of a proposed project is the only way to draw the viewer into the project, and give them a sense of the dimension and color and texture of the project that no words could ever convey. We offer a variety of options for animations, from simple "flyby" style, where the viewer essentially orbits the site from some vantage point in the air, to "drivethrough" where the camera takes the viewer on a tour as if they were walking or in their car, to "walkthrough" and "virtual tour" styles, where the viewer can choose where to go in the model by using their keyboard and/or mouse. Of these, the drivethrough is the most popular, as it represents the way most of us would view the project when it's complete. The flyby might be a better choice when presenting the project to planning boards or potential financial partners. And the virtual tour offers an excellent sales tool when marketing the finished project or property.

The Final Output

Depending on the requirements of our clients we have a wide variety of output options. We can print in color or mono, at sizes up to 60" x 100', laminate, or mount on foamcore. We can furnish the complete project on CD or DVD, in almost any file format required. We can take an existing video from a client, paste in our stills or animations, and create a DVD-style menu to access them. We also recently found a source that will furnish us customized USB Flash Drives in any quantity, with full-color logo's or photos. We haven't utilized this option yet, but it sounds like a really great promotional item when the video is intended as a marketing tool. Using Adobe Acrobat, we can also provide an interactive 3d PDF file that allows the user to navigate the model.

The Bottom Line

We are artists and designers and animators. We are not Architects or Engineers or Planners, but most of our clients are. Any information or services we offer to our clients is with the express understanding by all parties that the information is based solely on our expertise and years of experience in the Engineering field, and is not acceptable as a true Engineering, Architectural, or Planning document or vehicle for the purpose of construction. 4DGraphics truly visualizes your design, and gives you a powerful means of communicating your intent to whomever your audience may be.