What an aerial shows
An aerial render answers the questions buyers and lenders ask first: where the entry is, how far a lot is from the pool, what backs onto the pond, and how big the whole community will be. It's the image that goes on the sales center wall, the website's community page and the first slide of a lender presentation.
We build the land from your site plan or plat, with grading, roads, sidewalks, ponds and open space. Then we place the homes. For a large community, homes far from the camera can be simple models, while the entry, the amenity center and the nearest streets get full detail.
Camera height and angle
| Angle | Looks like | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| High oblique | Seen from high above at an angle, most of the community in frame | Sales center wall, community page hero |
| Low oblique | A drone height over one street or the amenity center | Showing homes, the pool and the street together |
| Top-down | Straight down, close to a plan | Lot maps and phase plans (see site plan rendering) |
Phase updates
Communities open in phases, and the aerial should keep up. We keep the scene for every project. When a new phase releases, we add its streets and homes, turn the graded lots in the earlier image into finished ones, and render from the same camera. The sales team gets a new image that lines up with the old one, and you don't pay to rebuild the model. The plan on the home page shows the idea: switch between phases to see which homes stand at each release.
Context around the site
A community floating on a blank background looks wrong. We add the roads that lead to the entry, nearby neighborhoods as simple shapes, tree lines and water, based on your site plan and current satellite imagery. We don't add named landmarks or businesses unless you ask and confirm they belong in the view.
Town centers and multifamily sites
Aerials also work for a town center with shops below apartments, a garden apartment site with several buildings around a clubhouse, or a single mid-rise on a corner. For these we model each building from its elevations and show parking, courtyards and street trees around them.
Questions
Can you work from a concept plan before the plat is final?
Yes. We build the aerial from the concept plan and update it when the engineering plans change. Tell us which parts are likely to move.
How many home plans do you need for a community aerial?
The plans you're actually offering. If a community has eight plans, we model all eight and place them in the lot mix you send, or in a realistic mix if you leave it to us.
Have a plat or a plan set? Send the site plan, the elevations and the views you need, and tell us when the sales office opens.
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