How is AI rendering different from a CG perspective?
CG reproduces a model you built; AI interprets a drawing you made.
A CG perspective is computed from a 3D model. Every dimension in the image is whatever the model says it is, so the output is exact and fully controllable — and unavailable until the model is essentially complete.
An AI render is generated from a two-dimensional input by a model trained on images. It arrives in minutes rather than days and needs no 3D work at all, but it interprets rather than reproduces: it will resolve things your drawing did not specify, and those resolutions are plausible rather than authoritative.
They answer different questions and are not really competitors. AI rendering is strongest early, when the point is to test and communicate a direction. CG remains the right tool when an image has to be dimensionally faithful — a final presentation of a resolved design, or anything a client may treat as a commitment.
Terms in this answer
- AI renderingGenerating an architectural image with a trained model instead of a 3D renderer.
- CG perspectiveA perspective image produced from a 3D model with computer graphics.
- Photorealistic renderingA rendering intended to be indistinguishable from a photograph.