How to restyle a render without the building changing shape
Tell Vizard Agent that the geometry is fixed and only the look may change, and give it photographs of the real facades. It builds those into one reference sheet, anchors the restyled frames to them, and compares the result against the original render so a lost floor or invented signage is caught before you see it.
What is the short version?
A look-change pass reinterprets the picture, and a building is exactly the kind of thing it reinterprets: floors get merged, a curved corner goes flat, and the lettering above the entrance becomes something else entirely. The result is handsome and it is not the building your client is paying you to show.
- Tell Vizard Agent the geometry must not change.
- Give it photographs of every facade.
- Ask it to check the new frames against the original.
What do you need before you start?
The render and pictures of the actual building from every side it appears from. Vizard Agent anchors the restyle to those pictures, so a facade you do not supply is a facade the restyle is free to invent, and it will.
- The original render. The one with the correct geometry.
- Facade photographs. Every side that appears on screen.
- What may change. Time of day, weather, materials.
- What may not. Floor count, shape, signage, layout.
- The camera move you want. If it is changing too.
What do you type into Vizard Agent?
List the things that are not allowed to move. A restyle instruction that only describes the look you want tells Vizard Agent nothing about what has to survive it, and on a building the geometry is the first thing a look change will quietly sacrifice in order to make the frame prettier.
Prompt
Variants worth knowing:
- "Keep the geometry exactly as it is." The constraint, named.
- "Three floors." A specific number beats a general instruction.
- "Against the original." The comparison that catches drift.
What does Vizard Agent actually do?
Here is the sequence on a real architectural visualisation restyled to a wet evening. The first attempt is the instructive one: it looked good and the building was wrong, which is why the facade references exist at all.
- Inspects the source render and its frames.
- Restyles a short section first to see what the pass does.
- Builds a comparison of the source and the restyled version.
- Re-runs the pass with the original geometry stated as a constraint.
- Compares the second version against the source again.
- Reads each facade photograph you supplied.
- Assembles them into one reference sheet for the restyle.
- Generates the evening render anchored to those facades.
- Checks the render against the original frame, side by side.
- Builds the full sequence and reviews it end to end.
Step two costs very little and settles the argument. Restyling a few seconds first shows you exactly how far the pass will drift, and on a building that drift is usually visible immediately.
Step seven is what makes the references usable. Separate photographs give the pass separate hints; one sheet showing every side together tells it that these are faces of the same object, which is the thing it keeps getting wrong.
Step nine is the check that matters. A restyled frame looks convincing on its own, and the only way to see that a floor has gone missing is to put it next to the frame it came from.
What does the result look like?
The same building in a different light. The floor count, the footprint and the signage survive, the materials and the weather change, and Vizard Agent hands you the comparison frames so the geometry claim is something you can verify rather than trust.
When does this not work well?
A restyle pass is not a modelling tool. It can relight a building convincingly and it cannot be relied on to hold fine detail, so anything you need exactly right — precise lettering, a specific window pattern, a client's logo — is safer composited afterwards.
- Fine lettering. Signage text rarely survives intact.
- Very large style jumps. The further it goes, the more it invents.
- Complex interiors. A flight inside invents what it cannot see.
- Unseen facades. No reference means no constraint.
- Fast camera moves. Drift becomes visible as flicker.
How do you fix a result that came back wrong?
Say what is wrong with the building, specifically. Vizard Agent has the original frames and your facade sheet, so "the third floor is missing" and "the entrance is on the wrong side" are both things it can check and re-anchor against.
- "There are only two floors." Re-anchored to the facade sheet.
- "The signage is invented." That element is composited instead.
- "The shape is different." The pass is re-run with tighter constraints.
- "It is too static." Movement is a separate ask; the geometry stays fixed.
How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?
By hand you run the restyle, look at the result, and think it worked, because the image is attractive and you are not counting windows while you admire it. The client counts windows. They designed the building, and they will spot a missing floor in the first second.
| By hand | Vizard Agent | |
|---|---|---|
| The instruction | What you want it to look like | Plus what may not change |
| References | The render itself | The real facades, as one sheet |
| Testing | The full pass, then look | A short section first |
| Checking geometry | By eye, once | Frame against original frame |
| When it drifts | Re-run and hope | Re-anchored to the references |
Common questions
Why does the building change at all? Because a restyle pass repaints the frame. Vizard Agent constrains it with references.
How many facade photos do I need? Every side that appears on screen. Vizard Agent will say if one is missing.
Can it keep the signage? Sometimes. For exact lettering, ask Vizard Agent to composite it afterwards.
Does a short test cost much? Very little, and it tells you whether the full pass is worth running.
What if I have no photographs? Then the original render is the only reference, and Vizard Agent says so plainly.
Can it change the weather and the time of day? Yes. Those are look changes, which is what the pass is good at.
Will the camera move survive? Yes, if you ask for it. Vizard Agent keeps the shot sequence unless told otherwise.
Can it add a flight inside the building? It can generate one, but the interior is invented. Say whether that is acceptable.
How do I check the floor count? Vizard Agent puts the restyled frame beside the original so you can count both.
What resolution does it work at? Test low, finish high. Vizard Agent will tell you what each pass produced.
Can I restyle only part of the sequence? Yes. Tell Vizard Agent which section and the rest is left untouched.
Does the audio change? No. Vizard Agent restores the original audio and duration.
What if I want it more dramatic? Ask, but expect more drift. Vizard Agent will show you the comparison either way.
Should I give it a reference render I like? Yes, alongside the facades. Vizard Agent uses one for look and one for geometry.