How We Won an Architectural Competition – Vesterøya School 3-Course Bundle: Exterior + Interior + Aerial Bundle Duration: 4+ Hours Why This Bundle? This unique 3-course bundle takes you behind the scenes of a real competition-winning school project in Norway, developed with HUS Architects and Skanska. You’ll follow the design process from early sketches to final visualizations – across three disciplines: exterior, interior, and aerial rendering. You’ll learn how to communicate strong design ideas under pressure, organize your 3ds Max and Photoshop workflows, and produce competition material that actually wins. From storytelling and lighting to advanced modeling and AI integration – these courses show what it takes. Who It’s For • Architects and students working on competitions or visual storytelling • ArchViz professionals seeking advanced workflows and image depth • Designers using 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop, or AI in real-world projects • Anyone interested in how professional collaborations unfold in practice What You Will Learn & Why It Matters • How to handle tight deadlines and demanding clients in real competitions • Why exterior, interior, and aerial views all require unique strategies • The full process from SketchUp to 3ds Max to Photoshop and beyond • Tips on storytelling, material realism, scale, lighting, and image balance • When to use AI – and when to avoid it Full Timestamp Breakdown 🟧 Course 1: Exterior Day Rendering Duration: 1.5 hours 00:00 – Introduction to the course 00:30 – Project overview & Cadman’s role 06:52 – Visualization in architectural competition 11:00 – Client relationships: Architect, landscape, builder & ArchViz 17:08 – What was given to me – how I work & why 21:26 – The health of the architectural sector 23:52 – Workflow with landscape & building in 3D – control is everything 27:14 – AI in the real world 29:48 – Job market analysis & the role of AI 35:21 – Human experience: evaluation, decision & selection 38:11 – Workflow & setup secrets 41:58 – Why young architects are struggling 43:17 – View, composition & storytelling 50:04 – Lighting & rendering: real project vs AI 53:17 – UVW mapping, performance & plugins 59:39 – High-stakes multi-million dollar projects 1:00:15 – Rendering into Photoshop via plugin 1:01:07 – Full Photoshop setup for creative control 1:05:01 – Sky & lighting – more important than you think 1:07:42 – Render passes – and why they matter 1:12:06 – Geometry updates & region rendering 1:12:55 – Photoshop layer structure 1:14:38 – Textures for ArchViz 1:16:29 – Shadow control 1:16:42 – Context integration & realism 1:18:56 – Foreground textures & scale 1:20:34 – Landscape integration 1:22:34 – Detailing & resolution 1:23:11 – People integration 1:24:03 – Foliage & image depth 1:26:34 – The giraffe! 1:27:00 – Storytelling through people 1:27:51 – Z-depth & color corrections 1:29:43 – Rebooting your brain & reviewing work 1:31:08 – Outro & next steps 🟧 Course 2: Interior Visualization Duration: 1.1 hours 00:00 – Introduction 00:14 – School culture in Scandinavia, functions and daylight interior 01:38 – What is a good visualisation? And what is our story? 03:22 – Cadman’s role in competitions 04:30 – Correct or wrong design direction 06:20 – The 3D model and how I work with it – and why 07:36 – Lighting design contrasts the form language – and here's why 08:32 – Symmetry or balance? Colors, proportions & weights 09:31 – Your foundation as a productive architect 10:11 – Viewport optimization 10:44 – Polygons & V-Ray Proxy 11:26 – Built-in design & why it works 12:43 – Flexible randomness vs. repetitive patterns – perception of realism in visualisation 14:55 – How to correct tilting perspective lines without peripheral squeeze/skew 16:48 – Designing the interior: form, function AND aesthetics 20:23 – Greenery in interior design? Yes, of course… 22:17 – Squeeze your eyes as a real architect :) 23:50 – Optimization of the 3D model: render and light artefacts 24:09 – Realism vs. the generic – an AI discussion 25:15 – Where to optimize and why 27:17 – Color bleed and other visual tricks – and why it matters! 28:38 – Integrate the viewer in the picture 30:50 – The most effective workflow in competitions 33:45 – Fresh eyes and healthy project development 34:27 – How to win architectural competitions 36:22 – Effective communication in architectural projects 39:36 – The way to manage the 3D model – and therefore the project 40:54 – V-Ray rendering in 3ds Max with PSD Manager (broadly applicable!) 46:31 – Photoshop initial setup – the holy grail of architectural visualisation 51:16 – Achieving Nirvana – total creative control through this Photoshop workflow 53:15 – My fundamental Photoshop structure – a method designed to conquer 54:30 – Photoshop build-up of the winning interior, layer by layer 58:30 – How I integrate AI in Photoshop 59:05 – How I integrate people in Photoshop 59:43 – Correct layer structure to fine-tune the project with render passes 1:00:57 – My final adjustments & conclusion 1:02:08 – Wrap-up & thoughts going forward 🟧 Course 3: Aerial Rendering Duration: 1.4 hours 00:00 – Introduction to aerial visualization 00:30 – One project, many stories 01:48 – Why aerial visualizations are hard to get right 02:23 – Merging architecture and landscape design 03:41 – Model optimization – the key to creativity 05:00 – Turning winter drone photos into summer 05:49 – Why accurate camera matching is everything 06:11 – Working with height maps in complex landscapes 06:52 – Importing and exporting workflow and geometry quality 08:22 – AI in (actual) architectural rendering 09:00 – Render passes in aerial rendering 09:27 – What most don’t understand about aerial rendering 10:15 – Photoshop breakdown – what, how & why 10:33 – Overarching goal of the course 10:41 – 3D model setup & optimization – the holy grail of aerial rendering 13:52 – Detailing the landscape plan in 3D – a huge job: problems and solutions 15:10 – What resources go into an (actual) aerial render – an honest discussion 17:26 – Optimize the export/import process – or ruin the project 18:52 – Most landscape architects don’t know anything about this (and I don’t know why) 19:20 – Prepare or fail 19:46 – Working with landscape architects to build their dream in 3D (not always easy) 21:00 – Procedural or bitmap mapping 21:48 – Why using V-Ray Proxies is a must! 23:20 – Cannot afford to fail – preparation & professionalism is everything 27:03 – Project manager – asset management in large projects 30:29 – Meeting expectations (in an AI-concerned world) 34:01 – The age of CAD... sorry, AI... oh no, actually CAD (still) 36:43 – Not even FOMO – just fear of AI (a realistic job discussion) 38:11 – AI is not the decision maker nor the user of the building or the investor 38:41 – The eye of Sauro... oh Cadman! 39:23 – 2 + 2 = Architecture 40:12 – AI’s role in architecture in the future 41:25 – The real job problem in architecture 43:23 – Preparing the 3D model for rendering 44:14 – Working with height maps in landscaping – fast, fluent and creative 52:30 – Render passes in aerial rendering with matte objects and V-Ray 59:16 – Camera matching in aerials 1:02:04 – Where you can find other relevant resources 1:02:57 – Build-up in Photoshop – RGB render integration in drone photo 1:06:28 – Landscape recreation over winter drone photo 1:06:56 – Texture enhancing in Photoshop 1:07:29 – Image format, resolution, and image usage 1:08:31 – Handling the Photoshop file IRL 1:09:59 – The essence of my video courses 1:10:17 – Why the architect is resilient in an AI (hyped) world 1:11:02 – Detailing the aerial picture 1:11:35 – Transforming a winter drone photo into summer 1:14:22 – Z-depth and lens flare effects in aerials 1:15:05 – Humans in aerials 1:15:59 – Brushing in birds (squick, squick) 1:16:08 – Adjustments 1:16:37 – Final thoughts & process conclusion 1:18:49 – Why we won (in my opinion) 1:20:02 – The idea behind my project courses 1:21:19 – We go deep and discuss the broader perspectives 1:22:39 – The future 1:23:09 – Thanks! About Your Instructor Your teacher is a trained architect and visualization expert with 20+ years of experience. He’s worked at top Danish firms like 3XN, led teams as Art Director at Cenario, and founded Cadman.dk – a studio known for winning real competitions through high-end visualization. He also taught visualization and presentation at The Royal Danish Academy (KADK), combining deep architectural knowledge with visual storytelling. Final Thoughts If you're serious about communicating architecture at a high level, this bundle shows you the full process from inside the industry. No generic tips – only real-world insights that have helped win actual projects.