A good CGI brief tells your visualiser four things: what each image is for, who will judge it, what it must be built from, and who signs it off. Get those right and the first draft lands close. Get them wrong and you pay for revisions that were never about taste. This guide is for property and healthcare developers commissioning CGI for planning, sales or investment, and it sets out what to include, in the order a visualiser needs it.

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TL;DR

  • Start with the decision each image must support (planning, funding, pre-sales or operator buy-in), because that sets the style, accuracy and views.
  • Send current drawings, a site model or survey, photographs, a materials schedule and a planting plan, and say which of them is final.
  • List every view, format and size you need, including aspect ratios and whether you need stills, animation or a verified photomontage.
  • Name one approver, one feedback round structure and a deadline tied to a real date, such as a committee or investor meeting.
  • Flag unresolved design items up front. Unstated assumptions are the biggest cause of avoidable revisions.

Table of Contents

Start with the decision the image supports

Before you list files, write one sentence per image: “This view helps [audience] decide [what].” A planning officer, a lender, a buyer and a care operator each look at an image differently, and the same building is shown differently for each.

This matters more than most developers expect. The Landscape Institute’s guidance on visual representation of development proposals says an image should show the proposal broadly as people would perceive it in the real world, suit its purpose and audience, and come with a written explanation of method, assumptions and limitations. The same guidance says the level of sophistication should be proportionate to the purpose, the likely audience, the scale of visual change and the sensitivity of the setting. A more advanced technique is not automatically more accurate or more trustworthy.

In practice, a one-line purpose statement per image changes the work:

  • Planning submission: accuracy and a defensible method come first. Atmosphere comes second.
  • Investor deck: a clear sense of scale, quality and place, often with a few hero views.
  • Off-plan sales or lettings: emotional appeal, lifestyle, interiors and amenities.
  • Operator or partner presentation: how the building works day to day, including entrances, gardens and circulation.

If one image has to do two jobs, say so. Usually it is cheaper to brief two images than to compromise one.

Project details and source files to send

A visualiser builds a 3D model from what you give them. The more current and consistent your files, the less guessing. Send the following and mark each item as “final”, “draft” or “indicative”.

What to send Why it matters Note to add
Plans, elevations and sections (PDF and CAD) The base geometry of the model Drawing revision numbers and date
3D model, if one exists (Revit, SketchUp, IFC) Saves remodelling time Level of detail and what is unreliable
Site survey, levels and boundary Sets ground heights and context Whether topography is measured or assumed
Site photographs, labelled Matching light, surroundings and photomontage backgrounds Location, direction and date of each photo
Materials and finishes schedule Drives realism of facades and interiors Supplier, product code or sample photo
Landscape and planting plan Trees, hedges, paving, boundaries Species, size at planting, and any maturity view needed
Reference images Shows the mood you want Say what you like about each one
Brand assets and logos For signage, hoardings, marketing overlays Vector files if possible

The Planning Portal explains that plans and drawings are required for most application types and must meet quality standards. The drawings needed vary by the work and can include site, detail, elevation, floor, roof, section, level, location and context plans. Whatever you are submitting, send your visualiser the same set. If the CGI is built from a different revision from the one the council sees, the mismatch is yours to explain.

If you are also briefing an architect, our guide to the CGI brief for architects covers what design teams can send before modelling starts, and much of it applies to you directly.

Say what is not decided

Every live scheme has open items: a roof finish waiting on a planning condition, a layout still moving, a boundary treatment under negotiation. List them. The visualiser can then either show a neutral option or build in a quick switch. Silence leads to a confident wrong answer.

Open design items and possible visualisation responses

Specify the views, formats and deliverables

Vague requests such as “a few images of the scheme” produce vague quotes. Instead, build a shot list:

  1. Number of views. For each, state exterior or interior, and a rough location (for example, “from the junction of the main road and the access lane, looking north-east”).
  2. Time of day and weather. Daylight, dusk or a clear sky. Dusk images sell well but are rarely suitable for planning.
  3. Season. Particularly relevant when planting is a selling point or a planning issue.
  4. People, cars and props. Say how many and what type. A care setting looks and feels different from a city-centre apartment block.
  5. Output. File format, resolution, aspect ratio and whether you need print sizes for boards or brochures.
  6. Extras. Floor plans, aerial views, animation or virtual tours, if you want them from the same model.

Be clear about the type of image too. A marketing render, a CGI photomontage placed in a real photograph and a verified view with a documented method are different products with different standards. If you are unsure which your scheme needs, see our overview of verified views and CGI photomontage, or ask your planning consultant before you brief. Our guide to CGI for planning applications goes into more detail on what the process involves.

Think about reuse

A model built once can produce stills, an animation, a floor plan or a virtual tour at far lower marginal cost than starting afresh. Tell the visualiser at the outset if you may want these later, so the model is built to the right standard. It is also worth reading how property CGI is priced in the UK before you set a budget line.

Materials, landscaping and surroundings

Buildings are judged in context. Developers often send beautiful elevations and nothing about the ground, the neighbours or the planting. That is where images start to look wrong.

Residential CGI showing planting and neighbouring homes

Local authority checklists show how much detail a landscape scheme is expected to carry. Cheshire East Council’s landscaping scheme checklist asks for retained and proposed contours and levels, access and paths, walls, fences, gates, lighting and drainage, and planting locations, species, sizes, quantities and densities. For larger or complex developments it also asks for labelled site photographs, including neighbouring context. Other councils set their own requirements, but the pattern is common, and the same information is what makes a CGI believable.

To cover this in your brief:

  • Materials: give brick type, cladding, roof tile or membrane, window frame colour and any signage. Photos of samples beat verbal descriptions.
  • Landscape: attach the planting plan and say whether you want planting shown at completion or at maturity. These look very different. Our note on accurate planting visuals explains why this speeds up approval.
  • Surroundings: supply photos of adjacent buildings, heights, roof forms and any trees that stay or go. Mention neighbours who are likely to object and which of their windows face the site.
  • Boundaries and access: fences, gates, bin stores, cycle stores and parking are what people notice when they are missing.

When the CGI supports a planning application

Planning images carry more risk than marketing images, because they can be scrutinised by officers, councillors and objectors. Treat them differently in the brief.

Say clearly that the image is for planning, and name the local planning authority if you know it. Tell your visualiser whether the site is in a conservation area, near a listed building, in a sensitive landscape or in a protected view, and whether your consultant has agreed viewpoints. If a method statement is needed, say so. The Landscape Institute guidance cited above expects a written explanation of methodology, assumptions and limitations to accompany the images, so ask for it from the start rather than after delivery.

If you work with a consultancy, share their requirements directly. We have set out what planners and consultants look for in our visualisation brief guide for planning consultancies, and the wider role of images is covered in the role of visuals in planning permission.

Briefing CGI for healthcare and care developments

Healthcare schemes add a layer: the people judging the image include clinicians, commissioners and operators as well as planners and funders. The brief therefore needs to say what the building is meant to do, not only what it looks like.

NHS England’s specification for neighbourhood health centres says the clinical brief should define services, population health needs and outcomes, the preferred service mix, space requirements, patient flow, expected benefits and key performance indicators. You do not have to put all of that in a CGI brief, but the parts that shape what is shown should be there: which services are in which rooms, how patients arrive and move, and what must be visible, such as a drop-off point or a sheltered entrance.

Two further points from public guidance are useful when deciding how much to fix in the brief:

  • Architecture and Design Scotland’s guide to commissioning healthcare developments says a brief develops in phases, getting more detailed as the project moves on. It also advises capturing activities and performance requirements rather than prescribing one solution too early, giving access to a safe garden as an example. For CGI, this means you should state the outcome (a garden residents can reach safely) and let the visual show a credible version of it.
  • NHS Property Services’ guide to developing the NHS estate says services and occupiers should be confirmed before detailed design, because requirements can change and early confirmation reduces unnecessary cost and design changes. The same logic applies to imagery: confirm who the occupier is before you commission interiors that depend on their needs.

For care homes, supported living and similar schemes, mention the audience for each image. Images for a planning committee look different from those for an operator or for families viewing a future home. Our page on CGI for care operators explains how we approach this.

Who approves, and how feedback should work

This is the part most briefs leave out, and the part that most often causes delays.

  1. Name one approver. Several people can comment, but one person consolidates feedback and signs off. Conflicting comments from five stakeholders are the quickest way to burn through revisions.
  2. Agree the stages. A typical flow is a clay or white model for camera angles and massing, then materials and lighting, then final polish. Changes are cheap early and expensive late. Say who needs to see each stage.
  3. Consolidate feedback. Ask your team to send one marked-up PDF per round, with numbered comments, rather than a stream of emails.
  4. State the number of rounds you expect, and what counts as a new request rather than a correction.
  5. Tie the schedule to a real date. Give the committee date, funding meeting or launch event, then work back. Share how long your own internal sign-off takes.

If you have commissioned other kinds of work, the principle will be familiar: a short, structured document beats a vague request. A one-to-three-page brief template for a different type of project shows the same idea of keeping it brief but complete.

Common omissions that cause revisions

These are the issues we see most often when a brief arrives:

  • Out-of-date drawings. The CGI is built from revision C while the planning set is revision E.
  • No purpose stated. A marketing-style image is delivered when the planning team needed an accurate one, or the other way round.
  • Missing context. No photos, no neighbour heights, no levels. The result looks pasted in.
  • Undefined materials. “Light brick” can mean a dozen things. Send a sample or product reference.
  • Planting ambiguity. Mature trees on day one will draw challenge from planners. Say what stage of growth you want to show.
  • Unresolved design items. A roof, entrance or boundary that changes after modelling means rework.
  • Too many decision-makers. Late comments from someone who never saw the earlier stages.
  • Unclear deliverables. Print sizes or aspect ratios are requested after the final images are made.

A useful rule: if an item would change what the image shows, it belongs in the brief.

Our view: brief the decision, not the picture

We work in-house, with a single experienced operator on each project, so the person who reads your brief is the person who builds the images. That makes the first conversation the most valuable part of the job. What we have learned is that developers who describe the decision, the audience and the deadline get better results than those who send the most files.

We would rather receive a half-finished design with honest notes on what is open than a polished set with hidden changes. We can show a neutral option, or flag the risk. We also push back when a request would make an image misleading, because an image that is challenged at planning helps nobody, least of all the developer.

Our practical advice: send the brief early, even if it is rough, and let us ask questions before modelling begins. A short call at the start saves rounds of changes later. Direct contact, predictable deadlines and a workflow matched to the purpose of each image are what we aim to give every client.

— Paride

Working with Visual Trick

We produce CGI for property and healthcare developers, from planning visuals and verified views to marketing images, interiors, animation and floor plans. If you have drawings and a deadline, send them and we will tell you what the right set of images looks like. See our CGI for developers page, or Property CGI for marketing images.

Visual Trick - CGIs and animations

If you are not sure yet what to ask for, our architectural visualisation services page is a good place to start.

FAQ

How long should a CGI brief be?

One to three pages is usually enough, plus attached files. Cover purpose, audience, views, files, materials, deadline and approver. Detail matters more than length, so list what is final and what is still open.

What files do I need before I can brief a visualiser?

At minimum, current plans, elevations and sections, a site plan or survey, and site photographs. A 3D model, materials schedule and planting plan make the result more accurate and quicker to produce. Mark each file with its revision and date.

Can the same CGI be used for planning and marketing?

Sometimes, but not always. Planning images need to be accurate and explainable, whereas marketing images often use dramatic light and stylised context. Say in the brief which use you need, and tell us if you want both from the same model.

How many revisions should I expect?

That depends on the agreement, so state it in the brief. Revisions are cheapest at the early model stage and costly once final lighting and materials are set. Clear feedback from one approver at each stage keeps rounds to a minimum.

Should healthcare developers brief differently?

Yes. Include who will use the building, how patients or residents move through it and which spaces must be shown. Confirm the operator or occupier before commissioning interiors, because their requirements can change the design.

Sources