A good property CGI brief tells the visualiser what each image is for, who will judge it, what it must be built from and who signs it off. Get those four things down on one or two pages and you cut most of the revisions, delays and inaccurate views that make CGI projects painful. This guide sets out what to put in the brief, how planning requirements change it, and the mistakes we see most often.

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TL;DR

  • Write down the purpose and audience of every image first. A planning view, a sales brochure image and an investor slide need different things.
  • Send drawings, a model if you have one, a materials schedule, site photographs and references, each with a note saying which is current.
  • For planning, name the type of visualisation (photomontage, verified view) and check the local authority’s list before modelling starts.
  • List image count, viewpoints, formats, deadlines and who approves at each stage.
  • Most delays come from late design changes, missing site data and feedback from several people at once.

Table of Contents

What a property CGI brief is for

Property CGI is computer-generated imagery of a building or scheme, usually made from architects’ drawings so it can be shown before anything is built. It is used in planning submissions, off-plan sales, investor decks, brochures and listings.

The brief is the document that turns your design into a clear instruction. It is not a creative essay. The visualiser cannot guess which side of the building matters most, whether the finish is final or provisional, or whether the image will be seen by a planning officer or a buyer. Every gap is filled by assumption, and assumptions are what get redrawn.

A brief also protects your budget. When scope, viewpoints and approval stages are agreed in writing, the quote reflects the real work and changes can be priced fairly rather than argued about at the end.

Start with the purpose of each image

Before you list drawings, write one line per image: what it is for, who will look at it and what decision it should support. The professional guidance on visual representation of development proposals makes the same point: state the purpose and users of the visualisation at each project stage, because visuals are often reused iteratively for different purposes.

A few examples of how purpose changes the image:

Purpose Audience What the image must do
Planning application Planning officers, committee, neighbours Show the proposal fairly in its real context, from agreed viewpoints
Off-plan sales Buyers and sales agents Make the home feel desirable while staying true to the design
Investor pitch Funders and partners Convey scale, quality and positioning quickly
Design development Client, design team Test massing, materials and views before they are fixed
Care home or healthcare scheme Commissioners, families, planners Show a calm, accessible, well-landscaped setting that matches the drawings

If one image has to serve two audiences, say so. A planning view and a marketing hero shot are rarely the same picture, and trying to make one image do both usually weakens both.

Match the brief to the design stage

The same building needs different visuals at concept, planning and sales stages. Early on, plans, elevations and sections are enough to support discussion with your client, and the professional guidance says the type of visualisation should be chosen in proportion to purpose, context and likely effect.

In practice:

  • Concept stage: simple massing views or loose exteriors. Say plainly that materials and landscaping are indicative.
  • Planning stage: accurate, context-led views that match the submitted drawings exactly. Nothing should appear in the image that is not on the plans.
  • Marketing stage: polished exteriors, interiors, lifestyle detail and often animation, built on a design that is now frozen.

Tell the visualiser which stage you are in and how settled the design is. If the facade is still changing, flag it. It is cheaper to hold the start of modelling for a week than to rebuild a finished scene.

Planning visuals: settle the type and the local list first

If any image goes in a planning application, this is the section of the brief that matters most. Do not simply ask for “a CGI of the building”. Name the type of visualisation required.

Under the Landscape Institute’s technical guidance for UK practice, a visualisation must fairly represent what people would perceive in the field, and its level of sophistication should be proportionate to purpose, users, visual sensitivity and the likely magnitude of effect of the development.

The type matters because the levels of accuracy differ. In one published environmental statement appendix, the authors explain that under the Landscape Institute’s LI TGN 06/19, Type 3 photomontages and photowires commonly accompany planning applications. They offer reasonable locational and photographic accuracy but do not require verification data or a precise survey of features and camera locations.

Larger or more sensitive schemes can ask for more. The City of London’s requirements for major applications say a local view assessment may include agreed viewing points, corresponding photographs and photomontages, and that Verified Visual Montages may be required.

So your brief should say:

  1. Which local planning authority will receive the application, and whether you have its validation or local list.
  2. Whether a photomontage, a verified view or a simple CGI is expected, and how many viewpoints.
  3. Whether viewpoints have been agreed with the planning officer or conservation officer, and who agreed them.
  4. Whether the site is in a conservation area, near listed buildings or in a sensitive landscape, as this usually raises the standard.

If you are unsure, ask your planning consultant or the council before commissioning. Viewpoints chosen after the model is built can mean a second round of photography and montage work. Our own guide to CGI renders for planning applications goes through how the types differ, and our piece on the role of visuals in planning permission covers how officers use them.

Where a scheme is large enough that photographic accuracy, agreed viewpoints and verified montages all come into play, we handle that work as verified views and photomontage.

What to send: drawings, models and site data

The visualiser can only build what you give them. A useful, realistic set looks like this.

Drawings and models

  • Site and location plans, floor and roof plans, elevations and sections, at a stated scale.
  • Levels, including finished floor levels and site levels where the ground slopes.
  • Landscape drawings or planting proposals.
  • A 3D model if one exists (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, IFC or similar), with a note on which source drawings it matches and which is more current if they disagree.

Local authorities ask for similar information at validation. Islington’s published validation guidance calls for site and location plans, floor and roof plans, elevations, sections, levels, landscape information, material details and photographs of existing buildings. For major developments it also asks for a simplified, geolocated *.fbx massing model with its source software and units identified. If your planning pack already includes these, the brief becomes much easier: send the same set and say which version was submitted.

Materials and finishes

Name them, do not describe them loosely. “Buff brick” is not a brief; a manufacturer, range and colour code, or a physical sample photograph, is. Include roof finish, window frame colour, cladding, paving, boundary treatment and signage. If a material is not yet chosen, say “indicative” so it is not mistaken for a commitment.

Site data and photographs

  • Photographs of the existing site and its surroundings, ideally taken from the proposed viewpoints.
  • Location of each viewpoint on a plan, with the height and direction of the view if known.
  • Neighbouring buildings that must appear, and anything that will be removed (trees, outbuildings, hoardings).
  • For interiors, furniture layouts, kitchen and bathroom specifications and any fixed joinery.

Visual references, with reasons

References work best when you say what you like about each one: the light, the planting density, the camera height, the time of day, the colour mood. A reference with no comment invites the visualiser to copy the wrong thing.

Scope, deliverables and deadlines

This is where briefs most often go thin. Spell out:

  • Image list: each image numbered, with exterior or interior, viewpoint, time of day and season (a winter planning view looks very different from a summer sales view).
  • Type of output: stills, a photomontage on supplied photography, an aerial view, a floor plan, an animation. Our exterior CGI, interior CGI and 3D animation pages show what each covers.
  • Formats and sizes: resolution, aspect ratio, print or screen, and whether you need layered or unbranded versions for reuse. If the images will sit beside virtual tours and other advanced digital solutions on a sales site, say so, as it affects file formats and sizes.
  • Deadlines: the final delivery date and the reason for it (submission date, sales launch, investor meeting). Work back from it to agree milestones.
  • Revisions: how many rounds are included and what counts as a change versus a new request.
  • Approvals: the named person who gives feedback at each stage, typically a clay or massing view, a materials and lighting preview, and the final high-resolution render.

On timing, build in realistic stages. A visualiser needs time to model, set up lighting and render; a tight deadline works when the brief is complete at the start and fails when information arrives in pieces.

Common briefing mistakes

These are the ones that cost the most time:

  1. Sending unmatched drawings. Plans say one thing, elevations another. Ask the design team to confirm a single current set.
  2. Changing the design mid-render. A moved window or new roof pitch after the model is approved means rework. Agree a freeze point.
  3. Vague materials. “Modern grey” leads to a guess, then a correction.
  4. No viewpoint plan. For planning, this is the largest single source of delay.
  5. Too many voices. Collect feedback into one consolidated list from one person. Conflicting comments from five people are the quickest route to extra rounds.
  6. Mixing purposes. A sales image that quietly shows a taller building, extra trees or a nicer sky than the planning drawings can create problems for a scheme that depends on its consent.
  7. Hiding constraints. Tell the visualiser about conservation area status, protected views or neighbour objections early, because they shape which views you need.

Our view on briefing

We work in-house with a single experienced operator, so the person who reads your brief is the person who builds your images. That is why we like a brief that is short, specific and honest about what is unsettled. We would rather have a one-page brief with a clear purpose per image and two flagged unknowns than a forty-page pack with no priorities.

Our view on briefing — overview diagram

Our advice is to start the conversation before the drawings are final. A ten-minute call about viewpoints, audience and deadline usually saves a week later, and it lets us tell you early if a requested view will not be accurate enough for the purpose, or if the schedule is tight and what can realistically be done. Predictable deadlines come from a clear start, not from heroics at the end.

If the images are for planning, we keep the rule simple: the picture must match the drawings, and the type of visual must match what the council expects. Everything else is polish.

— Paride

Working with Visual Trick

We produce property CGI for developers, architects, planning consultants, estate agents, designers and care home developers across the UK and abroad, from planning photomontages and verified views to marketing exteriors, interiors and animation. If you already have drawings and a rough purpose, send them over and we will help you shape the brief into an image list and scope.

Visual Trick - CGIs and animations

See our property CGI page for the kinds of project we handle, or read how CGI for developers and CGI for architects typically work. For budget planning, our property CGI cost guide explains what drives the price, and you can start a project from the Visual Trick homepage.

A simple brief template

Copy this into an email and fill it in. It covers most of what a visualiser needs to quote accurately.

  1. Project: name, address, local planning authority, stage.
  2. Purpose and audience: per image, one line.
  3. Image list: number, type (exterior, interior, aerial, montage, plan), viewpoint, time of day, season.
  4. Planning requirements: type of visualisation, agreed viewpoints, any local list reference.
  5. Files supplied: drawings (with revision numbers), model, photographs, materials schedule, landscape plan.
  6. Materials and finishes: named, with samples or codes; mark anything indicative.
  7. References: images with a sentence on what to take from each.
  8. Deliverables: formats, sizes, number of revision rounds.
  9. Timeline: final deadline, milestones, who approves each stage.
  10. Constraints: conservation area, trees to keep, neighbouring buildings, anything sensitive.

For a longer checklist aimed at design teams, see our property architect visualisation checklist.

FAQ

What should a property CGI brief include?

It should state the purpose and audience of each image, the drawings and models the visualiser will work from, materials and finishes, site photographs and viewpoints, references with comments, the deliverables and formats, deadlines and who approves each stage. For planning images, add the type of visualisation the council expects.

How long should a CGI brief be?

One or two clear pages is usually enough, supported by the drawings and files. Length matters less than specificity: a numbered image list with a purpose against each item beats a long narrative description.

Do I need a different brief for planning and marketing images?

Usually yes, or at least separate sections. Planning images must match the submitted drawings and follow the council’s expectations for accuracy and viewpoints. Marketing images can be more atmospheric but should still stay true to the design.

What causes most delays on a CGI project?

Late design changes, inconsistent drawings, missing site data and feedback arriving from several people with different views. Freezing the design before modelling and nominating one person to consolidate comments solves most of it.

Sources