In short
Neither is better in general. A studio brings a person who composes, directs light and retouches; a plan-based picture from an image model brings speed, cheap variants and a geometry that comes from your drawing. Six criteria sort the cases: what the picture is for, how much time there is, how many variants you need, how tightly the geometry must be controlled, what the budget is, and who owns the picture and sees the plan. Most practices end up combining both: points for the design phase, a studio for the one picture that carries a campaign.
Purpose and time
Purpose
A picture for a design review or a client meeting needs to be right and quick. A picture for a hoarding or a competition board needs to be composed. The first favours software, the second a studio.
Time
A 2K picture from the model is ready in the time the image model needs; a package of several cameras runs three at a time. A studio works in days and rounds. If the meeting is tomorrow, the choice is made.
Variants and control over geometry
Variants
Four points per 2K picture means the third material and the fifth camera are cheap. With a studio each variant is a revision round, and two are usually included.
Control over geometry
The plan-based picture takes geometry, camera and openings from the plan, held by a clay view and a depth map; material, light and surroundings come from the image model, and a check against the plan remains part of the job. A studio renders your model exactly: what is in the model is in the picture, nothing else.
Budget
With a studio the labour dominates, so the second picture costs almost as much as the first. With points the plan dominates: 149 euros a month for 900 points in the Office plan, 399 for 3,000 in the Studio plan, and the model, the share page, panoramas and comments cost nothing.
Compare like with like: a studio quote includes composition and post-production; a points budget includes the freedom to throw pictures away.
Rights and privacy
Rights
Ask the studio for the usage rights in writing: site, brochure, portal, unlimited in time? Ask the same of any software; the terms should answer it in one sentence. Say in the caption how the picture was made.
Privacy
A studio sees your model and your client’s name. An image model sees the plan page and the model view. Crop the title block, ask for a processing agreement, and check that training on your uploads is excluded. For the plan route the processors are named in the privacy notice and uploads are not used for training.
When to combine both
The pattern that works for many practices: the design phase runs on points. Model, variants, sun study, client comments, three pictures per meeting. When the design is approved and one picture has to carry the sales campaign or the competition board, that picture goes to a studio, with the approved model and the chosen camera as the brief.
The studio starts from a decision instead of a discussion, and the practice has spent its budget where the picture is seen.
Questions and answers
Is a studio picture always better?
It is usually more composed. For review and permits a factual picture is often more useful; for a campaign the composed one wins.
Can I give a studio the model from the plan?
Yes. The model exports as GLB, and the chosen camera is saved with each picture job.
Will the plan-based picture pass as a photograph?
That is not the aim, and we do not promise it. It is a rendering with material and light from an image model; the caption says how the picture was made.
Which is better for a competition?
Often both: points for the working phase and the perspective checks, a studio or your own hand for the one board picture. Check the brief for rules on external services.
