My dream to be in complete knowledge of my field that is architecture and designing keeps forcing me to search for more and more quality stuff. While I was searching for some pictures of particular trees, Google brought me to imagecels.com whose variety of content convinced me to share a few words about it. Before I take your eyes towards the review of this excellent imagery website, I must make it clear that this review is written after carrying out a depth analysis which was stretched over a week. I have tried to bring all aspects of the under discussion site in limelight.
The company name is Realworld Imagery Inc and it is the leading producer of high quality photorealistic imagery for architectural and design visualization professionals worldwide, since 1988. In more simple words, Realworld Imagery hosts thousands of high resolution photos of trees, shrubs, people, vehicles, seamless textures of different building materials and landscaping, rendering backgrounds and lot more. Photos of people and vehicles are available in aerial and elevation views. Unlike a normal wallpaper or photo website, this one offers alpha channel mask with every photo. These soft edge masks make imageries very practical and easy to use with most 3D and 2D software programs. Architectural and design professionals can use Realworld Imagery content in their routine work to create richness and a sense of reality. Just by having a look around a few pages of this wonderful website one can estimate the quality and authenticity of content.
All imageries are placed with respect to their category and are grouped in sets of about 50-100 images each. There is no option of ordering individual images. The smallest unit which can be bought is a complete set which price ranges between 99 USD and 299 USD. In order to give clients the desired details, there is attached a list of additional details to every set, providing complete nomenclature, detailed description and information about image size. Also, one can find particular plant species by going through Master Plant list, which gives information about botanical name, common name, filename, size and name of set containing the desired plant. All stuff hosted by Realworld Imagery is available for direct download from the site, whereas one may ask for a CD as well, which will be shipped within one business day without any extra charges besides shipping costs.
Images are 2D and in “.TIF” (LZW compressed) file format with embedded alpha channel masks. They are placed against a black background. Textures are also in “.TIF” file format, seamless and tileable. Resolution varies from 900×1400 to 4000×4800 pixels but mostly the images are in resolution around 1200×1600 pixels. Even the photos are not in a very high resolution they provide notable results when used with most 2D/3D software. The reason for this excellent compatibility is their internal alpha channel mask.
No annual/monthly/weekly or any other kind of membership is offered by this site. Customers can simply purchase the required stuff on direct payment, however, up to 40% discount is offered on buying more sets/CDs. About 15 images are available to download for free as samples. In terms of license policy, they distinguish carefully between single user and multiple users, so customer should think of his intentions before buying.
When I try to count the good areas of this website, first comes its simple design with easy navigation. No animations or flash slides and still having a decent look and feel. Variety and quality of all stuff regarding “people” and “trees” is exceptional and seems to be very authentic. Almost every species and category has been covered in ample detail, so it seems that many professional opinions have been incorporated in this website. Lots of extra information is provided about type of trees and their hardiness zones which makes it very easy for an architectural expert to find appropriate vegetation. A good FAQ section which provides depth and easy to understand information on all aspects like image specifications, compatibility issues, payment options and about browsing site. Excellent compatibility with all external 2D and 3D platforms. Moreover, all legal documents like privacy policy and terms of use are very well defined.
As nothing is perfect in the world so the website under discussion also has some grey areas. For example no membership plan is offered which makes it very expensive for long term usage. Photos are not in the best resolution and very little categories are offered as compared to other similar sites. Although site’s name appears on Google’s first page, while searching for images one can hardly find any stuff from this site which means the content is not fully optimized for search engines.
In short it’s a very good and resourceful place for all professionals to get useful stuff. Before relying on other content one must visit this site. It is ideal for those professionals in field of architecture, who work around designing of landscapes and places with vegetation like parks and even for the professionals who have some link with film making and gaming.
Summary:
+ Variety and quality of all content regarding people and trees plus detailed information provided to every set make this website exceptional.
- The only prominent problem is the absence of membership plan option, what hinders the way to long term relationship.
Popularity: 17% [?]
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