about — the studio behind the pictures

who decided a floor plan and a grey box were enough to sell a building?

Not us. Lantern Yard exists because people were being asked to commit six figures to a space they could only squint at. So we build the thing first — in pixels, down to the brick — until a buyer can't tell it hasn't been poured yet.

start a project see what we build

a small studio, by design
based in raleigh, nc
mon–fri 8am–5pm

the origin

we got tired of imagery that lied.

Lantern Yard started over a frustration that never went away: a beautiful Raleigh project going to market dressed in grey massing blocks, clip-art cyclists and a sky stolen from a stock site. Nobody buys that. They tolerate it, then wander off to “think about it.”

We opened the studio to settle the argument the only way it can be settled — by building the project before the project exists. Pull the real plans, measure the real materials, chase the real sun across the real site, and render it until the drawing stops being a promise and starts being proof.

Today the work does one job: it lets a buyer walk into a space that isn't standing yet and say “yes” on the spot. That's the whole business.

Lantern Yard's Raleigh studio with monitors showing a photoreal render

the stance

a render isn't decoration. it's the first time your building is honest with the people paying for it.

lantern yard · raleigh, nc

what we stand on

four opinions we build on

Every studio says it cares about quality. These are the specific choices that make the pictures behave — and the ones we won't trade away to hit a deadline.

accuracy beats flattery

We render what the drawings actually say — the real setback, the real parking count, the real view from the ninth floor. Flattering a building it can't live up to isn't marketing, it's a complaint waiting to be filed.

the light is the work

Materials are measured, not guessed. We sun-study the site for the right latitude and hour, place genuine brick, timber and glass, and let the shadows fall where physics puts them. That's the difference between a picture and a photograph.

same eyes, first frame to last

There is no render farm hiding in the back. The person who sets the first camera grades the final still — so the pitch deck doesn't drift from the preview we showed you in week one.

a date is a promise, not a hope

Pre-sales launches don't wait, so we quote a delivery date before we start and tell you fast if anything threatens it. No vanishing, no silence, no “nearly there” the morning it's due.

how a project moves through us

from your file to a buyer's “yes”

you hand over the drawings

CAD, Revit, SketchUp, or a marked-up PDF — whatever stage the design is at. We set up the model, the cameras and the light while you get on with the deal.

day one

we send a grey clay pass

Before a single material goes on, you approve framing, angle and scene staging in raw grey. Cheaper to move a camera now than to re-light a finished frame later.

early look

your first photoreal draft lands

Usually around nine working days in — materials on, light graded, people placed where people actually go. Then two revision rounds, written into every quote, refine it until it earns its place in the deck.

~9 days in

you keep everything

Full-resolution 4K files and usage rights hand over on final payment — print, web, sales suite, planning submission. Walk into the leasing office and press play.

on delivery

brief us

got a project that's being sold on a maybe?

Send the plans, the deadline, and the moment you need to sell. We'll come back within one business day with a scope, a price, and a delivery date — no sales choreography, no mailing list.

A photoreal rendering of a mid-rise residential building at golden hour in a landscaped Raleigh streetscape

now you know us

let's make it real.

You've read the opinions. The next step is a file, a deadline, and a building that stops hiding behind a floor plan.

start a project