The Addie at Westlake

Legacy Communities, the builder and marketing partner behind Ledgestone Development Group's new luxury development The Addie at Westlake, engaged NoTriangle Studio before construction began. Set on Adeline Way off Loop 360, beside the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, the gated, lock-and-leave community pairs single-family homes and townhomes for buyers seeking privacy, calm, and premium design. The architecture, by DTJ Design with interiors by Brewer Design Studio, draws on Alys Beach: soft white stucco, curved accents, and a modern European flair, delivered as net-zero homes with an Austin Energy Green Building 5-star rating.

With home values approaching $2M, the project needed marketing-grade CGI that could communicate tranquility, exclusivity, and architectural refinement well before a single home existed. That meant a complete suite, photorealistic exterior and interior renderings, full 3D modeling built from the architectural documentation, furnished 2D floor plans, aerial and street-level perspectives, and a cinematic hero animation, all working together as the visual foundation of the pre-sale launch, so Ledgestone could present the development as a cohesive, premium residential offering from day one.

The engagement began with an inquiry from Legacy Communities' marketing team, who found NoTriangle Studio through our portfolio and cited our photorealistic style as the benchmark for the Addie's marketing launch. The original brief was already substantial:

• 01 Seven fully furnished 2D floor plan renderings.
• 02 One exterior townhome elevation rendering.
• 03 Eight single-family home elevation renderings, a front and a corner perspective for each.
• 04 One aerial bird's-eye view of the gated community.
• 05 One cinematic hero animation moving from aerial context to street level, through the gated entrance, and into the neighborhood.

Following the early planning and visual direction sessions, the scope grew. Interior renderings came in, covering the kitchen, the primary suite, and the basement options, along with interior walkthrough sequences woven into the main animation. The expansion let Ledgestone present a complete lifestyle narrative, interior and exterior storytelling aligned, while keeping production efficient and consistent across every asset.

The community paired single-family homes with townhomes while the architectural documentation was still being refined. Revisions had to be tracked and implemented across multiple unit types, CAD updates integrated quickly, and materials, proportions, and detailing held consistent, so the whole development spoke one premium visual language no matter which home a buyer was looking at.

The animation brief raised the bar further. Instead of a standard fly-through, the client asked for a calm, cinematic narrative following a car into the gated community, a sequence that had to communicate privacy and quiet, a sense of exclusivity, lush natural landscaping, and the feel of a private residential retreat. That demanded precise control of camera movement, lighting, pacing, and environment design, a slower and more contemplative tone than typical high-energy real estate marketing.

And because the interior scenes had to belong to the same homes shown outside, materials, finishes, and lighting had to match across every format. We optimized the modeling workflow so stills and animation drew on a shared asset base, keeping the imagery consistent without duplicating production cost.

After the initial briefing we worked through the elevation PDFs, CAD files, preliminary architectural renders, and floor plan packages, and recommended interior selections that reduced unnecessary variation and production time while keeping the visuals aligned with a premium buyer experience. Because no complete 3D model existed, the team built the entire community from scratch out of the architectural CAD, floor plans, elevations, and material schedules, which gave us full control over lighting, landscaping, and camera movement, and brand-level realism held consistent across every deliverable.

The hero film was structured as three narrative movements to reinforce the Addie's quiet luxury positioning. An aerial arrival establishes the site layout, the surrounding Hill Country, and the adjacent Wild Basin Preserve. A descent to street level shifts the film to a refined, human-scale perspective. Then a car-follow sequence moves slowly through the gated entrance, past the pocket park and the internal streets, carrying the feeling of privacy, calm, and retreat. Camera pacing and lighting were intentionally restrained, with a music bed scored to the movement.

To keep an unbuilt community from feeling like a model floating in a void, we anchored the animation in the actual site. The developer supplied drone footage and photography of the land and its Hill Country surroundings, and we composited that real aerial backdrop behind our 3D models, matching grading, landscaping, and sightlines from the architect's CAD. That blend of real context and built-from-scratch architecture is the look the client returned for years later, asking us to bring the same treatment to a second community.

At the client's request, the animation was also extended inward, with a brief interior walkthrough through the Plan 3 kitchen and living spaces, the primary bathroom, and the theater and basement recreation areas. Those moments sit seamlessly inside the exterior sequence, one continuous narrative connecting architectural form, interior atmosphere, and lifestyle.