CGI animation vs ListLift.
A CGI animated flythrough shows the layout. A Living Film shows the life inside.
Comparison 2026/2027
The short answer.
An architectural animation, or CGI flythrough, is a camera path through a 3D model of your building, rendered frame by frame.
ListLift makes Living Films with humans who read as real, directed from the renders and CGI you already have.
An animated flythrough shows planners and investors the facts. A Living Film tells them what it feels like to be there.
Side by side.
Third-party figures as published by each studio, 2026.
What flythroughs do well.
A flythrough can take a camera through a building in the design phase, along an exact route, with architecturally correct dimensions.
That's what a design review or a planning committee wants. Add an interactive version or a VR headset in the sales suite, and a buyer can check the view from the entry for themselves.
Why drawn people look fake.
Animated people are hard to get right. Rendimension, an animation studio, says static figures "read as artificial the moment the camera moves," which makes animated people and traffic "a meaningful cost line."
Even when the budget's there, the figures tend to look drawn. Buyers spot it quickly, and so does a board.
What a Living Film adds.
We start from the renders or CGI you already have, including the frames from a walkthrough you've paid for.
Then we direct people and light into them and cut the result as film, with a score under it. Someone makes coffee at the window. The terrace fills with fading light at dusk.
A filmmaker checks every frame. And the cast stays on file, so phase two carries on with the same faces.
Already have a walkthrough?
Good. Send it with your renders.
We'll add real human presence where the drawn ones were, and you'll see the difference on screen.
Before you ask.
What's the difference between a flythrough and a walkthrough?
A flythrough moves around and through a building from the air, often starting outside. A walkthrough follows a person's eye level through the rooms. Both are architectural animations rendered from a 3D model.
How much does architectural animation cost?
About $50 to $200 per second of finished footage, or $2,000 to $15,000 per finished minute (Maverick Frame). Living films start from €5,000. See pricing.
How long does a CGI flythrough take?
A 60-second animation takes 4 to 8 weeks from a complete model, plus 2 to 4 weeks if the model has to be built from drawings (Rendimension). Our first cut arrives in 5 to 10 working days.
What's the difference between a 3D render and an animation?
A render is one still image. An animation is a sequence of rendered frames played as video, roughly 1,500 of them for a 60-second flythrough (Rendimension).
Can you make a video from architectural renders?
Yes. That's a Launch Film: photoreal film directed from your renders and CGI, before a single brick is laid.
Can you replace the people in our existing walkthrough?
CGI animation still plays a critical role in architectural planning. However, AI is unlocking new possibilities for sales and marketing teams like never before.
Is AI replacing 3D animation?
For design review and VR you still need a 3D model and a studio to build it. For marketing film with people in it, AI gets us there fast, and a filmmaker checks every frame before you see it.
Will it look like AI?
Our films are real enough that EU law makes us label it.
Share your vision.
We'll come back with a plan and a price, no obligation.