This came from a piece by Margaret-Anne Storey on "cognitive debt", picked up by @simonw, and which I personally also encountered. While building a synth engine from scratch, I kinda lost the plot. Then I let Claude document each "phase", and from that I generated Remotion videos. It worked quite well, and I learned a lot, much more than I would have from just reading the source code!
It's on Lovable so you can just fork it and take a look (the prompt is in supabase/functions/transform-render/index.ts):
Transform this idealized architectural rendering into the most brutally realistic, depressing photograph possible. This is the WORST CASE scenario - what the building will actually look like in reality:
- Set on a dreary, grey, overcast late November day with flat, lifeless lighting
- The sky is a uniform dirty grey, threatening rain
- All trees are completely bare - just skeletal branches against the grey sky
- The landscaping is dead, muddy, or non-existent. No lush gardens, just patchy brown grass and bare dirt
- Remove ALL people, the scene should feel empty and abandoned
- Any water features should look stagnant and grey
- Add realistic weathering, dirt streaks, and construction residue on the building
- The building materials should look how they actually appear, not the idealized clean version
- Include visible utility boxes, drainage grates, and other mundane infrastructure usually hidden in renders
- The overall mood should be bleak but realistic - this is what buyers will actually see on a random Tuesday in late autumn
- Maintain the exact building, angle, and composition, just strip away all the marketing polish
The goal is honest truth, not beauty. Show what the architect's client will actually see when they visit the site.