A Little About Me
My name is James McClellan, and I’m someone who’s constantly driven by curiosity and a love for learning. My wife and I are raising four energetic, inquisitive kids who are the center of our world. Their natural curiosity about how things work inspires me daily and pushes me to be my best—both personally and professionally. One of my greatest joys in life is teaching, whether it's guiding my kids through something new or mentoring others in the workplace. I’ve had many opportunities throughout my career to train, coach, and support others, and I always find those experiences deeply rewarding.
My fascination with architecture began at a young age. Wherever we traveled, I was always drawn to the buildings and the spaces around us. That early curiosity led me to explore how they were designed and constructed. I remember learning AutoCAD from my dad and using it to create patterns and drawings. In school, I expanded into 3D modeling with SolidWorks and Inventor, discovering that I had a natural ability to visualize and think spatially. When I was first introduced to Revit, it felt like a tool built specifically for how my mind works. I dove into it, downloaded a student license, and soon found myself working in the CAD/BIM department at my university.
Since then, my journey has been defined by a passion for 3D design, architectural visualization, and technology integration in the AEC industry. I love the creative and technical challenge of turning ideas into compelling visuals—and even more so, I love helping others develop the skills to do the same.
ArchViz Training: From the Beginning
As I neared the end of my college experience, I was tasked with completing a capstone project that would bring together the areas of study I had chosen. Given the freedom to create something meaningful, I asked myself: If I could do anything, what would it be? The answer came naturally — I created a video tutorial series that demonstrated how to bring Revit models into Unreal Engine 4 and make them interactive.
This project combined my love for real-time rendering and interactive architectural visualization with my desire to teach and share what I learn. Was it perfect? Not at all — I was still learning myself — but that’s what made it powerful. It was a beginning. From that point on, I’ve made it a priority to bring this passion into my professional work by exploring new visualization technologies and sharing them with others.
Over the years, I’ve helped introduce and train teams on various software platforms and visualization techniques. I’ve organized internal and external knowledge-sharing events, led workshops, and created collaborative learning environments through brainstorming and info sessions. My personal philosophy is simple: Learn, improve, share, repeat.
Building a Culture of Collaboration
After graduation, I joined Whiting-Turner as a VDC Engineer and advanced to VDC Manager during my 7 years there. While I was the sole VDC professional in the Las Vegas office, I was fortunate to be part of a nationwide network of VDC specialists. That network became essential for both support and growth.
As part of that group, I helped create a collaborative platform initiated by our VDC Vice President in California. It began as a few Slack channels for exchanging ideas on topics like coordination/clash detection, reality capture, 4D/5D planning, and visualization. Over time, this evolved into a formal internal program that included quarterly virtual meetings and annual in-person conferences.
I served as one of the founding leaders of the Visualization Work Group, where we explored rendering tools and techniques. I led training and development sessions for that group for several years and also contributed as a trainer and speaker in other internal and external organizations. These experiences confirmed that helping others grow their skills is not just something I enjoy — it’s something I do well.