Want to show your project before it’s built or share your product with the world without incurring physical production costs? This is all possible through 3D rendering. In this article we will take a closer look at the specific benefits of 3D (product) visualization and whether your company is eligible to enjoy these benefits.
If you want to convince the customer to buy something from you, you need more than a picture in a newspaper. Today there are countless “communication channels” to spread your media on and depending on your target audience, you will of course need to use all those channels to stay ahead of your competition. In order to be able to use all these channels in a targeted manner, you cannot communicate anything to potential customers: what the target group sees must convince them. In other words, your company’s content (texts, images, animations and other media) must strike the right chords by conveying the right message in the right way.
3D rendering can therefore be a very interesting alternative for the production of the graphic part of all content. But how do you know if your company qualifies for this and what are the possible benefits?
First, let’s take a look at the cases when 3D rendering will most likely be the best choice:
1. Your company has a product that does not yet exist yet
This is of course a very obvious case where 3D visualizations is the best (and only) option to create beautiful visual material.
Just think of a real estate project that does not exist yet (you can contact our sister company Rendoo for this). Also with everything from interior that does not exist yet or things that need to be redesigned, 3D visualization naturally offers the best and only option to create realistic and qualitative graphic media.
Also as a producer or brand of physical products it offers an opportunity to create beautiful visual material before the samples are available. Think, for example, of an innovation or a brand that the media already wants to portray for the new collection of the following year.
Visualizing products and concepts that do not exist yet and being able to view different ‘versions’ of them and/or convince your potential customers and investors can in itself be reason enough to start with 3D visualizations.
2. Your company has a high margin concept/product
If your product already exists, it can still be very interesting to make 3D rendering. The reason for this is that certain things are extremely difficult or simply not possible with the help of classic photography.
Some shots just can’t be achieved with photography. The image below, for example, is such example. Why does a brand like Apple, Coca Cola or Dyson still have 3D renders made? For ‘impossible’ shots such as ‘exploded views’ or certain settings that you can’t control. Everything is possible in 3D and it offers much more flexibility to adjust things later.
3. The concept or products often have to be adjusted
If all media has been made with classic photography or videography, a new shoot has to be organized with every adjustment. You can photoshop some things in static images, but you are also limited with that.
If the media is made with 3D, we can just dive into the model and easily adjust things. This way you can have different versions made and possibly see which gets the most response.
4. If you release a collection of products with many variants
Suppose you have products that are very different from each other, for example you have a collection of furniture with only 4 types of chairs and 3 types of tables and they are very different from each other in design, then it can be more interesting to still use classical photography unless you need special environments to display the furniture.
If, on the other hand, you had a collection with those chairs and tables with 6 different materials and colors for the legs and 6 different rails or table tops, you suddenly get 4 x 6 x 6 (144) and 3 x 6 x 6 (108) unique combinations.
In such a case, it is 100% more interesting to have 3D visualizations made. You make a main product in 3D and then make the variants a lot faster. For example, we once had a project for a sofa brand with 300 main models, all with 20 different fabrics in 7 colors (+40k) different combinations.
Besides the fact that it is much faster to make the media, it is also not necessary here to have every possible combination produced and this is in other words much cheaper for samples and stocks.
5. If you would like to show products or concept in an expensive or complex setting
Suppose, for example, you are a luxury furniture brand and the target group is therefore also the affluent citizen with a specific style, then you want to create a very special setting to let the furniture come into its own.
Normally that is quite an assignment and expensive homes would have to be rented and all products that need to be made into images must be transported there. In addition, there is a lot to consider, if you have ever organized this yourself, you know it all too well.
Now that we know which factors determine whether or not choosing 3D rendering is the more interesting option for your business, let’s consider the potential benefits below:
1. Number of people involved in production
One of those advantages is, for example, the number of people involved in such a production. With a 3D production there are normally only 3 links: the marketing manager (and/or the manager), the account manager and the 3D artist.
2. Post Production
Another big advantage of 3D rendering is the post-production. It regularly happens that products receive certain changes afterwards, extra versions that have to be made, etc. Once the basic model has been made, literally everything can still be adjusted or added to.
Just think of the backrest of a chair whose model has changed slightly, a texture for a new garden table that has been changed, the dial of a watch that still has to be made in 5 other colors, …
All changes are still possible and no valuable time is wasted.
3. Media that‘actually impossible’
As mentioned above with the ‘factors’ that determine whether it is something for your company, we can simply do a lot more with 3D visuals. We can do ‘impossible’ shots, we can draw settings or props that don’t exist.
If your products don’t exist yet, you can’t photograph them yet, so 3D visualization is the only option. In addition, for example, an image can also be ‘impossible’ to achieve, such as wanting to visualize a building in a very busy street in daylight. Everything, but also everything, can be done in 3D.
4. Certain formats and uses in media
For certain applications you really need 3D. Suppose you want to make a configurator (read more about making a configurator here), it is often almost impossible to do without 3D visuals. This is because there has to be perfect consistency between product placement, lens, lighting, etc. to keep the configurator looking neat.
Also think of applications for the future: 3D models that can be used by 3D studios to use your products in a design or something more futuristic: in the metaverse (read here a bit more about what this is and how it works).
Let’s recap all these benefits:
- There are no limitations in production and post-production.
- Everything can be done faster because fewer people are involved in the final process and the preparation for production is also smaller.
- 3D rendering is more flexible and everything can be customized.
- You own your products as digital assets, which means that adjustments or variants are very easy to make afterwards.
- Fewer people are needed to organize media production
- It ensures perfect consistency in all media.
- The realization process of 3D rendering may be cheaper compared to photography.
- High quality renders provide realistic media of things that don’t exist yet.
- 3D rendering can show certain points of view that are not or very difficult with photography.
Do you want to discover what 3d rendering can do for your company? Then contact us! At P1 Studio we are specialized in 3D visualization and are happy to think along with you on how we can visualize your ideas as best as possible.
