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Hosting Platforms for 3D Product Photography
3D product photography platforms can provide a scalable, long-term solution for businesses in e-commerce and retail. How much you will need to invest to get started, however, hinges on the current stage of your business. In this post, we’ll examine this emerging technology, provide some examples of brands utilizing it, and detail times when businesses can benefit most from employing a 3D product photography platform.
3D product photography platforms enable businesses to generate fully interactive product experiences and configurators for e-commerce and retail. These platforms inherit their name from “3D product photography” (also known as “virtual product photography”), which entails complex product photoshoots consisting of either multi-angle still shots, 360-degree spins, or 3D models. Photoshoots like these can be not only time-consuming but also costly, especially if you don’t already have a professional studio for 360-degree photography.
In this case, employing a 3D product photography platform still has its advantages. They allow growing businesses even with smaller product portfolios to generate high volumes and variety in product visuals. This is without the need for individual photoshoots of every product, or even needing the product in stock. If you do already have a professional studio or a wealth of visual assets, these platforms become even more advantageous for your business.
The software technology inherent to these platforms produces 2D imagery from 3D product visuals or product component models. Then, when employing, the software enables this 3D imagery or the model components to come to life in a wide range of formats. These include 2D photorealistic images, 360° spins, 3D configuration, or highly advanced augmented and virtual reality experiences — all in high-resolution, detail-rich display and ready for the web thanks to the 3D product photography platform.
While 3D product photography comes in many formats, the focus of this post will be utilizing 3D models and configurators on the virtual photography platform, Emersya. This platform provides technology to create, embed and share top-quality, immersive 3D product experiences.
3D models and configurators are particularly useful for businesses whose products have a lot of customizable elements, complex parts, or moving features. They are also very effective tools for digital marketing, for B2B product presentations, or for market testing and product research. To provide examples, let’s look now at 3 brands among many who are successfully utilizing Emersya’s 3D technology on their websites.
Samsonite, one of the leading brands in travel luggage, uses Emersya’s 3D technology to replicate the in-store suitcase experience, online. This company has even replaced their 360° spin imagery to do this, now offering a more fluid and complete product experience. The technology allows online shoppers to open up and explore the insides of suitcases, change color options on the spot, or even input custom text for a real-time preview of laser engravings.
Want to see an example of the 3D software in action? Check out Samsonite’s 3D product viewer.
Another great example of 3D product photography technology in action is Billabong, a leading lifestyle and technical surf clothing and swimwear brand. Billabong uses Emersya’s technology to provide shoppers with the ability to customize wetsuits online. Their product configurator enables consumers to preview and select various customization options for the different colors and panels that make up their wetsuits.
Next up for the examples is KitchenAid, one of the leading American home appliance brands. They have incorporated Emersya’s 3D technology to provide customers with an interactive product discovery and customization experience for their built-in refrigerators.
Thanks to the 3D product experience platform, KitchenAid’s customers can now trigger animations of product functions to understand how they work, see exploded views of each design, and find technical annotations for further clarification. Experience the products for yourself on Emersya’s showcase for KitchenAid.
For even more examples of the different types of interactive 3D product experiences that can be created using Emersya’s 3D product photography platform, from furniture and home decor to heavy machinery and more, visit Emersya’s page to view their Use Cases.
Now, for the important question, what businesses really need to employ a 3D product photography platform? This technology will be more of a game-changer for some than for others, but there are some clear indicators to help brands and B2B businesses decide if this software should be more or less of a priority in the roadmap.
Do you have a wealth of customizable or configurable product visuals? These might be, for example, apparel or footwear with various options in color, style, material or texture. If the answer is yes, it’s definitely possible to significantly cut costs, time and energy while getting more products online for consumers. With 3D product photography software, you can multiply an individual photoset or 3D model into hundreds of different product variations or concepts. This is sure to impress shoppers, increase on-page time, and ultimately to trigger purchases.
Are you in a highly competitive industry in which reputation and quality truly matters? For both growing and leading brands in these markets, the importance of immersive, interactive and high-quality imagery cannot be understated.
Product presentation in this case is not only crucial for increasing the potential for conversions but also for reducing the likelihood of returns. The more information an image conveys to a shopper, the more likely that image is to live up to the shopper’s purchase expectations.
Have you already started exploring 3D visualizations and configurators for your business? If yes and there are 3D models on hand, you should take advantage of these immediately.
A 3D product photography platform can provide a repository of product iterations in detail-rich 2D and 3D formats all from a single 3D model. No longer are the days when you need individual photoshoots for every new addition to the product catalogue. Simply look to 3D models as the solution to significantly expand your visual assets.
3D product photography platforms also make it simple to transform 3D models of products into interactive 3D experiences, making it more than simply a visual asset. Leverage interactive experiences for driving consumer engagement, while also providing product insights in a truly unique way.
Keep in mind, PhotoRobot comes with everything you need to get started hosting your product imagery online. If you’re already using our robots, any time you capture products, our software instantly publishes the image files to our CDN-based viewer. The viewer is easy to integrate with any e-shop or webpage, and streamlines time-to-web for all of your product photos, galleries, 360-degree spins and 3D models. To learn more about our product viewer or 3D product photography platforms for your business, contact us today for a free consultation.
