February 4, 2023

3D Product Rendering: Benefits & Comparison

Every front-row brand today has at least three other competitors in the industry. Customers today consider lots of factors before purchasing a product both offline and online. An important factor is how appealing and descriptive the product looks at first glance. That’s where 3D product rendering comes in. Read along to know how best to get your audience’s attention through hyper-real product movies & stills.

What is 3D Product Rendering?

Product rendering is the process of recreating photorealistic stills or animated motion pictures using cutting-edge 3D development technology. By using specialized software, a 3D artist can re-create any product based on technical specifications. Once the model is created, a CGI artist applies the correct materials, texturing, colors, and lighting to bring it to life. It is considered a superior medium to best capture products, making them more marketable and perfect for advertising.

*3D product rendering of the Tom Ford Black Orchid

Benefits of CGI in Marketing

Product CGI provides unlimited creative control to edit a product’s texturing, colors, and materials while at the same time being able to quickly tweak shots with artificial camera settings, angles, and lighting. Here are some of the benefits both new and existing brands get from implementing product CGI:

Enhanced Image Lighting: An experienced artist can beautifully edit the interior or exterior lighting of a product until you’re 100% satisfied as a client.

Visualizing Future Projects & Changes: 3D visualization helps a brand strategist to get foresight on the next rebranding or marketing campaign.

Precise Measurements & Edits: You can make precise and accurate edits and adjustments to your product image or motion pictures.

Communicate the Product Better: With more detailed product imagery, your customer would know what to expect before purchasing.

*Full CGI shot (incl fabric) featuring a white gold diamond and emerald Rimara ring

CGI vs Product Photography

Digital marketers sometimes compare product photography with product rendering. Let’s discuss the several ways in which both strategies differ from one another;

Product Customization: You can customize the dimensions, picture quality, and lighting of your product image. Product photography limits you in regards to edits and requires a lot of time to re-shoot and retouch when iterations are needed.

Visitors Engagement. CGI is unrivaled when it comes to instant gratification and engagement from the audience. Customers love to see the details at crisp quality in every image, and product photography doesn’t do much justice to that.

Showcasing Different Variations & Colors: You can create multiple versions of one product which is perfect for e-commerce marketing today. Product photography requires you to take multiple shots of the same products in their different colors.

Visual Effects & Environments: Probably the most powerful marketing asset one could have is an advanced product movie. This is where CGI is truly king as you’re not bound by physics, locations, and a vast quantity of resources to create a beautiful video / commercial. Product movies made by CGI artists can include beautiful environments, VFX, props, and an overall art direction that showcases your product in the most flattering way.

*Scene showing the bezel of a watch hitting the ocean floor.

Why Marketers Use CGI

Marketers prefer hyper-real renders because it gets the job done faster, with more control, and often times at better ROIs. 3D product rendering allow you to customize your products thereby creating multiple variations on the fly, which is great for marketing. It’s simply easier to engage potential customers with 3D rendered stills or product movies.

Is 3D / CGI the Future of Product Imagery?

Yes. It’s arguable to say that there isn’t another befitting alternative. Until we get another innovation with better control, capabilities, and marketing impact, CGI remains evergreen.

Conclusion

It takes a lot of professionalism to market a product in today’s ever-growing e-commerce market. One of the ways to match the constant competition is to display products that are descriptive and eye-catching. There’s no better way to achieve such results than to implement 3D product rendering.