How Can 3D Rendering Boost Your Furniture Business?
Take a quick look at this beautiful scenic shot. At first glance you might think it’s a picture shot by a professional photographer. Truth is, it’s a 3D rendering of a beautiful lakeside living room made using a computer software.
3D Rendering and Modeling
You may think you don’t know what 3D rendering is. Chances are, you’ve been encountering them everyday- during your morning commute, while browsing on your phone, or by going through magazines and catalogues. These are images that are computer-manipulated to mimic their real-life counterparts. Because of the advancements in this technology, you could be fooled into thinking a 3D rendered image is a photo captured on a camera. It provides an excellent opportunity for retail industries to innovate.
Why is 3D rendering the next big thing for businesses?
I’m a furniture store, not an animation studio- how will 3D rendering help me innovate?
During the early years of the 3D rendering process, it was only accessible to big companies and organizations. Only they had the resources to avail of 3D rendering services because there were only a few tools and few experts. It gave them an edge against their competitors because they were “innovators” in their field.
Today, big and small companies alike have started using 3D visualization for marketing and manufacturing purposes. The furniture business, in particular, has seen a wide adoption of 3D furniture renderings to help them cut down on costs and to step up their marketing strategies.
The Stages of the 3D Rendering Process
The 3D rendering process involves generating two-dimensional images from 3D models on a computer. The images are created based on data from the actual subject on the photo, such as color, texture, and material.
3D modeling is, in principle, identical to photography in the way it plays with (digital) lighting and positioning. Just like photography, you have to strategically stage your scenes and subjects to effectively catch the viewer’s eye.
The humble beginnings of 3D rendering can be traced back to Sketchpad. It was the first software in the 70’s that could create simple 3D objects like cubes and prisms. This paved the way for computer graphics to be used beyond film and architecture.
Today, many 3D rendering tools and software have emerged, making higher quality 3D renderings. A variety of different techniques for rendering 3D images have evolved, making for an intricate 3D visualization process.
Step 1: Making a Simple Polygon Model of the Furniture
The first step to the 3D rendering process is to create simple boxes and figures that add up to make the design. A cabinet, for example, is a rectangular polygon model with six boxes. The photo above shows several of this polygon model stacked side by side and on top of each other. This serves as the base for designing a cabinet with multiple cubicles. The artist determines the angles at which the furniture will be displayed. Depending on the target output, the artist can create a 360 view of the furniture for interactive purposes.
Step 2: Depicting a Real-Life Scene
Creating a suitable background to display the furniture can make the entire shot look as real and natural as possible while still letting the furniture standout. Placing the product in an appropriate real-life setting will help the buyer imagine how it will look in their own homes or offices. Being able to visualize their own space could encourage them to purchase.
Step 3: Deciding the Sources of Lighting
Lighting is an important element that can help set the mood and create the overall feel to the shot. The source of lighting you choose depends on the type of furniture and space in which it is placed. Including different sources of lighting will also help the 3D furniture model look more realistic naturally placed in a realistic setting.
Step 4: Adding Textures to the 3D Model
To help create realistic 3D furniture models, layers of textures are added to mimic the actual look and feel of a furniture. Even the imperfect folds and creases of a leather sofa are needed to complete the plush leather feel. The details on the surface adds to the realistic look. These additional details have to be finalized before moving on to the final stage of the 3D rendering process.
Step 5: Add Other Periphery and Running the Images Through Photoshop
The final step to creating a top-notch 3D model for furniture companies is the finishing touch. The 3D artist sends the final draft to a photoshop professional for color correction. The expert will also add more visual effects and photo retouches to top off the 3D rendering process.
Advantages of 3D Rendering Over Traditional Photography
Shopping online can have its drawbacks, such as not being able to touch the item in person. Even with the best photographs of your product catalogue, it just doesn’t offer the same level of shopping experience. 3D renders of your products can give the same immersive experience that comes with visiting a physical store.
3D furniture visualization has leveled up the experience of an online shopper. With a more interactive interface, customers are also able to enjoy shopping online. It has become a game changer for both the customers and the manufacturers.
Quality
The process of rendering allows the artist to create the best versions of a product that will catch the attention of the buyer. The products can be placed in beautiful backdrops to make the buyers imagine what it would be like to own it themselves. All the elements in the 3D rendered image can be manipulated to look its best. Using this technology, a company can present a perfect image of their products to entice the customers.
Resources
Using 3D models for furniture companies means spending less time and money on getting perfect images for their products. It takes longer to ship out the furniture and shoot different varieties of one model. They’re also more expensive, needing to produce each variety and sending them to the photo studio. Using 3D furniture models to create several versions of one product is more cost- and time-efficient.
Instead of sending the sample products to a studio, it can instead go to showrooms and physical stores. The product can translate into sales instead of using it as props for a lengthy studio shoot. 3D rendering requires a lower budget and less manpower to complete producing a full product catalogue than traditional photography.
Expertise
With 3D furniture visualization, some basic pieces of furniture can be enhanced and rendered creatively to look exceptional. Even the most sophisticated, irregular-shaped, unique pieces of furniture can be created with 3D render technology.
Although 3D modeling is not the answer to all the needs of photography, it provides the opportunity to create scenes in controlled environments. In such environments, it’s easier and cheaper to make adjustments. However, deciding between conventional photography and 3D modeling depends on the item you want to highlight and your ultimate objective
3D Rendering in the Furniture Industry
For hundreds of years of wood work, metal work, and other craftsmanship, creating new and unique furniture is now becoming an almost impossible task. There are only so many ideas that one can come up with in their career, mostly patterning it to the trend.
Furniture companies are wondering: what sets us apart? The moment you step into the market, you should know that competition is aggressive and innovative, so you have to think of ways to create an identity for your brand.
In comparison to other industries, 3D modeling for the furniture industry is relatively straightforward. Instead of producing furniture ahead, companies can save on cost by displaying 3D rendering of their products for customers to see the actual demand of an item. Compared to simply posting photographs of the actual furniture (which also cost money), 3D models give customers a closer look at what to expect with the actual product.
Feedback from the Market Before Mass Production
Through 3D furniture visualization, the business has full flexibility to play around with the elements of a furniture depending on the acceptance and patronage of the market. This marketing strategy has been used to gauge the interest of the consumers before businesses even start rolling out the new offering.
Conceptualizing a new design is one thing, but actually manufacturing it involves a lot of resources. Instead of creating several versions of one product because of changes you want to incorporate, you can use 3D furniture renderings to go back to previous versions, restore the layout, and make the edits without. This enables you to go back and make changes quickly or restore the layout to earlier versions while developing without having to redo those design features.
Instead of building a real-life prototype, 3D modeling enables research and innovation teams to construct mockups faster and at a lower cost. This lets businesses configure or enhance their products without wasting company resources. They won’t encounter problems with oversupply if they can gauge the demand before they start with production.
Lower Costs to Create Product Imagery
It can cost a lot of money to complete a product catalogue and use this for marketing purposes. This is particularly true if a company produces several different furniture styles, each requiring a photoshoot of its own. The shipping costs alone can be the central problem for the business because exporting furniture is not easy.
A business can create images of it from any perspective they like with 3D rendering. This enables them to build several images without the need to ship or waste furniture that would be better off going to a dealer to be sold.
Easy to Repurpose 3D Assets for Different Marketing Campaigns
The marketing team can use the same 3D model and place them on different backgrounds for different occasions. For instance, maybe a business is having a special promotion for Thanksgiving Day and wants to produce advertisements for it specifically. They can use 3D furniture models and place them on Thanksgiving-related background themes to fit the occasion. They can do this for virtually any theme they want their marketing campaign to revolve around.
Higher eCommerce Conversion Rates
3D rendered product images on online shops have proven to increase conversion rates for the business. This is because the prospective client needs to see what they will be getting if they purchase from your business. It’s essentially a virtual interpretation of the whole philosophy of “you touch it; you buy it” at work here. The more familiar an individual is with a product, the more probable they are to purchase it.
Verdict:
3D rendering has helped many businesses flourish, including the furniture industry. This innovation has seen a more efficient marketing and manufacturing strategy for the benefit of both the seller and the consumer. Upgrade your business today with one of the best rendering services made affordable.
Picsera was founded in 2014 by David Sinai, a serious ameteur photographer who spent the first 20 years of his career working in the financial technology space. With a track record of building innovative solutions and working with offshore partners, David started Picsera to help photographers work more efficiently by enabling them to outsource their image editing. With very affordable rates and incredibly fast turnaround times, photographers from a variety of industries (eCommerce, real estate, weddings and portrait studios) enjoy larger, more successful businesses while still maintaining more time for their families, friends, and hobbies. Today, David and his team at Picsera assist all kinds of content creators with 3D modeling and rendering and video editing. When David is not working you’ll find him spending time with his family, mountain biking, or capturing landscapes throughout South Florida with either his pro cameras or drone.