3D product images and 3D product photography

03/26/2025

Antonia Straub

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3D product images are a more flexible alternative to conventional photos. Find out here about the advantages of 3D product photos.

What are 3D product images?

3D product images are digital representations of products that are created using 3D rendering techniques. Put simply, they are high-resolution screenshots of a 3D object or entire virtual rooms. As graphics in standard file formats such as JPG for the Internet or TIF for print products, you can easily use them for a wide variety of purposes. 3D product photos are a way of depicting products three-dimensionally and purely digitally on the basis of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).

Computer Generated Imagery

CGI refers to the computer-aided creation of images, animations and visual effects. This technology is used to create photorealistic or stylized representations of objects, environments and characters. CGI is used in films, video games, architectural visualizations and product presentations.

With CGI, the three-dimensional form of an object - such as a product - is first created, which is then given textures, e.g. the structure and colors of wood, fabric or stone. However, it is also possible to combine numerous photos of a physically existing object to create a 3D model. Sophisticated use of light and shadow makes the finished 3D object almost indistinguishable from a physical object in the best case scenario.

3D models can be placed in ever-changing environments - for example, a lamp in a living room or study and a motorcycle in a mountain landscape with serpentines or on a straight road in a wide landscape. The light and shadow of the 3D object and its surroundings are precisely coordinated so that the model blends naturally into its environment.

For 3D product images, you now select the most interesting perspectives of the model - with or without the surroundings - and have the 3D program convert them into graphics files. This process of “converting” the 3D information into a two-dimensional image is called “rendering”; accordingly, you will often come across the term “3D renderings” for 3D images.

Which industries use 3D product images?

3D product images are widely used in e-commerce, advertising and marketing as well as in product development. However, two-dimensional photos can also be useful for documenting developments in 3D in medicine and tool or vehicle development.

When is the use of 3D product photos particularly practical?

It can make sense to create 3D product photos for a variety of reasons:

Virtual staging using realistic 3D renderings — 3D rendering of an air fryer

Is your company already working with augmented or virtual reality anyway? Then 3D product photos are a good idea in places where an interactive 3D viewer cannot be used directly, for example on social media or print materials.

Does your company sell products with many variations in color, style, material or texture? The technology behind 3D product images can save you a lot of work in “photographing” all the variants. The textures and colors can be adjusted and reused with just a few clicks.
Your new product is not yet fully developed, but is already to be advertised? 3D product images present your prototype in an appealing way even before the product is finished. Small details that are still changing can be adjusted more quickly in CGI product photos than with a photo session.

What are typical applications for 3D product images?

3D product images are versatile. They are therefore a valuable tool for companies in various industries to present their products without 3D glasses or viewers and improve the customer experience.

3D product images are used in these cases:

Social media posts
Category and overview pages of an online shop
Presentation of different settings for a product (e.g. industrial halls or specific locations for machines)

Use of the 3D product images on websites or print materials — Use of the 3D product images

Print materials such as posters, flyers, brochures and much more for marketing campaigns as well as product and other catalogs, real estate exposés and technical documentation
In addition to an interactive 3D viewer on product pages

These are the advantages of 3D product photography

3D product images are an attractive option for many companies to showcase their products. This is because 3D product photography is often easier and cheaper to realize than conventional photography.

From a technological point of view, 3D product images offer the following advantages:

Scalability: a single 3D model is enough to create 3D product photos from an infinite number of perspectives and in just as many variants - there is no need for physical products and product variants that have to be photographed from different angles.
Adaptability: Small changes to the model can be easily made without having to take new photo shoots.
Variety of environments: Products can be presented in different virtual environments - without expensive photo locations.
Consistency: 3D visualizations offer greater consistency in the presentation and thus for the brand image: they are created independently of real lighting conditions or the style of different photographers.

3D product photography can also be advantageous for the company for these reasons:

Speed: New product launches are implemented more quickly as no elaborate photo shoots are required in advance.

Presentation of products in various environments quickly, easily and realistically. — Versatile staging options for various products

Visualization before production: Products can even be presented before they physically exist. This is advantageous for prototypes and product development because potential investors can already experience the unfinished product in a more realistic and tangible way, which makes an investment more attractive.
Creative freedom: Designers have the opportunity to use unusual perspectives, environments and effects that would be difficult to realize in real photography.

Last but not least, product images in 3D also help to save money:

Time savings: 3D product images are created faster than would be possible through traditional photo shoots. This is especially true for product variations. Your team can also devote itself to new creative challenges more quickly.
Cost savings: Although the initial investment may be higher, 3D product images are more cost-efficient in the long term, as the underlying 3D models can be reused and their representations easily adapted.

Create 3D product images yourself? Easier than you think!

Until now, creating good 3D product images required 3D modeling software on a computer with sufficient computing power. Instead, rooomProducts and rooomSpaces are two powerful applications available on the Internet that allow you to achieve several goals in just four steps:

Create your own 3D product images in four simple steps. — Successfully create your own 3D product images

rooomProducts can be used to create 3D models of objects that can be rotated and flipped 360 degrees. There is deliberately no background here because the focus is on the product.
With rooomSpaces, the previously created models are staged in a virtual environment - for example in a scene that illustrates the application or in a showroom.
360-degree models and walks through a virtual room can be rendered so that they can be displayed in the 3D viewer. The 3D viewer is then embedded on your company website, but also in many 3D online stores. This allows your customers to view products from any perspective or stroll through a showroom and look at different products. The AR function of the viewer also allows your customers to “test” furniture, lamps or decorative elements at home to find out whether they really match the interior.
Both applications have a feature that allows 3D product images to be rendered from 3D models or HD images from 3D spaces. These can then be used for social media or numerous print materials.

Incidentally, rooom works web-based on the Internet. On the one hand, this means that there is no need to purchase an expensive high-performance computer and software. Online rendering with rooom only takes a few moments. On the other hand, the applications can be operated from anywhere - so no one in your team is tied to a fixed location to do their job.

Conclusion: 3D product images are versatile and cost-effective

For companies that already take advantage of three-dimensional product presentations or virtual showrooms, product images in 3D are a welcome addition for media in which the 3D viewer cannot be used. And for companies that offer products in numerous variants, CGI technology helps to save time and costs for the appropriate presentation of all variants.

Us 3D product images for a diverse presentation. — Present the diversity of a product

Where thematically appropriate, 3D product images can therefore be a real alternative to lengthy and expensive photo shoots. And customers are delighted with coherent and meaningful visual product information, which increases sales.

3D product images are an option for your company?

Discover the countless possibilities that 3D models and product images in 3D offer your company. More freedom of presentation for less money than with physical photo shoots - who would want to miss out on that?

Get in touch now

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