Furniture Rendering vs Photography: 3D Rendering Marketing

While computer generated 3D rendering can be spotted in the furniture catalogues more often than ever before, traditional photography retains a strong position as well.

Going with good old photography or taking advantage of cutting-edge 3D Rendering technology? It is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Both visualization methods can benefit your marketing a lot.

In this article, we will take a look at what both solutions have to offer and what you should consider before committing to one of them.

Do you have a prototype 3D rendering in place?

If you are in a furniture business; you probably know that prototypes do not come cheap. On average, the cost of the physical prototype is three to five times more than the price of the finished product.

Now; imagine creating the prototypes for different variations and models of the product! A lot of small businesses would have to break a bank to afford that.

Thankfully; the days when you had to splurge a fortune on physical prototypes are far gone.

Even furniture behemoths like IKEA are moving away from traditional photography in favour of more cost-effective 3D Rendering. By creating 3D visuals; IKEA saves tons of time and money without compromising on the quality of marketing materials.

But not all of the companies are switching from traditional photography. For example, if you plan to crawfound for your furniture startup on Kickstarter; they require you to have real photos of your working prototype to provide backer with realistic information about your project’s progress.

Kickstarter prohibits using photorealistic 3D Renders; so your supporters can see where the project stands and what remains to be done.

What is your timeline?

The furniture market is speeding up, and it doesn’t show signs of stopping. Marketers from furniture companies are constantly under the pressure to have new promotion materials on the rails.

In such a fast-paced environment going through a time-consuming photography workflow is not always an option.

Furniture rendering gives a much faster turnaround. Unlike with traditional photography, creating 3D visuals don’t have to be delayed by creating prototypes; changing designs; building sets; photoshoots and post-production.

What’s more; different models; features; colors and materials can also be incorporated into a render at no time.

Besides, what if your product exists only in blueprints. With 3D rendering, you can start marketing the ideas long before they live in brick and mortar. Photorealistic 3D renders can also put your product development and approval on a fast track.

Considering the hectic product pipeline in furniture businesses; it makes so much financial sense to render.

How Realistic Should You Go?

With fast evolving 3D rendering technology; spotting 3D renders among the actual photographs can be tricky.

If you’ve ever looked through some of IKEA’s catalogs; you would never have guessed that almost all of the images are not real sets. In fact, approximately 75% of visuals in IKEA catalogues are generated by talented 3D artists.

What about the other 25%? To give the render that signature “homy” IKEA look; their designers photoshop real photo elements into the renders.

They’ll do this for food and interior items; textile or even photographed backgrounds.

To make the environment even more “lived-in” furniture companies masterfully photoshop people into the picture. Adding the models into the render sets the atmosphere and tells the story through an image. Isn’t this an ultimate goal of every marketing campaign?

There are no doubts – top-notch marketing visuals can take you a long way when it comes to furniture business. Sticking to good old photos or going with a cutting-edge 3D Rendering technology? At the end of the day, the choice is yours.

What would you go with for your next marketing campaign: photos or computer-generated renders? Let us know in the comments down below!