3D Product Modeling to Revolutionize Global Home Furnishing Brand
Leading Swedish Furniture Retailer
Chosen by a Swedish design agency, DPL helmed a 3D modeling project for a global home furnishing brand. Not only did the team help the company build a 3D bank for its images, but we ensured photorealistic assets that can be used in any setting.
The Client
Established in the early 1940s, the client is a renowned global brand in the home furnishings retail industry. It takes pride in offering the best prices without compromising on quality.
While flatpack furniture was in no way a new trend, it became associated with the brand. In fact, this furniture retailer has been known for self-assembly products for over 50 years today.
In addition to price and quality, the brand prioritizes function, form, and sustainability. By ensuring these aspects in its products, it has introduced a unique design concept that others fail to replicate.
The Problem
For decades, the client relied on photography for its catalog, a publication which the BBC claims to be the largest in the world.
However, clicking different pictures of its 10,000+ products posed a challenge. Especially considering the brand’s global reach and need to customize marketing materials to different demographics.
Not only would this cost the brand more time and money, but also such efforts went against the brand’s sustainability efforts.
Therefore, the furniture retailer needed a way to guarantee stunning imagery without shipping its products or spending too many resources on photoshoots.
The Solution
Not new to innovative solutions, the client realized its need for photorealistic 3D rendering. While this was picking speed in the gaming industry, the trend was still new elsewhere. Therefore, the brand could not find the quality it needed.
Moreover, the brand wanted to ensure a high level of precision, close to 0.5mm. Therefore, it needed a partner that could create imagery no one could differentiate from a regular photograph.
While DPL did not have previous experience in 3D rendering, the client’s design agency had a lot of faith in our capabilities. Therefore, we were given a sample to experiment with. The high quality of work we delivered from the first attempt won us the contract.
Within two weeks, we hired a team to hit our weekly quota. Thanks to our Agile model, we were able to open a new office and have an operational team within three days. As the team mastered the work, we were able to deliver 2,000 assets per month easily.
Using Autodesk 3ds Max and other 3D design tools, the team created realistic images matching given blueprints and required texture. Keeping the brand’s precision requirements in mind, attention to detail was a priority as even a single screw out of place would render the design useless.
The Impact
The 3D rendered images we provided helped ensure:
- Faster creation of marketing materials to prevent missing out on opportunities
- Saving the time spent on photoshoots as well as streamlining the process to prevent organizational issues such as delayed shipments or poor quality
- Eliminating costs such as product shipping and manufacturing prototypes of each color option and variation
- Ensuring design changes on the fly without resorting to costly reshoots
This project was also an opportunity to explore our own potential. Establishing an office and a fully functional team in such a short time was a challenge we thoroughly enjoyed.
