Anyone used computer rendered product images?

[crphillips]

I'm launching a new website and require product images but really don't want to go through the hassle of physically photographing everything.

I believe 3D Computer Generated Images (CGI) is becoming quite the norm for this kind of thing. I actually feel they can look better than the real thing if done well.

I'd like to know if anyone has used it and roughly what kind of money are we looking at....very roughly. I imagine it's probably going to be fairly skilled and time consuming and probably out of my league.

If anyone could post a photo and what it cost them it would be a big help to see whether I'd be wasting anyone's time.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Where do you think the images that get manipulated will come from?

 

[faradaykeynes]

How many products are you looking to list? There are companies who provide data feed, including images, specs details, EAN code details etc etc

 

[crphillips]

vanman:- As i understand it they're not images that are manipulated. They're completely fabricated from scratch. That's the whole point of it. You can create product manuals, brochures and websites before the product is even made.

Faradaykenes:- I'm looking at listing around 15 products initially with probably a total of around 30 images but to be honest a lot of the images will probably be very similar to each other so will only take a bit of tweaking once we have the main images created.

 

[HFServices]

You could look at Blender (free) for making the 3D model of the product and also the texturing and rendering. Check the gallery

Also there is messiahStudio (paid). Check the gallery

I use both and can guarantee that photographing your products is the quickest and easiest (and cheapest) option.

 

[Esk247]

Still cheaper to photograph them. 15 - 30 products is nothing, we have over 200 in our catalogue and have photographed them all over a few days from multiple angles.

I don't think a rendered image is going to be much use unless you're talking mechanical components where people might expect them to include technical drawings.

For every day product items though, photography is best.

 

[owas]

Nothing in this image is real, at a cost it can be done,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444508504577595414031195148.html

 

[mariacntg]

I have no idea what the prices are but I think rendered images are much more expensive, the only advantage I see (if they are done as vector) is that they can be re-sized without interfering with the quality of the image.

 

[Tweasel]

Depends on the products... What would you be photographing/want re-creating as a 3D model?

 

[sysops]

I'm launching a new website and require product images but really don't want to go through the hassle of physically photographing everything.

I believe 3D Computer Generated Images (CGI) is becoming quite the norm for this kind of thing. I actually feel they can look better than the real thing if done well.

I'd like to know if anyone has used it and roughly what kind of money are we looking at....very roughly. I imagine it's probably going to be fairly skilled and time consuming and probably out of my league.

If anyone could post a photo and what it cost them it would be a big help to see whether I'd be wasting anyone's time.

Are you suggesting that creating photo-realistic 3D renders of your products would be 'less hassle' than photographing them?

 

[Lunazzurra]

Please be careful about 'mis-representing' the item you're going to be selling. If you are going to down this route then you must say that it is an impression or a simile of the real thing otherwise you might unwittingly end up with Trading Standards on your back.

I know it's hassle taking lots of photo's for a website, we tend to get permission no problem at all from our suppliers to use their own product images - some will even send you a CD or a digital file for that very purpose and of course it costs nothing - just make sure you ask first.

 

[JamieM]

Rendering images worked well for us as our product had 200 colour variations.

This is an example:

I think it's maybe only worth doing if you have multiple variations of the exact same product. If this is the kind of thing you need ask www.fullphatdesign.co.uk for a quote.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

Please be careful about 'mis-representing' the item you're going to be selling. If you are going to down this route then you must say that it is an impression or a simile of the real thing otherwise you might unwittingly end up with Trading Standards on your back.

I echo this. Trading Standards and the law are against not being 100% truthful. Spend a lot of money on CGI and then get reported is not a good scenario.

 

[smo]

I have no idea what the prices are but I think rendered images are much more expensive, the only advantage I see (if they are done as vector) is that they can be re-sized without interfering with the quality of the image.

You cant output a render as a vector, the outputs are always image files (either still (JPG/TIFF) or moving (AVI/MJPEG) etc.

To get a realistic render output you need a 3D model input + textures + lighting, to get these you need engineering technical drawings, time and a lot of experience to build the scene to look real.

To pick on Slappie who posted above, the renders are ok but not photo realistic, they show the product but they dont really fizz as the textures and lighting are rather simplistic and dull but it all depends what you want to achieve.