3D product rendering | how it works and business benefits | Omi.so

Picture this scenario: Your team is preparing for a seasonal campaign while scrambling to create content for a new product launch. You’re also trying to stay on top of socials for daily new content — all while updating your product catalogs for Shopify and Amazon.

Sound familiar? The pressure to consistently create product visuals at scale while adhering to brand guidelines can feel like a race with no finish line.

But there’s a solution that can ease pressure on your team while enabling you to stay on top of product visual creation for all your channels: 3D product rendering. It’s the process of transforming a 3D model into an asset like an image, video, or 3D viewer. And when you use the right tool, it allows anyone on your team to create an unlimited number of visual assets — without having to step foot in a photography studio.

This article delves into the details of 3D rendering to explore what it is, how the right platform can help you create product visuals for all your channels at scale, and what you need to consider when implementing it.

What is 3D product rendering?

Before we get into the benefits, let’s define what we mean by 3D product rendering. As we mentioned above, 3D product rendering refers to the process of transforming a 3D model into an end-user asset, like a product photograph or an interactive 3D viewer. Traditionally, this process was handled by highly specialized professionals, like 3D artists.

So when we talk about rendering in terms of 3D modeling, rendering is the process that produces the final output (the product render), whereas 3D modeling is the process that creates the input (the 3D model). 

3D product rendering is a key part of the 3D product visualization process, which can be broken down into three broad stages: 



1. A 3D artist models your product by capturing every detail, surface, and material property in photorealistic 3D (this is often referred to as a ‘Digital Twin’)
   
   

2. You design assets in a Virtual Photo Studio where you can drag and drop your Digital Twin into scenes, adjust lighting, and add accessories
   
   

3. You export renders, a process which transforms your scene into final assets — whether that's images, videos, or interactive 3D viewers

Below is a brief glossary of important definitions related to 3D product rendering. 

3D model
A digital representation of a three-dimensional object that exists in virtual space. Think of it as a virtual sculpture enhanced with properties like textures, materials, colors, and surface characteristics.

3D modeling
The process of creating a 3D model of a physical product that can then be used to generate a variety of different outputs; from 2D images to 360-spin videos and interactive 3D viewers.

3D product rendering
The computational process of converting 3D digital models into photorealistic assets (such as 2D images or videos) by incorporating physical properties such as light, materials, textures, and geometry.

3D product visualization
A way for businesses to showcase their products using 3D models and other technologies.

Product render
The technical term for the final output of something (like an exported photo, video, or 3D viewer) that required graphic processing to create.

What you can do with the right 3D product rendering tool: key operational benefits

3D product rendering isn’t just a means for creating photorealistic images that increase customer engagement; it’s a new way for brands to communicate visually, and it has serious implications for how your organization operates. 

Photorealistic rendering gives you the power to create a vast library of visual assets and promotional materials that are perfectly aligned with your brand guidelines — without the limits of traditional photography. This means you can put together a seasonal campaign or produce packshots for a new product line without having to organize a shoot or source photographers and equipment. 

Note that the type of tool you use will impact how much value 3D product visualization brings to your business. While traditional 3D rendering software can be complex and resource-intensive (more on this later), a user-friendly tool like Omi enables anyone on your team to create engaging product images and videos.  Here’s some more information about how 3D product visualization simplifies the eCommerce product photography process.

Create more product content without more resources — including videos

Customers expect a multi-channel shopping experience. Because of this, you constantly need new content for various channels, from Instagram and Facebook to Amazon and your online store.

But one of the biggest challenges for marketing teams is being able to meet this demand and constantly create fresh, engaging product visuals. An intuitive 3D product rendering solution like Omi helps you tackle this challenge head on by enabling you to scale both image and video production.

With just one 3D model and access to our Virtual Studio, you can render a limitless number of images and studio-quality videos for your product, and showcase different camera settings and angles, lighting, and backgrounds — all without stepping foot into a photography studio or having to deal with time-consuming post-production. Create everything from 360° product photographs (like spinning products) to new white background product shots to creative imagery to lifestyle videos in minutes instead of days or even weeks.

High-end product videos, no film crew required. Create cinematic content like this right in Omi's Virtual Studio.

And you don't have to rely on having dedicated team members, like photographers, videographers, or editors, to create realistic content that engages your customers. With Omi, anyone on your team can produce professional images and videos with 3D product visualization so you can always meet the production volume demands of any season, channel, or campaign.

Ensure adherence to brand guidelines

Creating visuals that align with your brand identity becomes more and more challenging as you launch products, expand into new markets, and show up on new channels. 

With 3D product visualization, though, you can ensure that every asset perfectly fits your brand guidelines, no matter where it's used or who creates it.

That’s because when you create 3D product renders in a virtual studio like Omi’s, you can pre-approve color schemes, backgrounds, and templates to ensure consistency across all your visuals. Just note that while all of this is possible with Omi, other 3D rendering tools have distinct capabilities and limitations. 

Omi also helps you:

• Establish unique identities for different channels and create distinct visual styles for different product lines
  
  

• Reduce errors and inconsistencies by providing your teams and external partners with a library of pre-approved templates and settings

“Today, I generate my 3D packshots in 5 minutes and create all the content we need! We created a template with size scales for the product and set the lighting, so I just have to place the product I want in my scene, and I generate my visual. We no longer need to constantly solicit our Art Director on creative subjects without high added value; it has changed his life!”
— Noé Feretti, eCommerce and Omnichannel Manager at Panier des Sens

How to successfully implement 3D product rendering

You’ve seen how 3D product visualization can help you scale content production and adhere to brand guidelines across channels and markets. But these benefits depend on the type of tool you use.     

Traditional 3D rendering tools demand significant expertise, time, and resources. To create high-quality renders, you need to master complex software for modeling, texturing, lighting, and more. For example, lighting is a key aspect of 3D product visualization, and 3D artists must manually adjust complex highlight, shadow, and color settings to achieve a realistic appearance. Even minor errors can make the final product look artificial.

This complexity can become a major bottleneck for teams without in-house specialists. Add the cost of software licenses and hardware, and the barrier to entry can feel overwhelming.

Omi, on the other hand, does all the heavy lifting for you. The 3D rendering process is simple and scalable with Omi’s easy-to-use Virtual Photo Studio:

1. Send us your products: Omi creates a precise 3D model or "Digital Twin" of each product using our skilled 3D artists and proprietary AI.
   
   

2. Design assets in our Virtual Studio: here, anyone on your team can access your 3D model to stage virtual photoshoots, create engaging videos, and produce interactive 3D viewers.
   
   

3. Generate the product renders for your website and marketing channels: once your visual is ready, you can create a render and export it for whichever channel it’s intended for in a matter of minutes. 

What’s more, with Omi, you pay per 3D model, not per render — meaning you can create an unlimited number of product visuals at no extra cost to you.

Watch us turn a real flower into a Virtual Studio accessory, which you can use right now in your Omi scenes:

Our 3D artists capture every texture and surface detail to create a photorealistic Digital Twin of every product and accessory.