BIM News

As more industries shift to online business, furniture manufacturers are amongst the top tiers who are challenged at every step from furniture design to sales. Online marketplaces require new tactics to attract potential customers such as understanding quality and feel of product in addition to how it fits in their project place if utility. It is only the digital furniture rendering tools & AR which can boost sales and enhance customer experience.

Furniture manufacturers and retailers both explore alternatives to convert their CAD models to photorealistic images using 3D furniture rendering software and tools. Such 3D architectural rendering tools when clubbed with AR tools have proved their worth assisting customers in making an informed decision while making purchases and have that excellent buying experience. 

 

It’d be a brilliant idea for customers to visualize their entire house or office and drop the selected pieces of furniture, including shelves, racks, cabinets etc. and select the most appropriate form and fit with the augmented reality wearables and tools. Once selected and ordered, manufacturers can roll the manufacturing orders what is popularly known as ‘made-to-order’ or bespoke furniture products. 

But to begin with, manufactures or retailers need rendered models for a variety of design to show to their customers and let them order one. One of the reasons to adopt such methods of ‘made-to-order’ by selecting from rendered models is because commercial furnishing or shop fitting furniture items are expensive to manufacture. To avoid losses of items not being sold, manufacturers have resorted to ordering first option. 

And as a result, they need excellent renderings in 3D to let the designs communicate for them - the only mode of effective communication in the era of online marketplaces. Even the customers go to multiple retailers and manufacturers before placing the orders to strike the right cords at the first impact, it is necessary the furniture designs and rendering are flawless. 

It is beyond a doubt that a high-quality 3D rendering intensifies the design intent and explains it better than a grayscale model, but the extent of value addition is of importance here. Adding rendering to CAD models can effectively replace photography of actual physical model and ambiance – a costly business. Secondly, developing rendered 3D model with a 360° turnaround view of the product allows the customer or viewer from all sides and takes informed decisions. 

All the aforementioned benefits pertain to the end customer or the commercial furniture retailer. But extending the views to a broader horizon that is to say if the customer is an internal member of the furniture design development team – say an architect or a product design engineer all these benefits would still stay intact. 

It essentially revolutionizes the design coordination process and creates a well-coordinated environment for design amendments, exploration, and finalization. Also, it is important to weigh all options to make a product a greater success in markets which is very effective with architectural 3D rendering tools and techniques. With a perfectly scaled model of individual design feature, independently. While on the other hand, AR tools give you a quick way to realize the same furniture piece in your office premises with lighting, shading, etc. effects and from every aspect of viewing it.  

What happens is when your designer starts to code the CAD model he also starts encoding the geometrical attributes of the furniture piece and during rendering it takes even little details like dents and bends into account. Once the rendered model is set, it means that the path for downstream processes has been paved. Such kind of clubbing of AR tools with digital rendering tools like Autodesk 3ds Max and V-Ray are extremely powerful and have been embraced by leading furniture retailers and manufacturers. 

As we stand as the evolution of online marketplace, let’s not just witness the big changes; be the leading manufacturer and make the most of your furniture designs and hit the markets right.