Raise your hand if you’ve captured screenshots of your 3D models in SOLIDWORKS, CATIA or other design tools. 🙋♂️
I’ll go first. Screenshots are incredibly useful for swiftly conveying design and product concepts.
However, once you’ve amassed dozens, if not hundreds, of screenshots, what happens when there are design tweaks upstream? How do we ensure consistency across all the newly captured images—maintaining the same angles, zoom levels, lighting, materials, component visibilities, backgrounds, and so forth? It’s a real challenge.
Trying to replicate two screenshots that are 100% identical except for design tweaks the next day is nearly impossible, let alone weeks or months later.
Apart from the above effort, what about the end result? Will the products be professionally presented?
At the end of the day, those screenshots are just raw CAD screen captures, far removed from the realistic appearance expected in the actual world. The question then becomes: How do we elevate these images to be more lifelike, vibrant, and engaging? How can they become interactive, akin to the captivating jigsaw power tool images below?
It’s crucial that our diligently crafted products aren’t undermined by lackluster images in external content or internal communication—be it for sales, marketing, services, and beyond.
Sleek presentations, aren’t they? Don’t we all want results like these?
But how?
I’m sure some questions are popping up, such as:
“It looks like a high-quality photo studio project. But can I get the same results on my own?”
“Would I be able to reuse existing 3D models easily for renderings and 3D presentations?”
“How much time do I need to invest to learn and deploy?”
“What kind of high-end hardware do I need?”
“Would a glTF™ 3D model be too slow to load on my webpages?”
“Would my audience be able to access my creations very easily, even if they are not on the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform yet?”
These are all natural questions. Rather than comforting words, let me show you: enjoy this “Do It Yourself (DIY)” video series that walks you through these easy, yet powerful steps, that are all possible with an in-browser app called Product Communicator.
With it, you can:
- Repurpose 3D models
- Create stunning renderings
- Build 3D presentations
- Update content automatically per design changes
- Publish 3D web content
To recap:
- The photorealistic images will grab the audience’s attention and emotions more aggressively than CAD screenshots.
- Your 3D presentations convey key product features and values in an interactive and context-sensitive fashion, so your pitches hit a home run.
- Even better, there is no more waiting for slow local computer rendering, thanks to infinite cloud computing power.
- The tool feels so easy to learn and use so that you can deliver outstanding results in minutes, rather than days or weeks.
Don’t stop at watching video tutorials or visiting webpages – please try it out for yourself. One user, Ridvan Polat, took a donut from an idea, to rendering, to Augmented Reality (AR), to 3D-printing, all the way to the oven (login with your 3DEXPERIENCE passport, or simply create a login to view the post).
Have fun and remember to share your stellar visuals!
Don’t miss my break-out session at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024. I look forward to diving deeper into Product Communicator’s features and functions with you there.
Oboe Wu is a user advocacy manager with 20 years of experience in engineering, marketing and software. He advocates for 3D communication to accelerate human cognition and enhance the experiences.