When today’s purchasing managers are considering investing in an expensive new piece of equipment, brands can’t simply show them a static image of a product and expect them to convert.
Instead, brands need an easy, visual way to demonstrate their product’s value, showing decision-makers why a product is excellent instead of simply telling them.
In many cases, brands turn to video to accomplish this. But an emerging field, real-time 3D marketing, allows brands to show off their products in a more interactive way.
Interactive Marketing in HDRi Environments
Timi from Unity demonstrates how real-time 3D marketing can work. Using a premium HDRi Map from CGI.Backgrounds and real-time rendering technologies like WebGL, Unity’s demonstration tells the story of a fictional heavy equipment product line.
As a content partner with Unity on previous projects for their Forma product releases, Unity called on CGI.Backgrounds to provide a photo-realistic HDRi environment to showcase the TIMI Skid-Loader.
The 360 construction scene anchored the product, with the HDRi Map from the same Capture-Source providing the realistic model surface-texture lighting and reflections.
Adding select 3D elements like concrete barriers and light poles adds depth of field and believable movement in the scene. Creating a “Virtual Photo-Shoot” experience for the Unity Creative team to feature their new configuration product.
On the Timi site, users can customize a piece of construction equipment in real-time. As they select new options for their Timi vehicle, a real-time configurator updates the 3D model of the vehicle, adding and removing accessories and parts.
Users can then interactively pan around their customized Timi vehicle, inspecting it from all angles within a realistic environment captured from a real-world place.
The Future of Interactive Marketing
Timi may be fictional, but the concepts behind 3D marketing are very real. Using the same technology, a vehicle buyer could customize their future car, seeing the model of their vehicle update as they make changes. It would be a bit like a car catalog coming to life.
In the architectural space, the same technology could be applied to new homes. A home builder could let buyers customize the exterior of a home before it was built, instantly visualizing how different paint colors or custom options might look.
In nearly any space where brands are selling high-value items, real-time 3D marketing can help drive conversions and also upsell customers on customizations and accessories. Some teams may undertake these tasks in house, while others turn to a 3d marketing company or other business.
Want to Try?
Are you planning a real-time 3D marketing campaign for your own brand? Check out CGI.Backgrounds’ flexible, subscription-based plans for our premium HDRi Maps and Backplates.
All of our plans allow access to the professionally-produced HDRi Maps and Backplates needed to build accurately lit, high-quality virtual environments for 3D marketing.
As Unity’s Timi shows, the results of combining our HDRi Maps with product models and real-time configurators can be both compelling and potentially lucrative for brands.
