3D Packshots - Easily Scalable Product and Packaging Visualization

Packshots are a standard in marketing and advertising.
Online, they are indispensable content formats in online shops and on product pages.

The advantage: The buyer gets the essentials at a glance. Nothing distracts.

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However, packshots can be more broadly defined: Not only the static image of the product, but also a 360-degree view in a neutral environment allows individual products to be displayed even better with a packshot. 

This is possible with both classic photographic methods and 3D models, which can create photorealistic 3D views or animations.

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Packshot Photography or 3D Packshots?

Both examples of packshots shown were created using 3D models.

The left, two-dimensional and static packshot is very easy to create with both a camera and based on a 3D model.

The right, three-dimensional and dynamic packshot is very easy to create with high quality based on a 3D model. With photography, it becomes more complicated; typically, a professional studio setup or a specially constructed system with many individual cameras is necessary. 

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Packshots using photographic images:

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In short: If you only need a packshot for one or a few products and plan hardly any further visual content in the future, classic photography is a good choice.

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2D images with photography: 

Static, two-dimensional images of products: Ever since there have been product images, this has been the most common and normal way to create packshots. Although the market is changing and alternative methods offer more possibilities.

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3D views with photography:

To achieve 3D views using photographic methods, many photos of the product are simply taken, usually placed on a turntable, and then cut together into a GIF or video format.

Meanwhile, there are special devices or 360-degree photo booths that enable these views for packshots. A 3D scan procedure is used for this.

The product can thus be moved around an axis, usually horizontally, or is automatically moved, so that you get an almost complete picture of the product.

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Packshots using 3D models:

In short: If you need more than just one packshot format as visual content for your products and plan new product images and other content formats repeatedly, 3D models offer more flexibility and cost savings as a basis.

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2D images from 3D models:

Indeed, this is now a very common use of 3D models: product images like packshots that are displayed statically and two-dimensionally. 

A product is virtually modeled with software and looks as real on the computer as it does in reality. Now, it can be rendered at any time, flexibly in various environments and perspectives, even for a simple packshot, as an image.

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3D views from 3D models:

This method is probably more expected, as it is already in the name: 3D packshots based on 3D models are much simpler than through the combination of cameras or individual images.

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Stand Out from the Competition with 3D Packshots

3D packshots based on 3D models are the future and are being used more and more frequently today.

Those who want to gain an advantage in the competition for attention have the opportunity to create new content for their product marketing much more flexibly and cost-effectively with their products as 3D models.

Above all, with a 3D model, your product is already prepared for the virtual world and appealing formats: animations, AR, VR, and videos are just a few clicks away, without the need for photographers, shootings, and logistics. And with a quality that makes it impossible to distinguish between real photographed and virtually created content.

A major advantage is also that a product only needs to be created once as a "digital twin" to easily, cost-effectively, and quickly create all desired content formats from it.

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The advantages of 3D packshots for product marketing:

• Quality: Deep zooming without loss of detail or sharpness is easily possible

• User Experience: Interactive product animations for a contemporary user experience

• Scalability: Reusability of the 3D model permanently saves costs

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Creating Packshots Yourself? What to Pay Close Attention To

Packshots can be created relatively easily yourself with a few tips and tricks. But the art often lies in promoting a whole range of products or even large portfolios with the same quality and high frequency with product images, such as packshots.

For packshots, as with product images in general, a few things should be considered:

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• Correct Size Representation 

Perspective and staging can change the impression of product size. A toy car in 1:87 scale should not look like it's in 1:18 scale. Disappointed buyers lead to increased returns. Therefore, correct size representation is important for packshots.

• Color Authenticity‍

Depending on the lighting and adjacent coloring, the colors in packshots, i.e., on the product or packaging, can also change slightly. Even if they are just nuances, this can cause irritation for the customer if color authenticity has not been observed.

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• Light and Shadow‍

It sounds trivial, but the ideal use of light and shadow is – especially if only one packshot image is supposed to represent a whole product at a glance – essential and anything but trivial. An additional level of difficulty arises when different products across a portfolio should be presented in the same look and feel.

• Image Editing

Less is more: Products in a packshot should look realistic. If a lot of optimization is needed on various products afterwards, perhaps it wasn't just the photo shoot that was suboptimal. There is also a danger that the look and feel of packshots for different products will come across very differently. And in the worst case, unrealistic product images are created.

• Consistency in the Portfolio‍

As briefly mentioned above, consistency across an entire product portfolio or an entire website, including landing pages and product pages, is important for the user experience and the brand image.

• Optimal Resolution‍

This is also too often ignored or overlooked: Especially online, low-size and yet sharp-resolution packshot images are enormously important. Online shops must be able to load many images simultaneously smoothly. Ideal file formats are Jpeg and WebP for static packshots. 

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What Exactly is Packshot Photography?

Packshot photography is a part of advertising photography that focuses on creating high-quality images of products. 

The goal: to present the product visually appealingly and accurately and to highlight its features, details, and qualities. Often, the same perspectives and settings are used across a shop or website. This simplifies comparability and user perception.

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Packshots the RenderThat Way

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Unique and Scalable Packshots 

Unique products like complex machinery are no problem for us as 3D specialists.

In addition, our workflows also provide the basis for easily creating numerous additional perspectives or entire formats from just one digital 3D model, practically at the push of a button. Particularly practical: If different products are similar, packshot creation for these products is also very simple and more cost-effective.

And the quality, settings, and environments can be easily unified on the computer, eliminating a lot of manual effort and costs.

daniel erning