What happens if you have a scheduled product launch and you can’t get product photography? Well, that’s easy. CGI. The why and the how are a little bit more involved.
The pandemic has surely put a bit of a kink in the flow of products to market. Without the normal access to prototypes, production products, and photographers product photography presents a challenge. Here is where CGI can step in.
Using engineering CAD as a base, we can create photo realistic renderings of your products without needing access to actual products. Not only can this give you product images far before production samples are available, but it can me more cost effective as well. In particular, when it comes to products available in various colors or finishes. You don’t need to have physical samples of each variant when you can just render them. That alone is a cost and time savings.
Along with being able to provide images of non-existent products, CGI gives you a few more added benefits. One simple feature is what is called an alpha channel. If you photograph, say a wrench in a white void, and want to put that photograph of a wrench on a blue field of color in your layout, someone has to mask-out the wrench. That takes time and therefore money. With CGI, that mask is rendered automatically as part of the images, as an alpha channel. No extra work is needed. It might seem small, but it is incredibly useful.
Another advantage rendering brings is less effort needed in retouching. I have heard many a horror story about trying to photograph chrome, stainless steel, and other high-gloss surfaces. Finger prints are not your friend. I can’t think of many tasks more tedious than PhotoShopping out finger prints.
So next time you have a need for product imagery, remember CGI can be easier, less expensive, and sometimes, the only way you can make your deadlines.
