FAQ

3D Source is a product visualization software and solution provider. Our founders have decades of experience in 3D software in every discipline including architecture, film, animation and product design. Our mission is to provide next generation 3D visualization solutions for a wide range of industries. With our applications, our customers deploy gamechanigng customer experiences that drive top line growth, faster conversions, increased buyer confidence and lower returns. Our solutions are photorealistic and built on the latest game engine and cloud computing technologies. As a result, our solutions go far beyond the usual “View in 3D” experiences that are merely cartoonish online representations of products and materials.

By leveraging Metabox, our cloud based 3D digital asset management platform, our clients can create product renders on demand to vastly lower their product photography/rendering costs.

If your product is made of atoms we can create a digital twin. We work across every industry including consumer packaged goods (CPG), to building product and architectural visualization, automotive configurators, furniture configurators, industrial equipment, medical equipment and so much more.

Yes. Our solutions can integrate with existing business systems.

Inbound - Many clients on the 3D Source ecosystem pull product data directly from their ERP or PIM system such as producti names, option names, pricing, SKU codes, availability and even complex business rules.

Outbound - Solutions deployed to the web can have a wide variety of call to action outputs including custom PDF generation, bill of materials with pricing, dealer/distributor lookups by location, design file download (Revit, Sketchup, AutoCAD etc.), eCommerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc.), CRM systems (Salesforce.com, HubSpot etc.), social media sharing, analytics, sample ordering or combinations of all of these.

Pixel Streaming is a technology that allows any device with a web browser and internet connection to experience high-quality interactive 3D experiences. These experiences were previously only available on the latest PC or videogame console hardware. By virtualizing the experience users can connect immediately with no download or software installation and interact with them as if they were running locally.

In the gaming industry, solutions like GeForce Now by nVidia, XBox Cloud by Microsoft and PS5 game streaming by Sony use pixel streaming to let gamers run the latest games in the highest resolution setting on any screen.

How does pixel streaming work?

• A user launches an experience from a product page or other link from a website (e.g. Customize Now).
• Our platform connects the user to a high powered PC in the cloud running the experience.
• Each pixel of the experience is streamed from the cloud PC to the users’ screen in up to 4K resolution.
• Interactions like zooming, spinning and even navigating through a 3D space occur in real time.
• When complete (converted!), the experience is reset and ready for the next user.

Unreal Engine is a game engine developed by Epic Games that was initially built for game developers to save time programming a videogame by providing a framework that allows them to focus on the environments, characters, story and gameplay. Now in its 5th major release since its first release in 1988, it’s the premiere game engine for any team looking for the most realistic real-time 3D platform. The use of Unreal Engine has expanded beyond the video game industry and is now used in a wide variety of industries including

• Visual effects teams for virtual production in entertainment and commercial projects.
• Architectural visualization applications for large commercial and residential projects.
• Automotive industry visualization (e.g. Lamborghini).

Virtual photography uses photorealistic 3D models and scenes and a game engine. to generate photos, videos, and other assets on demand. 3D Source’s Metabox platform packages all of this into one application that works in any web browser and can create images at up to 16K resolution.

Virtual photography offers significant advantages over traditional methods, including cost efficiency, the ability to produce images from any angle or lighting condition without physical constraints, and the flexibility to easily alter product colors, textures, and settings. Applications like Metabox, with an easy-to-use interface, allow a fast and frictionless idea to execution pipeline for image and video content without the need to communicate hard-to-describe elements like camera angles, and product arrangements to photographers or overseas 3D teams.

Overall, the ecosystem provides a comprehensive suite of capabilities and integrations for 3D content management and visualization.

Metabox is the cloud-based, secure hub for 3D Source clients to store their products, environments, lighting setups, and decor.

Metabox Studio is a click away when viewing any asset or render* made in Metabox to create images, video, and product spinners on demand in minutes.

* — Yes, when viewing a render in Metabox made previously you have one-click access to load all elements into Metabox studio to remix or edit the scene and take a fresh shot. Get a demo to see for yourself.

The Metabox Configurator is our new self-service product configurator product launching in 2024. It allows our clients to use the 3D assets in their Metabox library to create a product configurator with a few clicks and publish it to their website. This vastly reduces or eliminates the need for 3D Source services to aid in the deployment of a new product configurator.

If you already have Unreal Engine-ready 3D assets, you’re ready to upload and get started. If you need models created or converted, our services team has you covered. Our 3D rendering services are a cost-effective, scalable means to create your digital twin library with high quality and on time. Our purpose-built Project Collaboration Portal allows our clients to preview and easily annotate on top of 3D models, in many formats including Unreal Engine. 3D Source clients can view and approve 3D assets in their web browser well ahead of any production launch to ensure even tiny details are just right before launch.

Our Pixel Streaming & Orchestration solution is built specifically for high demand always on e-commerce, B2B, and B2C traffic in mind. Our Pixel Streaming Analytics provide a robust view of user traffic including the location and session duration for your users as they have a next-generation 3D buying experience.

Thanks for noticing! We don’t like those cartoonish visuals and we don’t think they sell your products effectively. 3D Source uses Unreal Engine and pixel streaming to bring photorealistic interactive experiences to life on any web browser. (Learn more here.)

In contrast, most 3D visualizers and configurators as well as augmented reality (AR) solutions use a 3D graphics method broadly called WebGL (Web Graphics Library). Around 2011 it started being supported natively in popular web browsers. Previously, users had to install software like Java or Flash to view an interactive or 3D element as part of an online experience.

WebGL was a great innovation for the time but is limited in several critical ways.

Here are the top 3 three biggest problems with any application that uses WebGL for product visualization:

1. Model Size - Like a web page, any WebGL experience must be downloaded first before viewing. This works great for images and text including the page you’re reading right now. Realistic 3D models with detailed textures are much larger in size. Download size translates to wait time which leads to users bouncing from the site. Unfortunately, this means 3D models (your products) built for WebGL must be vastly simplified in terms of:
   • Shape - Circles become barrel shapes. Curves become polygons. This type of 3D is often called “low-poly” and generally means it’s a symbolic representation of the shape, but lacks significant detail.
   • Materials - Don’t zoom in too close or you’ll seep big pixels, not detailed fabrics or wood grain.
   • Lighting - Very limited in terms of light simulation, reflections, shadows etc. which drag on realism significantly.
2. Performance - Once downloaded, displaying and interacting with the 3D product model is dependent on the users’ hardware and its capability or lack thereof to display 3D models efficiently. Once again, this forces developers to simplify the 3D model to run on the lowest common denominator of hardware or risk frustrating a great potential customer with an older phone or PC. With all of these tradeoffs
3. Interoperability - Once you’ve simplified a product model it can never be used for any higher fidelity purpose like virtual photography, animation etc. Just like you can’t print a thumbnail poster sized, the data simply isn’t there. In contrast, building a high-quality digital twin of your product in Unreal Engine means no effort went towards anything but making it look realistic. Unreal Engine also has native capabilities to output simplified 3D models for use in AR apps that have the same limitations as the WebGL issues above but can be handy for users to visualize size.

Yes, 3D Source can convert product models to AR-compatible formats for AR visualization.

The 3D Source Enterprise Ecosystem offers businesses a suite of tools and services. It is aimed at managing and optimizing the use of 3D content across a variety of applications and platforms. Our ecosystem is highly scalable, which means it is suitable for businesses of all types from small startups to large enterprises.

Integrating its key components, you receive a comprehensive solution that adheres to high standards throughout. The key components of the ecosystem are the following:

• Metabox: A central hub for 3D Asset Management which creates real-life quality virtual photography, videos, and e-commerce spins. Metabox simplifies the management and deployment of high-quality 3D assets across different mediums.

• Enterprise Configurator: A powerful tool designed for large-scale businesses to provide advanced customization and guide you through the process of setting up an enterprise-level structure.

• Universal Configurator: A flexible configurator solution that caters to businesses of all sizes. Its wide accessibility and ease of use can help any business create customized product experiences for their customers.

• UE Collaboration Tools: Specialized tools that facilitate collaboration and project management within the Unreal Engine environment. The tool enables multiple users to collaborate on the same asset in real time, which enhances teamwork and efficiency in 3D content creation.

• Content Development/Conversion Portal: A portal that allows developers to craft and convert 3D content and ensure that assets can be easily created, modified, and optimized for various uses.

• Orchestration & Pixel Streaming:Our orchestration tools and technologies for pixel streaming are built to stream e-commerce, B2B, and B2C solutions with instantaneous connections. Their capability to handle demand shifts and maintain optimal cost savings ensures the most cost-effective and fastest delivery of high-quality 3D content over the Internet.

Our ecosystem is vertically built, which means every component works seamlessly together with a high level of quality control. In addition, the open API structure in its foundation allows for modifications and enhancements by users to enrich the ecosystem's capabilities and flexibility. What’s more, artificial intelligence models integrated throughout the ecosystem enable it to provide intelligent solutions for managing and interacting with 3D content.

In short, the capabilities of the ecosystem by 3D Source described above demonstrate it is the only solution on the market offering such a comprehensive suite of capabilities and integrations for 3D content management and visualization. Its high flexibility and scalability make it beneficial for any business seeking to enhance its services with 3D content.

3D Source provides services for companies of different sizes and industries offering flexible pricing and customizable and scalable 3D solutions. Depending on your budget or and pace you want to move, our specialists will help design an optimum 3D strategy and phased plan to align with your business goals and objectives. We love 3D tech but we exist and thrive only when it directly converts to our client’s success. Book a Demo