Guides
What rendering costs, when photography is the better answer, what files to send, and what marketplaces will actually accept. Written to be useful whether or not you hire us — including the parts where the honest answer is don’t.
- How much does 3D product rendering cost?What 3D product rendering costs in 2026: typical per-image ranges, what drives the price, and why the second image is far cheaper than the first.
- CGI vs product photographyAn honest comparison of 3D product rendering and product photography: cost curves, timelines, what each does better, and how to decide.
- How to prepare CAD files for 3D renderingA practical checklist for sending CAD to a rendering studio: which formats work, what engineering geometry breaks, and what slows a quote down.
- How long does 3D product rendering take?Realistic timelines for 3D product rendering — what a packshot set, a full campaign and an animation actually take, and the four things that cause every delay.
- What is a 3D product configurator?How 3D product configurators work, the two ways to build one (real-time versus pre-rendered), what each costs you, and how to tell which your product needs.
- AR and 3D models for ShopifyHow to add 3D and AR product models to Shopify — what GLB and USDZ are, file size limits that matter, and how to get models that load fast without looking cheap.
- What is look development?Look development is where a 3D model stops looking like a model — how materials and lighting response are authored, and why render budgets are won or lost there.
- Product video for ecommerceWhat product video does that images cannot, which formats earn their cost on a product page, and why CG video off an existing model is far cheaper than a shoot.
- Packshot vs lifestyle imagesThe difference between packshots and lifestyle product images, what each one is for, how many of each a listing needs, and why the answer is almost always both.
- Ecommerce product image requirementsAmazon and Shopify product image specs: pixel sizes, pure white backgrounds, the 85% frame rule, and whether CGI renders are allowed as main images.