Product Configurator
Let the customer choose the color — and watch it change instantly, on your site.
A catalog shows what's possible; a 3D product configurator lets the customer decide. We build web-based, interactive 3D tools on top of the same models used for your renders — no extra modeling cost — so a shopper can swap fabric, finish, or color in real time and see the exact product they're about to order, right there on the page.
Last updated
- →Stop losing sales to "I'm not sure about the color"
- →No extra modeling cost — built on what you already have
- →Stop cart abandonment — customers see the exact product first
01What is a 3D product configurator?
A model on your product page the shopper can change, not just look at
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What is a 3D product configurator?
A model on your product page the shopper can change, not just look at
A 3D product configurator is an interactive model embedded in a product page: the shopper rotates it, then changes something about it — fabric, finish, timber, size, hardware — and the picture updates immediately to show that exact combination. The terms 3D configurator and online product configurator mean the same thing; what matters is whether it runs in the browser on your own site.
It replaces the thing every furniture retailer does badly, which is asking a customer to imagine the oak version from a photograph of the walnut one. The configurator removes the imagining, and with it the hesitation that ends in an abandoned basket or a return.
The distinction worth holding on to: a catalogue answers "what do you sell?". A configurator answers "what would mine look like?", which is the question a buyer actually has at the point of paying.
02What do you need before you can have one?
Accurate 3D models — which is the part most configurator platforms assume you already own
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What do you need before you can have one?
Accurate 3D models — which is the part most configurator platforms assume you already own
Models. Every configurator, whoever builds it, runs on a 3D model of your product with its materials separated so they can be swapped independently. No model, no configurator.
This is the part that trips up brands who go straight to a configurator platform. The software is the visible half; the modelling is the half that has to exist first, and platform pricing generally does not include it. A brand with fifty products and no 3D assets is not a month from launching a configurator — it is a modelling project away from being able to start one.
It is also why this sits alongside our rendering work rather than apart from it. If we have already modelled your catalogue for stills, those same assets drive the configurator with no second modelling bill. If we have not, the modelling is the first phase either way, and it produces your renders as well.
03Configurator or 3D product viewer — which do you actually need?
One lets them turn it round; the other lets them change it
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Configurator or 3D product viewer — which do you actually need?
One lets them turn it round; the other lets them change it
A 3D product viewer lets a shopper rotate and inspect a fixed product. A configurator lets them alter it. Viewers are cheaper, faster to build, and enough for a product sold in one specification.
The rule of thumb is the size of your option matrix. One finish and one size: a viewer, or honestly just good renders. Three fabrics: renders of all three, which is cheaper than either. But four fabrics across three frames across two sizes is twenty-four combinations, and at that point photographing or even rendering every permutation stops making sense. That is the arithmetic a configurator exists to solve.
Configurators also earn their keep on products where the buyer is specifying rather than choosing: modular seating, fitted storage, made-to-measure tables. There the number of possible outcomes is effectively unbounded, and no set of pre-rendered images can cover it.
04How does it go onto your website?
Embedded in the product page, on Shopify, WooCommerce or your own build
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How does it go onto your website?
Embedded in the product page, on Shopify, WooCommerce or your own build
As an embed in the page you already have. A web product configurator runs in the browser, so a shopper needs no plugin and no app, and it sits inside your existing product template rather than replacing it.
For a website product configurator on WooCommerce or Shopify, the chosen configuration is passed to the basket as the variant or line-item properties, so what the customer built is what appears on the order. On a custom build the same thing happens through your own cart API. This part is integration work, and how much of it there is depends on how your variants are modelled in your store, not on the 3D.
The practical constraint is weight, not capability. It has to load fast on a phone on mobile data, which puts a ceiling on geometry and texture size, so the model built for a configurator is optimised differently from the one built for a hero render, even when it starts as the same asset.
05Should you buy a platform instead?
Sometimes yes — and the honest answer depends on how standard your product is
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Should you buy a platform instead?
Sometimes yes — and the honest answer depends on how standard your product is
There is a real market of configurator platforms, and for some brands one of them is the right answer. If your product is a standard type they already support, and you have the 3D assets to feed it, a subscription will be quicker and cheaper than commissioning anything built to order.
Where that stops working is when the product is unusual, when the configuration logic has rules that a template does not express — this frame only in these timbers, this size only with that base — or when the models do not exist yet, which is the common case.
We are a visualisation studio, not a SaaS product. What we bring is the modelling and the material accuracy, and a configurator built on assets that also serve your catalogue, your ads and your animations. If all you need is a viewer on a standard product and you already own good models, we will say so.
“The software is the visible half. The modelling is the half that has to exist first, and it is the half nobody includes in the quote.”
Behind this service
Irene pairs a genuinely creative eye with unusual discipline about deadlines. She leads every conversation about what a visualization should say before a single model is built — if you are unsure what you actually need, her instinct is the one to lean on.
Irene Sierna, Art Director
What affects your quote
- →Number of scenes or camera angles you need
- →Complexity of the model and materials
- →How many revision rounds you use
- →Standard timeline versus a rush turnaround
We assess each project on its own merits rather than a flat rate — as a rule, the more images you order in one project, the lower the cost per image. Send us a brief description and we'll respond with an estimated cost.
Common questions
Still deciding? Send your product list with whatever reference you have and we will come back with a scope, a timeline and an estimated cost before anything is committed.
Get an estimate→Do I need new 3D models for a configurator?+
Not if we have already modelled your products for renders: the configurator runs on those same assets, so there is no second modelling bill. If the models do not exist yet, modelling is the first phase either way, and it produces your catalogue renders as well as the configurator.
Can shoppers see changes in real time on my site?+
Yes — a shopper can swap fabric, finish, or color in real time and see the exact product they're about to order, right there on the page.
Will a product configurator work on my WooCommerce or Shopify store?+
Yes. A product configurator WooCommerce integration and a Shopify product configurator work the same way: it embeds in your existing product page and runs in the browser, with no plugin for the shopper to install. The chosen configuration is passed to the basket as the variant or line-item properties, so the order shows exactly what the customer built. How much integration work that takes depends on how your variants are set up in the store rather than on the 3D itself.
Do you build configurators specifically for furniture?+
It is most of what we are asked for. A 3D furniture configurator is the clearest case for one, because furniture is where the option matrix explodes: four fabrics across three frames across two sizes is twenty-four combinations, and no set of pre-rendered images covers that. An ecommerce product configurator for a sofa or a fitted unit pays for itself faster than one for a product sold in a single specification.
What is the difference between a 3D product viewer and a configurator?+
The viewer shows one product from every angle; the configurator changes what the product is. In build terms the difference sits in the model: a viewer needs one finished object, while a configurator needs that same object with its materials and components separated so each can be swapped independently. That separation is why configuring a product costs more than displaying it, and it is decided at the modelling stage rather than bolted on later. If your product ships in one specification, the viewer is the honest answer.
Do you sign an NDA?+
Yes — we sign NDAs for every project and treat client files and unreleased products as fully confidential.
