Furniture Prototype Creation: Virtual Prototypes Vs. Physical Prototypes
A decade ago, the launch of new product lines was an annual or a biannual affair. With growing competition, the current furniture industry is not so relaxed. Customers want to find new and innovative pieces every time they visit stores or websites. For furniture companies, there is no choice, they have to create new products to stay on top of the demand. They must constantly improve and innovate to attract new clients and to keep old ones coming back for more. In this uber-competitive and super fast marketplace, can physical prototypes still be useful for a furniture business hoping to make a profit? Maybe virtual prototype via 3D software is a more promising option?
Furniture pieces are not easy, fast, or cheap to build. When it comes to physical prototyping, for every change or every new design, you must make a fresh prototype before sending it for production. While it cannot be denied that a furniture prototype is a critical step for the entire design and production process, it does have its problems.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS / DISADVANTAGES OF PHYSICAL FURNITURE PROTOTYPES?
It is an expensive process: for a brand, a new furniture piece requires a design from paper to its final physical form. It comes with an element of uncertainty. Maybe something that looks good on the drawing board turns out to be unusable once made. However, regardless of the results, you would still have to pay the labour costs of the artisans and to bear the costs of the manufacturing waste. Imagine doing this for a whole bunch of prototypes? You have to be ready that investing vast amounts of money in constructing prototypes might not give any RoI.
Time-consuming: making physical prototypes can be a laborious and long-drawn-out process. Sometimes for intricate pieces, a single prototype can stretch to several weeks, AND the first prototype is seldom the final one. Every change must be included, and sometimes that requires starting from scratch!
It limits innovation: Design always has iterations. Halfway through the production process, you might want to make some changes; unfortunately, with furniture prototype production, this is difficult — if not impossible. Being stuck with what you started can be a real disadvantage, especially if you have a fantastic idea.
Overall unprofitable: With the ballooning costs of materials and labour, making multiple furniture prototypes is becoming more and more untenable, especially for small and medium-sized furniture companies.
No guarantee that the end result will be usable: the biggest problem with making physical prototype is that even after spending the time, money and efforts, you still can’t be sure that it is accurate or that the production floor will not require changes.
With all the above disadvantages, it becomes obvious that physical prototyping is now only beneficial for either large companies with deep pockets or artisans who do individual pieces. For the rest, fortunately, 3D technology has evolved to make quickly product visualization or virtual prototyping affordable. In fact, it not only does away with ALL the disadvantages mentioned above but also offers additional benefits.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF 3D PRODUCT VISUALIZATION?
Fast Product Launch — Time is the essence in the fast-moving world of furniture retail. Customers are demanding new ideas that combine style with comfort, and there are plenty of innovative designers cooking up ideas in their studios.
In this scenario, moving ideas from paper to the store quickly can give you an edge that will keep you ahead of the pack. A 3D model shaves off weeks — sometimes even months — from the prototyping process, allowing you to test new designs quickly and move to mass production.
Money-Saving: Less Prototyping Process Costs — All the materials and man-hours spent for the creation of a physical prototype are things of the past with 3D modeling software. It takes a 3D artist just a few days to create a true-to-life replica of your ideas from your drawings. The expense cannot be compared — especially when you take into account that each piece of furniture usually requires several prototypes.
Easy To Correct — Unlike its physical counterpart, a 3D product model is completely flexible. In a physical prototype you can only make minor changes and only towards the end of the process once you know what it looks like; every time you make a significant change, you have to start from scratch again.
A 3D model is always available for changes — at any stage, you can modify your design and all the changes, including big ones, can be smoothly and quickly incorporated.
Get The Perfect Prototype — The quality of your physical prototypes is completely dependent on the artisan’ skills and their interpretation of your design — this could result in a mismatch between what you have envisioned and what the final prototype turns out to be. And whether you like the work or not, you have to pay the artisan and the supplier for the materials anyway.
With a 3D design, the issue of dissatisfaction does not arise! You can make changes in real-time until you are completely satisfied with the end result. Additionally, the 3D model is always available for more customization.
More Marketing For Less— Marketing is so much more than just placing an advert online or in a magazine. The older generation might prefer more traditional methods of marketing, but the millennials only react to fresh ideas. With a 3D model, you will have the flexibility to cater to different markets and channels without spending a lot.
It will also allow to stay on-point with newer advertising innovations such as static or interactive virtual interior design, 360° panoramas, animations, — whatever the next big advertising channel is, you will be ready for it.
Multi-Functional — For the one-time price of a prototyping service, you get a 3D model that you can use forever! These 3D furniture models can be customized and used for a variety of activities, such as –
1. Product presentation — Every furniture company needs visual representations of its designs — whether to pitch to investors or to print catalogues.
Having a 3D model makes it easier to pull out the image and use it in a variety of different settings and contexts.
2. Web design and social media — Keeping an interactive online presence requires lots of visual elements. It is impossible (and prohibitively expensive) to do actual photoshoots to keep pumping out a steady flow of social media content. With 3D models and photorealistic images, furniture companies can maintain a robust virtual presence much more affordably. It is also a great way to ensure that newer digital formats can always be catered to quickly — for example, the same 3D model can be used for making interactive customization tools on the website, VR content or Instagram posts.
3. Advertising — One 3D model can cater for the whole range of advertising channels — from mammoth outdoor billboards to tiny thumbnails and display ad banners. You can not only cover all types of marketing collaterals but also keep them ready for future use.
Enhanced Customization — You might offer an item in 6 different colors and with several upholstery options, but you don’t want to keep them ALL in your store or your warehouse. Online (or on-premise) customization tools can be built quite easily with 3D models — these allow your customers to see how a piece of furniture would look in its various avatars. Indeed, they make your manufacturing process much cheaper and reduce unsold inventory, but it also results in a more interactive and satisfying customer shopping experience.
Increase Average Check— Using multiple models will allow you to get more out of each customer interaction. You can easily create clusters and showcase a range of products together. You can also use 3D visualizations to upsell and cross-sell effectively to people who visit your website — making sure your digital advertisement dollars stretch even more.
Finally..
3D rendering is the future for all manufacturing and retail. Why go for an expensive and time-consuming physical product prototype — when you can get ALL the benefits of a physical prototype for less? Retailers not only save time and lots of money but also have far more options and greater flexibility with a 3D render.
If you want more information about the importance of photorealistic product rendering for retailers, you can read our article : WHY IN 2019 FURNITURE COMPANIES NEED PHOTOREALISTIC PRODUCT RENDERING?
At Hubstairs, we offer full-stack design services to Home and Living retailers. We have a community of 3D artists who can provide a 3D photorealistic design — personalized to your style — for a fraction of what it would cost using traditional methods. Along with our 3D design services we also have a large community of interior designers who are roped in to bring enhanced understanding of interior decoration to your 3D marketing collaterals or work as consultants to help you upgrade the look and layout of your furniture store.
