3D, CGI or photography: which do you need

Photography: what it gives and what it costs

A photograph is the first thing a buyer sees and the thing they trust. Real light on real material. Every brand has it and keeps it.

Cost: by the image or by the day; one studio's price list is below.

1. ·5 images: 975 USD, so 195 USD per image.
2. ·10 images: 1,450 USD, so 145 USD per image.
3. ·Each extra image: 95 USD.
4. ·A full day in the studio: 7,450 USD.

Whatever you add next, the photography line in your budget stays.

CGI renders: for more colours than you can shoot

A CGI render is a still image made from a 3D model instead of a camera. Once the model exists, the studio renders every colour without a new shoot, even before the product is built.

Cost: per image or per package. Time: days per render, and a new render for each new angle.

1. ·One product on a white background, three angles: 150 to 400 USD.
2. ·Glass, metal or other hard-to-light products: 500 to 900 USD.
3. ·A colour library for one product family: 1,200 to 3,500 USD.
4. ·The cheapest package we found: 198 USD for one furniture model and up to 100 images.

CGI fits a catalogue: many colours at fixed angles.

Real-time 3D: for versions you never made

Real-time 3D is a model on the product page that the buyer turns and changes. Colour or material: the buyer picks, the model shows it at once. The version they see may never have existed as a physical piece.

Real-time 3D does not replace your photography. Photography sets the mood. The model answers what comes after: every angle, every version, the real size, how it opens, how the material behaves when the light moves.

1. ·Cost, our price list: from 225 EUR per model for jewellery, from 360 EUR for furniture and bottles, from 450 EUR for footwear, from 540 EUR for bags. Paid once, colour set included. You are paying for a model; your photographs stay where they are.
2. ·Time: counted in working hours per model; a series goes faster per piece. Our guide on how long a model takes is linked below.
3. ·When it pays: only if a buyer can order a version that has never been made. If every version exists, good photos and a drawing with measurements come first; 3D is fourth on that list.
4. ·AR, the piece shown in your own room through the phone, comes last, after width, height and depth are checked.

Count the versions a buyer can order. If they exist, shoot them. If they do not, model them.

The decision: photos always, then one add-on

The reason to add anything is the return you did not get. In 2025, 19.3% of online sales were expected to come back. In a 2019 Narvar survey the top reason was the wrong size, fit or colour: 34% of returns from Amazon, 46% from other retailers.

1. 01Photography: always. Every product, every year.
2. 02Add CGI renders: when one product comes in more colours than you can shoot, when a catalogue needs the same angle on every item, or when the piece is not built yet.
3. 03Add real-time 3D: when a buyer can order a version you never made, or when size and how it opens decide the sale.
4. 04Add AR: last, and only on a model whose measurements you have checked.

If you cannot name the versions a buyer would order but cannot see, stop at photography.