Minimum: one of these, and we start
You do not need to collect everything. Pick whichever of these you already have. Any one of them is a full starting point.
Photographs alone are enough for most products. Every side, in daylight, and the measurements from your product page. That is the minimum, and it is small on purpose.
- 01Photographs plus the measurements. Front, back, both sides, top, bottom, inside. Daylight, no filters. Width, height, depth from your product page.
- 02Or the drawing files (CAD): STEP, Parasolid, SolidWorks or Creo. One file per product version.
- 03Or the product itself, sent to us. We photograph it, measure it and match the material ourselves.
Whichever one you have is where we start. The rest is your choice.
Bonus: what raises quality and cuts revisions
Everything beyond the minimum is a bonus. It raises the chance that the first version is the last one. None of it is a condition for starting.
Each item below removes one reason for a revision. More of them means fewer rounds, and a first version you can put on the page sooner.
- CAD next to the photos: the exact shape, so proportions are never guessed. Photos then only have to carry the material. Usually the biggest saving in rounds on shape.
- A sample in our hands: we match the leather grain, the weave or the shine of the metal in the light we render in. The biggest saving in rounds on material.
- The names of the materials, or the supplier codes: the colour comes out right the first time.
- Close-ups of every seam, logo and metal piece: the details that are otherwise filled in from guesswork.
- The link to your product page: we see how you sell it and match the angle and the colour list.
- One name who confirms the measurements: saves a round later, when the size question comes up.
Each of these removes one reason for a revision. None of them is a condition.
When more is worth more
How much the bonus is worth depends on how much the look matters for your brand. The finer the material and the higher the price, the more a sample pays back.
For a hard, simple product the minimum already does the job. A lamp, a metal or ceramic piece, a plain wooden shape: good photos with the measurements come out right.
- Leather, fabric, woven surfaces: a sample is worth the most. The surface changes with the light, and a photo shows one light only.
- Luxury, where the material is the product: sample and material names. The buyer will zoom in on the grain.
- Hard products with a clear shape: photographs with the measurements. CAD if it exists, as a bonus.
- Soft products that change shape when put down (bags, cushions): measurements matter more than usual, because the photo cannot give the size.
The more a buyer will zoom in, the more a sample is worth. That is the whole rule.
Why we build to the measurements: our own bag
19 to 22%
too small in width and height: our woven bag model measured against the size it was sold as, August 2026. With the phone in a room, 5 percent already shows.
Our own quality check, 14 August 2026
In August 2026 we built a hand-woven leather bag for a demo, and it failed our own quality check. The weave was excellent. Two other things were wrong.
Both had the same cause: the artist never got our written standard, so he took the size from the photos instead of the official measurements, and baked the colour into the surface. The photos were fine. The missing piece was the number and the standard.
- 01Wrong size. The brand sells the bag in two sizes. The demo, the price and the colour list were written for the big one; the model matched the small one, within 3 to 6 percent. Against the big one it was 19 to 22 percent short in width and height.
- 02Every colour came out black. The base surface image was almost black (6 percent brightness). Our colour change works by tinting that image, so white came out black and tan came out dark chocolate. We fixed it ourselves the same day by lifting the surface image to a neutral light grey.
The official measurements are the ones on your product page. We build to them, in metres, and we check the model against them before you see it.
What CAD covers, and what it does not
If your product was designed on a computer, the drawing files (CAD) carry the exact shape and size. Nothing is guessed.
Important to note: CAD often covers the outside only. A part you can see but that is not in the file, we model from photographs. That is a different job and a different price, and we say so before the quote.
- Formats we take: STEP, Parasolid, native SolidWorks or Creo files.
- Tell us what is not in the CAD: stitching, an inside, a printed logo, electronics.
CAD gives the shape. It almost never gives the material.
What fails our quality check
Before a model reaches you, we check it against our written standard. These are the points that most often send a file back to the artist:
- 01Size does not match the official measurements.
- 02The base surface is too dark or already coloured, so colour versions cannot be made.
- 03Too heavy for the web: more detail or bigger surface images than our standard allows, so the file would slow a page.
- 04Parts are not named, so a configurator cannot find the handle or the lid.
- 05Lights or cameras left inside the file.
A file that fails one point goes back to the artist. You never see it.
What to take away
- 01Send one of these and we start: photographs of every side with the measurements, or CAD, or the product itself. Photographs alone are enough.
- 02Bonus, your choice: CAD next to the photos, a sample, the material names. Each one removes a round of revisions. The finer the material, the more the sample is worth.
- 03Number: we build to the official measurements. Without them and without our written standard, our own bag came out 19 to 22 percent small, and 5 percent already shows in a buyer's room.