Product Creation Services | Blank Products (3d) - Image Asset Requirements

Product Creation Services | Blank Products (3d) - Image Asset Requirements


Introduction

This document provides instructions for taking a series of photographs of a product for submission to Custom Gateway, outlining suggestions and good practice for achieving the best results.

The purpose of the images is to create a virtual 3D model of your product, and for it to be stored in the cloud based product management system, where you will be able to access it and setup the model to your specifications.

Recommendations:
  1. A digital camera with a minimum resolution of 10 Megapixels
  2. A plain matte white surface to take photographs on (e.g. sheets of white A4 paper)
  3. A well lit room which can block out all / most of the outside light
  4. The products (generally without personalisation, and in a light colour variation if possible). It may be beneficial to also include an image with personalisation so we can use as reference.

Preferable but not essential:
  1. A tripod to ensure crisp shots
  2. A light tent to ensure uniform lighting
  3. A digital camera with ‘panorama’ settings or similar to ensure identical lighting settings for each photograph

PROCESS

1. Setup
Choose a well lit room or area. The room cannot be lit by natural light because natural light changes all the time, for example when the sun goes behind a cloud, this will result in images with different light levels, and make the modelling process less accurate. Therefore:
  1. Block out all natural light from windows and skylights
  2. Create a matte, non shiny surface to take the photos on
  3. Cover tabletops with white cloth or sheets of A4 paper secured with white-tack
  4. Light the area with artificial light
  5. Ideally from energy saving bulbs, but a standard non-coloured light bulb will be ok
  6. Light the product from all areas to avoid harsh shadows on the product
  7. If you have a light tent or specialist photography lighting this is ideal as it softens the lights and prevents shadows from forming
  8. If your camera has a ‘panoramic’ mode or similar mode which locks the lighting settings, please apply this now
  9. Setup your camera on a tripod or by other means to ensure it is nice and stable when capturing the images
  10. Please turn off the flash as this causes glares and unwanted reflections on the product, especially if the product is particularly reflective
  11. Don’t worry if your hand is any photographs holding the product at the desired angle as long as your hand does not obscure the overall silhouette of the product.
You may wish to secure the product in place with white-tack to avoid having to use your hands 


2. Take the photographs
A minimum of 6 photographs are required of the product (but ideally more, see point 3):
  1. FRONT, BACK, LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM (ideally orthographic / 'square on' - angled or distorted images are much more difficult for us to use when creating the shape of the product).
  2. Rough rule of thumb regarding the resulting image dimensions = ‘The Bigger the Better’ so use the highest quality setting available on your camera.
  3. For each photograph ensure the product fills as much of the screen as possible, and that the resulting image is sharp and not out of focus
NOTE: Please try and keep the combined file size of the images to under 8 MB so they can easily be emailed (If the file size is  larger you can use wetransfer.com to send us the images).

 
3. Provide Extra Images (if necessary)

For any product regardless of size it is very important to take at least the 6 photographs as previously mentioned. However to ensure your 3D model is the best possible quality, please:
  1. Take close-ups of any details / prominent features which you feel are the most important, e.g. Hallmarks on jewellery, fabric texture / design, labels with text information etc.
  2. Capture specific component colours
  3. Take zoomed out perspective / overview shots of the product
 Better Quality of Images Provided = Better Quality of 3D Models Produced. 

If you feel a product is very long in one direction, and therefore justifies two or more photographs, then by all means provide these photographs, but you MUST also include one photograph showing the product from the same side in its entirety.

Example set of photographs for reference


4. Send the images

Before sending you should be happy that the images you have taken reflect accurately the appearance of the product. Please name the images in with the following naming convention:

NameofProduct_VIEW.jpg  E.g. BottleOpenerKeyring_FRONT.jpg

 Using WinZip or a similar package, compress all the images together and email or use a file transfer site like WeTransfer or YouSendit to send them over, naming the zip file after the name of the product



IN SUMMARY - Please Remember:
  1. No Flash Photography
  2. Ensure Uniform Lighting
  3. Minimum of 6 Images: FRONT, BACK, LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM
  4. Check Images are Sharp and in Focus
  5. If Necessary Take Extra Close-up Images of Details / Perspective Overview Shots
  6. Better Quality of Images Provided = Better Quality of 3D Models Produced
 
By following these guidelines it ensures that we can create the products as accurately and as quickly as possible. Deviations from this specification may lead to delays in overall completion time.