Getting Started
We're extremely happy you chose us to be your 3d configurator partner!
We know your time is valuable, so we'll keep this quick, in essence, the following steps are required to get you up and running
- Upload some 3d models
- Upload some 3d textures
- Create some materials
- Combine everything above into a configurator
- Publish the configurator on your website
Read some more in the following paragraphs for more info
Uploading 3d models
It all starts here
There can be no such thing as a 3d product configurator without 3d models. As such, the whole process starts by uploading 3d models. The 3d models can be made in your favourite 3d modeling application. Below you can find some tips and tricks.
- Currently we only support .obj files
- You must make an export for each part of the model that has a different material
- Export all objects in relation to the same origin point
- Scaling the whole scene and positioning the camera can be done in a later step
Uploading Textures
Want to have some shiny wood materials?
Some materials can't be defined by just simple colors. We've included the ability to upload your own textures.
- Make sure you are licenced to use the textures (ie. they are yours)
- Upload a minimum resolution of 2000px on the biggest side. We dynamically resize the images for different devices
Creating Materials
Shiny Chrome? Or Black Plastic? You pick!
This is the last step before making the actual configurator. Models with applied materials make for beautifully rendered scenes.
If you want to test every material, it's helpfull to start off with a simple base material, go to step 4 and then come back here to assign materials model by model Remember that every single texture you add to the material will have to be downloaded by the end user. That user may very well be in the train on an extremely slow connection There are a big amount of options in the material editor. Here are some of the important ones
- Color - This determines the color of your model. Please not that the environment with the reflection will affect this, so it's often better to eyeball this than to use the exact hexadecimal value
- Map - In case you have a texture in mind for the color of your material, this is where you would add it. The color is multiplied on top which means you can create several variations of the same material without having the user have to re-download the texture again.
- Roughness - This determines how sharp the material reflects its environment. The higher the roughness, the more blurry the reflection (note that you can also use a map here)
- Metalness - This determines (more or less) the contrast of the reflections. Higher values have a more contrasty reflection (and are more metal-like) than low values (note that you can also use a map here)
- Opacity - This determines the opacity of the model. With some models there may be some ever so slight glitches, we're working on those
- Bump / Normal - You can opt to use either bump or normal mapping. When choosing, we recommend opting for normal maps as they will give a better result in the end. Especially reflective materials tend to come out rather harshe when using bump mapping
There are many more options here and we encourage you to try them out. However, with the options above you can get really far already!
Combine everything into a configurator
This is where the magic happens
Seeing everything come together is the best bit. You've uploaded your models, created some beautiful materials with amazing textures, you're on the home stretch now. Assembling a configurator uses the following steps. We recommend doing them sequentially.
- Define Structure - This is where you assemble your scene. Put everything in there, including all the optional components. Structure them in such a way that you know which ones can be swapped out for others.
- Define Options - Want to add an option to change materials? Or to change models? This is where you do that. Add an option from the sidebar, and choose which objects or groups are affected. Note that swapping out groups with single objects doesn't work. If you would like to do that it's best you put the single object in a group too.
- Add Steps - Defining the options and adding them to different steps has been split out so you can add multiple options to a single step. We would recommend going from the biggest changes to the smallest changes in the order of the steps
- Properties - These can be done at anytime. Here are the options to change the scale of the scene and the position of the camera. We're working on a special mode where you can see the x / y / z positions of the camera and target so you can easily enter them into the properties