You might not initially think of animation as being a core element of e-commerce. But in the 21st century, 3D renders and digital artwork is essential to any online business. Let’s unpack why.

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What Are The Benefits of Using 3D Rendering on Amazon?

Even though most customers can tell that a render is not an actual image of the product, they tend to prefer it over the actual photos or stock photos. 

We can’t exactly be sure why this is, but there is something about the perfect lighting and the out-of-this-world depiction of a render that invites shoppers into the future.

We want to buy something surreal and alluring. The reality is that renderization allows for a level of perfection that simple photography cannot produce.

Because of this, they have a way of drawing in your customers and therefore increasing customer likelihood to click through and purchase your product.

Additionally, using renders cuts down on photography costs and makes it easier for you to include more pictures for less money. With photography, you have to ensure that you have a physical copy of every variation of the product that you want to photograph. You also have to take separate shots for every angle and background that you’d like to include.

Renders make this easy. Once the basic render is complete, it can be easily re-colored, re-positioned, and re-designed to fit a variety of graphics needed for your Amazon account. This can include your A+ content modules, infographics, lifestyle pictures, variation images, and more.

Using 3D renders gives you more bang for your buck as you’re able to more easily and naturally manipulate the image and the image quality to give you a wide variety of outcomes. This simply isn’t possible with photography (without making it obvious that you’ve photoshopped your item onto five different backdrops). 

In short, 3D renders allow you to create more diverse content on your Amazon listing on a much lower budget than photography would permit you while grabbing your audience and increasing conversions. They are faster, have no physical limitations on production, and are easy to edit and recreate at the touch of a button.

These effects are all related - the more variety you have within your listing images, the greater the success of your listing. The greater the success of your listing, the higher conversions. The higher your conversions, the better your organic traffic. 3D renders can help with this process!

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What Are 3D Renders?

3D renders are photorealistic digital recreations of an item or setting. They can be used as an alternative to photography and create smooth, crisp images that have a futuristic look to them. 

Renders have been around for decades. The first 3D rendered movie was produced in 1972 by Evan Catmull and Frederic Parke, who painstakingly drew and animated this render of a hand.

The early renders such as this one left much to be desired, but were still highly advanced for their time in history. 

Renders of the 21st century, however, are stunning - and sometimes easily confused with the real thing.

What sets a render apart is its perfection. Every image is smooth and beautiful, drawing your audience into the kind of futuristic idealism that is becoming popular in the metaverse.

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How Are 3D Renders Made?

So how are renders actually produced? 

There are 3 main ways to create renders. STP files, custom renders, and templates.

• STP Files. An STP file is a file provided by the manufacturer. Most manufacturers have a blueprint of the product that is used to help produce the product. This can be majorly helpful for digital artists as it makes the rendering process seamless. 
• Custom Renders. Custom renders are essentially from scratch - and tend to be more costly. You should always touch base with any render company you use to ensure that they are either using templates or STP files, as custom renders will cost you more. 
• Template-Based Renders. When STP files are not available, many digital artists will utilize a common template and then manipulate that template to fit your product perfectly. This still requires more work than STP-based rendering but is not nearly as complicated as custom renders.

All of these strategies require detailed knowledge of design and professional software. Unless you happen to be a highly skilled digital artist, you’re going to want to rely on a professional or a creative agency to get these renders done for you.

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How To Use 3D Renders

You can use 3D renders in a variety of formats to increase your click rate and start gaining higher conversions. Likewise, there are some areas you want to avoid using renders. 

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Use Renders For…

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Reflective Products

Renders are a great tool to use for glasses, sunglasses, lenses, and other reflective products. Because it’s so tricky to get the lighting perfect in photography, renders can help you get a quality image without the hassle of exposure, flash, and reflections or even needing to use a white background or a transparent background. 

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Product Close-Ups & Deconstructions

You can also use renders to help your customer visualize the ins and outs of your Amazon listings. It is virtually impossible to do this well with photography, but with renders, you can give your customer all the finer details about your product. 

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Static Images

Renders work best for images or product images that are static - meaning the image isn’t being worn or moved in any way but rather laying or standing in a static way in the setting. 

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Lifestyle Photos

You can use 3D renders to easily showcase your item in a variety of lifestyle images, both large-scale and small-scale. Because of how easily renders can be edited and reused in new settings, this is the best way to create lifestyle imagery without breaking the bank.

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Oversized Items

It is a major hassle to photograph your large, bulky, oversized items. Shipping costs alone can break the bank. Using renders for these items can save you time, money, and hassle! 

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Large-Scale Scenery

Whether you want to show your customers your product on a city street, rural environment, or a bedroom, you can use 3D renders to create these scenes. You can also create a mix of rendered and real for a compelling graphic juxtaposition! Many architects and furniture companies rely on this type of rendering to showrooms and furniture well.

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Variations

Renders are ideal for showing your product in multiple variations. This can be done individually or all together - as long as customers can visualize what your product looks like in all its forms.

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Packaging

Your brand should have a great logo and packaging design to go along with your optimized listing. Renders are a great way to showcase your product with that branding on it, without needing additional photography. 

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Creative Depictions 

One of the beauties of rendering is that the sky's the limit for actual product photos. Amazon sellers can create some truly beautiful and awe-inspiring images that utilize a combination of realistic and unrealistic elements to captivate your target audience. These kinds of depictions may be best suited for social media, but can really draw a new customer in.

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Conclusion

3D renders are an amazing way to boost the success of your listings and draw readers in. They are faster to produce, more cost-effective, and easier to edit. They can be used to showcase your image in a wide variety of settings and make you stand out as an Amazon seller! Need help getting renders for your product? Let us know how we can help.

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