6 Basics of AR and 3D for eCommerce

AR and 3D on a product page depend on one thing more than any platform choice: the model behind them. A shopper who opens a product in their own room, or spins it in a viewer, is judging the product through that model. If its proportions, materials or scale are wrong, the experience works against the sale rather than for it.

This page sets out what that model has to be, how it gets built, how big it can be, and who owns which part of the job. For the formats and routes in more detail, see our guide to augmented reality for products.

What the model has to contain

A model for AR or a web viewer needs four things.

• Accurate geometry. Most products already exist as CAD. CAD is engineered for manufacture, not for a camera, so it is rebuilt into clean geometry that renders properly. Our CAD to CGI guide explains what that involves.
• Real materials. Plastics, metals, fabrics and glass have to respond to light the way the product does, because in AR the lighting changes with every room the customer stands in.
• True scale. AR places the product at real size. A model built a few per cent too large or small is the one error a customer notices immediately.
• The right file format. Web viewers and Android use GLB. AR on iPhone uses USDZ. Ask for both if your page must open AR on both.

Two ways to build it

There are two routes to a product model. Building from CAD works before the product is manufactured, so the model can be ready for the launch rather than after it. Scanning and photogrammetry capture an existing product quickly, but they need a finished unit to capture, and reflective or transparent parts often need rebuilding by hand afterwards.

For a product that does not exist as a finished sample yet, CAD is usually where the model starts, because scanning needs a physical object to capture. Other references, such as drawings or photographs of a prototype, are assessed case by case.

They can support a model, but on their own they do not guarantee an accurate reconstruction. That is why pre-manufacture visualisation and AR planning usually belong in the same conversation, and the CAD to CGI guide explains how the CAD is prepared.

How big it can be

A model that takes too long to load loses the customer before they ever see it. The answer is to build to a size the slowest likely phone can handle, not to the size the desktop preview tolerates.

XO3D delivers real-time models as GLB with compressed geometry and textures, typically at around 10 MB or less, with lower-detail versions for weaker devices. The exact budget is agreed against the platform and its devices at the start, and our specifications set out the defaults.

Who owns which part

AR and 3D on a product page sit across two teams, and most problems come from the gap between them.

• The studio builds the model, its materials and its lighter versions, and checks it against the product and the brief.
• The platform team hosts the files, adds the viewer or AR button to the page, keeps it fast and measures how customers use it.

Agree the formats, the size target and who tests on which devices before the model is built. Our guide to when you need interactive 3D helps decide whether a product needs AR, a 3D viewer or strong stills first.

Agree the handover before modelling

Write the handover down before anyone models. The list below uses the split above. Leave a field marked “to confirm” until someone owns the answer, rather than filling it with a guess. Our delivery specifications set out default formats, CAD preparation covers the source, and the AR buyer guide compares delivery routes.

This is a planning list, not a contract, and not a list of services every project includes.

Asset approval and website acceptance are separate

Approving the model and accepting it on the website are two different checks, made by different teams. The studio approves what it supplies. The platform team accepts what it implements. Which of these tasks XO3D takes on is agreed per project.

A model that opens correctly in a desktop viewer has not yet passed a retailer’s or platform’s own acceptance checks. If a decision is unclear, settle it in the brief.

Check the delivered version

Once the model is live, check it where customers will see it. Open the approved revision in the actual destination, on the target devices, and compare it against one known dimension and the approved finish. If the platform has processed or compressed the file, check that processed version rather than the studio preview.

Record the file name, the device, the browser or AR route, the date and any unresolved issue, so the next check starts from the same facts. You can inspect a GLB before handover in the free XO3D Labs viewer, which shows its size and structure.

It is an inspection tool. It does not certify AR, repair the file or send it to us.

For other ways to deliver 3D and AR, see the AR buyer guide.

Measure it on your own store

Published figures for AR and 3D uplift come from different products, platforms and audiences, so treat them as background rather than a forecast. The number that matters is the one from your own pages.

Before a test starts, the platform or measurement owner should agree which question it answers. A viewer that loads and gets used shows engagement.

It is not a sale, and an AR launch on its own is not a purchase. Start with a small set of products, compare them with the same products without 3D, keep the same product revision on both sides, and expand from what that shows.

See it working

The 3D models on our product AR page run in the browser and open in AR on a phone. That demonstration is where to judge the model quality for yourself.

Look at the form, the finish as the light changes, how the model is oriented when it opens and whether its apparent size looks right in your room. What you see applies to those demonstration products, on the phone you use.

To discuss a model for your own product, see CGI for e-commerce or tell us about your brief.