Service
3D Product Visualisation Services.
XO3D is a director-led 3D product visualisation studio in Stevenage, UK. We create a product's marketing imagery from an accurate 3D model, then produce everything the launch needs from that one asset: ecommerce silos, lifestyle scenes, colour selectors, 360 views, film and interactive.
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Selected clients
Sony work via ImageNova. Ferrari and Burberry work via KCD.
What product visualisation covers here.
XO3D is a director-led 3D product visualisation studio in Stevenage, UK. We build one accurate model of your product from CAD, then produce the stills, colourways, 360 views and film a launch needs from that single asset, working direct with brands and alongside their agencies.
In US spelling it is 3D product visualization: the same work. Materials and finishes are reviewed against the supplied product references, and composition, materials, lighting, image set and timeline are agreed before production. Changing a colourway, finish or angle later means updating the existing asset rather than booking another shoot.
Proof
One model, every finish.
Five projects, each built from one source model and carried across every finish. The counts below are the ones each case study publishes.
Glen Dimplex 650 CGI images across 42 range cookers in eleven colourways, built without a physical prototype. See the Glen Dimplex colourway library. 
Rollink Flex 360 Four sizes and eight colourways from one CGI source, while the product was still in development. 
Duux Neo Four colourways, with 15 camera angles per colour for ecommerce coverage. 
Flash Motors Four finishes, Yellow, Mint, Green and Black, from one master asset. 
Sony WF-C710, via ImageNova Controlled colourway swaps under consistent lighting, composited into ImageNova's product photography. 
At a glance Product by finish, with the counts each case study publishes.
Why it works
Why brands use 3D product visualisation.
Keep the product reference in view.
Review materials, finishes and colourways against the supplied references, with product details approved before final delivery.
Direct the image, not just capture it.
Full control over lighting, angle and composition, without the constraints of a physical studio shoot.
Update without a reshoot.
Change colourways, finishes and angles on the existing 3D asset: no studio time, no new photography.
Scale across channels.
One asset produces every output your brand needs, web, social, print, presentation, at consistent quality.
What we deliver
Scope the right outputs.
E-commerce Product Visuals
Visuals built to make your product stand out across every ecommerce channel, Amazon, Shopify, marketplaces and direct-to-consumer.
Product Lifestyle Visuals
Show your product in real lifestyle environments. With 3D, any setting can be created to present your product in its best light.
Product Colour Selector
A colour selector can help visitors compare approved finishes. Define the options and test how clearly the materials read at the final viewing size. Studio demo: interactive colour viewer, not client work.
Product 360 Visuals
A 360-degree image lets buyers see right around the product. The next step in online sales confidence.
Process
Our 3D product visualisation process.
- 01
Share the brief.
Send CAD files, sketches, reference imagery or a written brief outlining the product, output and intended use.
- 02
Define the visuals.
We agree composition, materials, lighting, image set and timeline before production.
- 03
Create and refine.
Visuals developed through structured review stages, with feedback incorporated efficiently.
- 04
Final delivery.
Approved files delivered in every required format, web, social, print, ecommerce, presentation.
When visualisation must support a fixed release date across film, stills, social, press and interactive formats, use the Launch Visuals programme as the commercial route. It plans every output around one product source and one creative direction.
If the product cannot yet be photographed, the pre-manufacture visualisation workflow shows how CAD, finish specifications and engineering approval become launch-ready imagery. Every output starts from a model built through our 3D modelling service.
The final finesse in a realistic render
In the director’s words:
Yeah, another thing to note with realistic renders also requires post-production a lot of the time. However, you can get realistic results rendering without post-production, but post-production a lot of the time gives that final extra finesse.
Visualisation, film or launch suite?
Start from what the buyer needs, then pick the route. Each format shows a different aspect of the same product: the Smarter iKettle project includes both product animation and exploded views.
| Need | Choose | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Stills, colourways, a 360 view or a colour selector | Product visualisation | This page, and product CGI stills for directed frames |
| A moving story or a mechanism | Film or animation | Product CGI films and product animation |
| A fixed launch date across every channel | A launch suite | Launch Visuals |
| The model first, reused later | A master asset | Master Asset Build |
| A view the buyer controls | Interactive | Product interactives and product configurators |
| A product not yet manufactured | Pre-manufacture visuals | Pre-manufacture visualisation |
Stills and film are not either-or: our guide to animation or stills covers when each is right and when you need both.
Before the brief, read the CAD to CGI guide and our product truth standard. Selling online? See CGI for ecommerce. Briefing for a client? Read about working with agencies. For the model itself, see 3D modelling; for viewing in a room, product AR.
FAQ
Common questions, answered.
What is product visualisation?
What is the difference between product visualisation and product rendering?
Can you visualise a product before it is manufactured?
Can the same visuals serve AR, a configurator and ecommerce?
What do you need from us?
Is it product visualisation or visualization?
What types of products can be visualised?
What are the benefits?
What determines the scope of a product visualisation project?
What is photoreal rendering?
Why can a render look wrong when the product model is accurate?
Yeah, so for product visualization, when the CAD shape is correct and it's been modeled to a photorealistic result, but the vendor still looks wrong, it usually comes down to the detail of the materials needing a lot more work in terms of the specular, the roughness, the dirt, the bump, the diffuse, tweaking all of these materials to get a realistic finish, and then making sure that the lighting looks realistic and it catches all of the edges and the form of the product to make it look really high quality. And depending on whether we're doing animation or stills, the camera will really play a big part in the composition as well.
Your next project
Start with the job the visuals must do.
Product visualisation can introduce the form, show the mechanism or place the product in context. Choose the job first, then scope the stills, film or interactive view that serves it.
A route to consider
Launch Visuals
A directed launch suite: film, stills and channel versions, scoped around the product story and release plan.
Bring these three things.
- Who is the audience?
- What is difficult to explain today?
- Where will the visuals be used?
Start with an outline. We review the product, intended outputs and timing before agreeing the production scope.
About the studio
XO3D is a director-led product CGI studio. Founded by Thomas Howcroft in 2017 and incorporated as XO3D Ltd (UK Companies House 11876020) in 2019, when Alex Mann joined as co-founder. Based at the Business and Technology Centre in Stevenage, UK, with representation at 244 Fifth Avenue, New York. We work with tech, industrial and premium consumer brands on product films, launch stills and interactive experiences.