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The Power of Presentation Is More Effective With 3D Models

Strata 3D CX helped in creating visuals for focus groups and sales presentations to evaluate market response and feedback in preliminary phases, reducing time-consuming redesigns. (Design by Sharp Studio.)

Package designers know the importance of a great design. Designs need to meet the practical needs of selling the product, maintaining the client's design standards, staying economical to produce. But before it does any of those things the design needs to be approved by the client—and a great presentation can make all the difference.

Eric Runnels, department head at MVP Group International in Charleston, SC, knows the impact of a stunning presentation. Runnels has been working in the printing and packaging design industries for 18 years, and his tools of choice are Adobe and Strata products. These tools give him design flexibility and have allowed him to bring his designs to a new level of potential production while leaving him the flexibility to make quick updates and changes.

Two of Runnels' projects that illustrate this power of presentation include the new T.G.I. Friday's Snacks product line and Plug Scents fragrance plug-ins. Photorealistic 3D renderings were a key element of the presentations for these two projects. Runnels says his design work centers on using Adobe tools, and finding a 3D application that fit that workflow was critical.

Runnels finds that Strata 3D CX provides the tools for product design visuals, packaging illustration, and new product development. Many of Runnels' clients like to see the Strata 3D CX photorealistic renderings of new products and packaging designs before the start of the costly preproduction stages of development, which in many cases has replaced the product mockup for client approvals, focus groups, and advertising campaigns.

Brand extension presentation

Runnels explains that Strata 3D CX works with Photoshop and Illustrator and seamlessly provides a familiar design interface and file format integration. "I can take my 2D layouts and easily create the 3D boxes, bottles, and product models for my renderings," says Runnels. "Strata 3D CX can import the native Illustrator files and produce 3D models."

Runnels also heralded Strata's ability to import Photoshop files to be applied to 3D surfaces to be used for controlling color, reflectivity, transparency, etc. CX also provides a "live link" to the Photoshop file. When changes are be made to the Photoshop file, the 3D model automatically updates.

One particularly challenging project was packaging for a new line of snack foods based on the branding of the T.G.I. Friday's restaurant chain. The design team had to communicate the fun of the brand in practical packaging—issues the client was very concerned about.

Working with the designers at CMA design in Houston, Runnels provided first-hand photorealistic renderings of the packaging concepts for the T.G.I. Friday's snacks. These 3D renderings of the packaging replaced the preproduction mockup samples as a key presentation element. This helped the client to visualize the packaging and shorten approval times and costly mockup stages before final production.

Three-dimensional renderings of packaging replaced the preproduction mockup samples as a key presentation element, and Strata 3D CX made it possible. (Design by CMA design.)

'Aromatic' smell of success

Strata 3D CX was also essential in the development of a new electric fragrance plug-in product and packaging design. Working with a major importer of home fragrance products, the client wanted to see product development visuals before having the engineers begin creating molds. Strata 3D CX helped in creating visuals for focus groups and sales presentations to evaluate market response and feedback. These 3D visuals helped to cut down on the amount of product changes and redesigns by providing a photorealistic reference of the product.

After the response from focus groups and wholesale clients, Runnels worked in 3D to help create the final product design—which was used as an exported file that the engineers could work with for molding. The time it would have taken for the factory to create product mockups from illustrations was almost eliminated by using Strata 3D CX.

Runnels says that Strata 3D CX has helped him to work faster and smarter with quicker visual feedback from his clients. Strata 3D CX has helped him to cut costs and time from the beginning of a concept to marketing of the product or even the final production.

The ability to create photo-real 3D renderings, animations and now even real-time presentations with Strata's Live 3D product has been a key element in Runnels' design work. These technologies have helped him to be more creative and his clients to be less worried about their investment. The client and the designer are able to keep their minds on the expression of ideas.