Streamline Product Documentation With 3DVIA Composer - Part 6

Part 6. Creating vibrant, exciting marketing content and web-based catalogs

Because CAD data enables you to create imagery for print and online marketing purposes with a 3D authoring tool, it is an incredibly valuable asset. Many manufacturers spend millions of dollars annually on professional product photography to present and market their products when a more cost-effective, high-resolution, CAD-derived image could satisfy the same need. Some media, such as television and magazines, always will require live-action video and photography. However, the burgeoning need for digital content and the explosive growth in online, web-based catalogs both demand visual content that manufacturers can best supply by re-purposing product design data.

Even if a manufacturer already derives catalog visuals from CAD files, the process requires the input of both an engineer and a marketing professional to separate engineering data from marketing needs. With an integrated documentation system, marketing professionals can render, modify, and change images to meet specific printing or marketing needs, such as controlling resolution—pixels and dots-per-inch—which is not easy to do with CAD screen captures. Because the CAD model can be used to update views and animations that match the final product, marketing professionals no longer need to wait for Engineering to finish the product to create content.

With CAD-derived imagery and animations, manufacturers can make their online and digital media marketing vehicles more exciting, dynamic, and interactive, while saving money at the same time. With an integrated 3D authoring tool, just about anyone can transform a CAD model into a dazzling interactive animation.

Furthermore, manufacturers can begin marketing the product upon its release for production rather than waiting on initial production runs or photography to begin creating market demand. By re-purposing CAD models as marketing visuals and animations with content creation software, you can reduce photography costs, increase visual flexibility, and get out in front of product introductions.

Check back tomorrow for the concluding Part 7

To learn more about 3DVIA Composer, visit cati.com or email us at cati@cati.com.

*This article provides excerpts from the “Streamlining Product Documentation across the Manufacturing Enterprise with 3DVIA Composer White paper, published by  DS SOLIDWORKS Corp.