In the retail industry, manufacturers are accelerating the growth of their direct-to-consumer businesses; retailers are maturing private brand programs; and consumers expect personalized products and experiences as well as full transparency to responsible sourcing and sustainable practices. COVID-19 has also exposed the risks of traditional product creation models and long product development cycles.
Now in its fifth year, the 2022 3DRC Grand Challenge: 3D Virtualization for Retailers and Brands invited the academic and research communities to present creative research and solutions with the potential to transform how companies create, make, and sell new products by harnessing the power of digital product creation.
This year’s entries were tasked with developing people, process, and tech-related solutions that addressed the ability to scale and automate 3D product virtualization within any product lifecycle stage.
Based on applicability and the impact on business, technology, and society, Emersya was named by the 3D Retail Coalition Steering Committee as the 2022 Grand Challenge winner.
“The fact that the tool could provide rapid iteration, easy export from digital content creation tools, and create a variety of new outputs from 3D models was appealing.”
– 3DRC Steering Committee
Emersya has been pioneering interactive 3D and augmented reality (AR) for digital product experiences for the past ten years. They developed an all-in-one online platform that empowers brands, manufacturers, and retailers to scale and automate 3D product virtualization across all stages of the create, make, and sell lifecycle.
Manage 3D Assets
Emersya’s agnostic platform allows brands to publish and optimize their 3D assets from any software, to visualize, enrich, and share them online easily. The platform breaks down the silos between different departments (design, development, marketing, sales, etc.) by providing an accessible, easy-to-use tool that enables everyone to work together.
Create Variants
Emersya provides brands with an easy-to-use online tool for creating new product variants by trying out different colors, materials, artwork, and graphics in real-time 3D. Designers can instantly create unlimited true-to-life virtual samples for their new product collection.
Share, Review, and Iterate
Instead of in-person meetings with physical models, brand teams can review and discuss product designs online in interactive 3D and AR. This can cut the production of physical samples by 90% and reduce lead time by up to 50%, lowering overall costs and the environmental impact.
Generate Tech Packs
Once the colorway designs have been validated, Emersya can automatically generate Tech Packs, including the Bill of Materials and other data the brand requires for material sourcing and production. This data can be fed directly into the brand’s PLM to speed up the process, eliminate the error margin, and allow designers to spend more time on creative tasks.
Automate Photo Shoots
Emersya offers a virtual product photography solution that enables marketers to generate infinite numbers of true-to-life product images based on the 3D models of their products. This supports brands in creating more product visuals more efficiently—for all product colorways—ahead of time and at a lower cost.
Share and Embed 3D and AR Product Experiences
For every product design created on the platform, Emersya automatically generates a link to visualize and share the design online, embed on a website, or use in B2B sales. Using the same assets, the platform also empowers brands to create web-based 3D easily and AR product experiences for B2C sales, online and in-store. These experiences drive consumer engagement, increase conversion rates, and build consumer loyalty, all while limiting product returns.
Made-to-Order and Customization
The Emersya platform provides brands with an easy, automatable process for setting up customizable or configurable products in 3D. From personalizing a product with engraving, embroidery, or imagery to creating a bespoke product, Emersya facilitates manufacturing custom products at scale by supplying production files and offering an online order management system. Offering made-to-order products helps companies produce more sustainably while reducing returns.
About 3D Virtualization for Retailers and Brands at IEEE SA
The 3DRC Grand Challenge is a joint initiative of the 3D Retail Coalition (3DRC), IEEE SA, and PI Apparel for the retail/apparel industry to explore technology applications and standards enabling next-generation consumer experiences. The project originated with support from the IEEE 3D Body Processing (3DBP) Industry Connections (IC) activity, a collaborative effort to assess standards opportunities intersecting emerging technologies to enhance industries such as retail, medical, health and wellness, and sports and athletics. Participation in 3DBP subgroups and activities is welcomed.
Learn more about the 3DRC Grand Challenge and the 3D Body Processing IC Activity.