Every configurator starts with a 3D model of the product, but not the engineering one: a light one, made for the browser, that moves smoothly on the phone and shows what sells. Which files work as a starting point, which parts get modelled and which generate themselves from their dimensions, how true-to-life materials are made, what each part and each finish costs and what else the model is good for once it is done.
Starting from clean 3D files speeds up the modelling; rebuilding every part from a photo or a scanned drawing adds hours.
The model from the design software used to manufacture, or the 3D files that suppliers of fittings, motors and components provide. They are cleaned, simplified and prepared for the web: the geometry is the real one.
Elevation, plan and section in DWG or PDF with dimensions. Each part is modelled from the drawing; it takes longer than adapting a 3D file, but the result is exact.
Photos from several angles and the main dimensions, or a physical sample. The part is rebuilt by eye with the dimensions given; it is what adds the most hours and needs the most revisions.
With a sample of the 3D or the drawings and the price list, the modelling and finishes item is closed with figures, not estimates. What else is needed, in what a manufacturer needs for a 3D configurator.
The difference sets the price: what is generated from dimensions is not paid for per reference.
A finish in 3D is not a colour: it is how it reflects light, how the grain repeats and how it looks up close.
Every colour, wood, fabric or texture is built from a flat, well-lit photo, or from a physical sample, with its reference. Gloss, relief and repetition are adjusted so that oak does not look like plastic and velvet does not look like cardboard. At €30 to €120 per finish, or more.
Materials are priced separately and per finish: that way you pay only for the ones you are going to show. A range of 40 decors can start with the 12 that sell most and grow later.
Fabrics in families with their surcharge, decors with their matching edging, colours per series. The finish is seen on the whole product, not in a little square, and carries its reference to the order sheet.
Finishes are loaded with a template and updated from the panel: a decor that leaves the catalogue is deactivated and a new one is added with its photo and its reference. See board decor configurator.
What is paid for once for the configurator serves for everything else.
The configurator on the website and the viewer on each product page use the same model. See 3D product viewer for your website.
Images of the product in every finish and in a setting for the catalogue, the website and social media, with no photo shoot and no samples manufactured. See product rendering.
The same model opens on the phone at real size on the wall, the terrace or the parking space, with no app to install.
The assembly or operation animation for the trade fair, the training of the network and the product page starts from the same model. See 3D industrial video.
Development starts from €6,500 for a visual configurator of one product family; most manufacturer projects fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on catalogue, rules and integrations, plus maintenance from €190/month. 3D modelling and materials or finishes are priced separately, per product: at €30 to €120 per part or finish, or more if the part is complex. The configurator files and the 3D models are handed over: they are yours.
There are more short answers in frequently asked questions about 3D configurators and who we are in 3D configurator company.
No. 3D modelling and materials or finishes are priced separately, per product: at €30 to €120 per part or finish, or more if the part is complex. If the product is generated from its dimensions, like pallets or kitchen and wardrobe modules, there is no modelling to pay for each reference.
Ideally, the 3D files from the design software or from the component suppliers; if not, dimensioned drawings in DWG or PDF; and if not, photos from several angles with the main dimensions or a physical sample. The cleaner the starting point, the fewer hours and the fewer revisions.
No. The engineering model weighs hundreds of times more than a browser can handle; it is used as a reference and a light model is built that loads fast and moves smoothly on the phone, with detail where it is seen and without it where it is not.
Yes, when they are built from a flat, well-lit photo or a physical sample, adjusting gloss, relief and repetition. In the demos the textures are our own, as samples; in your configurator go yours, with their reference and their family.
Yes. Finishes are loaded with a template and updated from the panel; new parts are modelled and priced per part when they are needed. The usual thing is to start with what sells most and grow.
You do. The bespoke development belongs to the manufacturer who pays for it, and the configurator files and the 3D models are handed over; they also serve for the viewer, the product renders, augmented reality and the animation. See who owns the configurator's code and the price of a 3D configurator.
Take a close look at the modelling in the demos: the sofa's stitching, the decor's edging, the window's fitting, the pallet generated from dimensions. No sign-up, with sample products, at configurador.grup3d.es/demo.
With your files in front of you? Send us a sample of the 3D or the drawings of one product and the list of finishes, and in a 20-minute video call we will tell you what gets modelled, what is generated from dimensions and what it would cost. No commitment.
Would you rather talk it through? Call us on 662 061 421 or write to grup3d@grup3d.es.
What a manufacturer gathers to build a 3D configurator: catalogue with references, sizes and rules, price list, photos of finishes, 3D or drawings, and real orders.
Read →What a 3D product viewer is, how it differs from a configurator, what it adds to the product page, how it is embedded and how much it weighs on the website.
Read →The index with one card per configurator, filtered by sector, with their open demos.
Read →For manufacturers and for those who sell without a factory: what we do, how, and at what price.
Read →Price, code, cutting lists, online shop, mobile, AI and every sector.
Read →The three levels, what each one includes and what is priced separately.
Read →