When any industry starts to take off, there will always be competitors who try to take their slice of the pie. When choosing any vendor for any purpose, work with vendors that offer a good reputation for quality, years of experience, and the promise of expanding the horizons of the industry itself. With the advent of 3D visualization, many players have arisen to offer product configuration, system visualization, and augmented reality.

Let’s face it: Augmented Reality (AR) is altering our day-to-day lives quicker than it could be expected. According to an IDC report, global spending on AR is forecasted to reach $18.8 billion in 2020. The recent update to IDC's Worldwide Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide also demonstrates that global spending on AR devices and services will continue to grow strongly during the 2019 to 2023 projection period, attaining a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77%.  

Today, we are thrilled to announce the launch of Configurable Augmented Reality - Threekit customers can now simply let buyers visualize millions of product variations, in real-time, from the comfort of their own homes.

Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms available today. Many brands and retailers depend on Magento to run their eCommerce storefronts. 

The visual economy has introduced a new paradigm for retailers - Augmented Reality (AR). The marriage between retail and AR unlocks a whole new experience for buyers to be delighted by, which means more customers for businesses.

Should you use the STEP 3D file format? Like with all 3D file formats, it depends on what you are trying to do. Here, I will talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the STEP file format so you can decide if it is right the task at hand.

The Wavefront OBJ format is the most widely adopted 3D model storage format. The file format name, OBJ, is in reference to its purpose of storing 3D OBJects. The OBJ format was originally the native file format for the 1980s era Advanced Visualizer 3D modeling package. Advanced Visualizer 3D is now obsolete, but some of its code was incorporated into its successor, the Maya 3D editing suite. In addition to just the OBJ geometry format, it has a sister format called MAT, which is used for material definitions.

What do helmets, couches, and watches all have in common? Not much, except that all are part of the explosive  digital commerce trend, online 3D product configuration. While the manufacturers of these products are leading the way, most products will inevitably be sold this way before long. In fact, most customers will come to expect it as a natural part of their e-commerce experience. While selecting colors and textures has been a mainstay of product customization for quite some time, the new trend is to offer customers hundreds of options so that they can see their specific come to life in intricate, exquisite detail.

We know that in today's visual economy, consumers are hungry for AR technology. In fact, 71.5% say that AR is the “future technology they are most eager to use.”  But the truth is, augmented reality (AR) on the web may not be as far into the future as some think.  It's a complex story because the underlying technology for AR on the web is not yet mature.