Colorful: A Web-Based Tool That Makes 3D Rendering Accessible for Everyone
We are excited about the launch of Colorful, a new app that brings 3D rendering to the masses by combining cloud computing and user-friendly, in-browser software, making it possible to produce photo-realistic images entirely on your computer.
With this tool, you can create great product images and all kinds of visual scenes without having to commission a photo shoot, without expensive equipment, without advanced design skills, and without breaking the bank.
We know it sounds super ambitious, but we have tested it and the results are really promising.
Virtual Photography: The Way of the Future
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Colorful offers a way to create realistic photos through 3D modeling and rendering. Or what is the same, to have images that you create on your computer, but that look just as great as if they had been shot with a camera and edited with professional image editing.
This seems to be the next big thing in stock imagery –just have a look at what other companies are doing with AI-generated photos, which is different tech but pursues a similar goal–, and Colorful agrees.
zerolens, the company behind this new application, highlights the difficulties that stem from creating custom photography in a classic way: the cost and time consumption from renting a venue and equipment, hiring a photographer and models, buying props, prepping the set with ideal lighting, and so on. They add how things get complicated when everyone involved in the project has to greenlight the images taken, or if you’re shooting outdoors and at the mercy of weather conditions, for example.
Virtual photography, they think, solves all these obstacles efficiently, as they are just as realistic and tailored to your needs, but you can create them in your computer for a fraction of the cost, and the hassle.
Colorful: An Accessible Tool for 3D Rendering
Now, 3D modeling and 3D rendering is no easy task. For one, it requires a certain degree of design software knowledge. And then, the process itself is one of the most costly of all computing tasks, it demands using professional and really complex software that also needs advanced –and really expensive– computers to run properly. It is just not the kind of thing the average person can do easily.
Well, until now. Colorful’s innovative service uses cloud computing to handle the heavy part of the 3D render process, and the application itself is entirely web-based, meaning you can access it from almost any browser of your choice. This effectively eliminates all hardware restrictions –all you need is a good Internet connection– and both simplifies and reduces the cost of 3D rendering by a long shot.
Not only that, but Colorful is also a user-friendly concept, as far as design goes. The tool has lots of templates for scenes and virtual photo studios, as well as stock 3D models –products, objects, etc.– that you can select, combine and customize to create a unique virtual scene. You can see a preview of your render image, and the final, processed render is of high-quality and realistic aspect. Furthermore, they integrate collaborative features such as easy sharing of your virtual photos via link or with the app community, and reusing of your virtual scenes for new images.
They hope that this also means more and more creatives without specific training in 3D rendering will begin to try it out themselves.
We recently tested Colorful, with very cool results. Have a look:
Colorful Free Beta Test & Future Pricing
As of right now, Colorful has launched in beta test. They have a Starter membership which is free forever, and gives you unlimited personal scenes, limited live rendering, access to the 3D assets and templates library, and image export in 1K resolution.
The Professional plan, however, is the premium segment and comes with unlimited team scenes, faster live rendering, access to all libraries, export images in up to 4K quality, and soon will also add sharing and team setting features. This plan will have a cost of $29 a month with an annual subscription, or $34 hiring it month to month. A really affordable price point compared to the much larger costs of traditional 3D rendering.
However, during the Beta test Colorful Professional is free for all. So this is a really good time to try it out!
What do you think? Are you up for trying 3D rendering for your product images?
