Definitions, workflows and best practices for visual product marketing in the furniture, home & living industry - compact, easy to understand, with project references.

Glossary for 3D Visualization, CGI, and Brand Communication

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What is Ambient Occlusion (AO)?

Ambient occlusion (AO) estimates occlusion caused by neighboring geometry. AO maps and SSAO can emphasize contact areas, but they do not replace a complete lighting solution.

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What is augmented reality?

Augmented reality adds digital content to your real surroundings. Learn how tracking, spatial understanding, and rendering work together, how AR, VR, and MR differ, and what matters when preparing 3D products for smartphones or headsets.

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What is Brand Experience (BX)?

Brand experience describes the sensory, emotional, intellectual, and behavioral responses a brand evokes. For furniture and interior brands, materials, visual language, spaces, and interactions all contribute. 3D/CGI can visually connect these touchpoints.

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What is CGI (Computer Generated Imagery)? Meaning & Definition

CGI means computer-generated imagery. In product marketing, it can take the form of isolated product images, interior scenes, and animations. The product references, review process, and brand's visual language shape the result.

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What is the albedo/base color map?

It describes a color-accurate surface without shadows or gloss and forms the basis for consistent product colors in the PBR workflow—from renderings to web and AR viewers.

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What is Digital Asset Management (DAM)?

A DAM is your brand’s “asset hub”: This is where media is centrally organized, tagged, versioned, and assigned access rights. This allows teams to quickly find approved images, videos, and 3D assets—and use them consistently across all channels.

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What is a 3D product configurator?

A 3D product configurator displays selectable product variants. This article explains the display options, the necessary 3D assets, and how to collaborate with the development team.

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What is a 3D virtual showroom?

A 3D virtual showroom presents products in a digital space, using panorama views or a real-time scene. Learn which features matter and how design, product data and implementation fit together.

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What is a displacement map?

A displacement map describes how the surface of a 3D model is displaced. Unlike bump and normal mapping, true displacement changes the geometry and can therefore also affect the silhouette and shadows. Whether it is necessary depends on the material, the camera's proximity, and the output medium.

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What is a lightmap?

A lightmap stores precalculated lighting in a texture. It can reduce rendering work in interactive 3D scenes. Learn how UVs, resolution, and material variations affect the result.

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What is a Metalness Map?

A Metalness Map distinguishes between metallic and non-metallic regions in a PBR material. The material reference, appropriate values, and channel mapping during export are crucial.

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What is a normal map?

Normal maps store surface normals and add fine details to the lighting of a 3D model. Learn how they differ from bump maps and what’s important when it comes to color space, baking, and material setup.

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What is a rendering engine?

A render engine turns 3D geometry, materials, and lighting into finished images or animations. This article explains how it works, common engines, selection criteria, and Danthree examples: practical and easy to understand.

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What is a render farm?

A render farm distributes rendering tasks across multiple computers. Learn how local and cloud systems work, and how scenes, software and memory affect time and cost.

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What is a roughness map?

Roughness maps control the distribution of shine and matte areas in PBR materials. Learn how roughness, material channels, color space, and texture resolution work together.

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What is Global Illumination (GI)?

Global illumination accounts for indirect light transport between surfaces. Learn how it affects material appearance and the feel of a space, in offline rendering and real-time applications.

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What is glTF?

glTF and GLB bring 3D models, materials and animations into web viewers. Learn how to check exports, material variants and product presentation.

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What is HDRI / Image-Based Lighting (IBL)?

An HDRI is an image with a high dynamic range. Image-based lighting uses image data, often an environment panorama, to light a 3D scene. The result depends on suitable light sources, materials, and color management.

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What is Mixed Reality?

Mixed reality (MR) connects the physical environment with interactive 3D objects in real time. This article explains the technology, uses for furniture and interior brands, differences from AR/VR, and how to choose devices and software.

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What is OpenUSD (USD)?

OpenUSD is an open 3D ecosystem for describing, composing, and exchanging complex scenes. It enables layering, variations, and collaboration across DCC tools—it’s more than just a file format.

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What is Physically Based Rendering (PBR)?

Physically Based Rendering (PBR) describes surfaces using physically based material models. Base Color, Roughness, and other parameters help evaluate materials under varying lighting conditions. PBR alone does not guarantee photorealism or identical results across different renderers.

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What is ray tracing?

Ray tracing follows rays through a 3D scene. Learn how it calculates reflections, shadows, and refraction, and how it relates to path tracing and rasterization.

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What is rigging?

Rigging prepares a 3D model for animation using hierarchies, controllers, and, when needed, a skeleton. FK/IK controls joint motion; skinning connects deformable meshes to the skeleton. Learn what matters for product mechanisms, animation, and export.

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What Is Subsurface Scattering (SSS)?

Subsurface scattering describes light scattering beneath a material’s surface. Learn when it matters in product imagery and how materials, geometry, scale and lighting work together.

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What Is Texture Baking? (Map Baking)

Texture baking transfers surface or lighting information into textures. Learn when normal maps, AO and lightmaps are useful and how to check UVs, projection and export settings.

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What is Tone Mapping / ACES (ACEScg)?

Tone mapping shapes how brightness appears in an image output. ACES is a color management system; ACEScg is one of its linear working color spaces. Learn how they relate to product imagery.

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What is USDZ?

USDZ bundles a USD scene and required files, such as textures, into a single package. Apple uses this format for Quick Look and AR. Rendering, materials, and animations must be tested on the respective target system.

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What is UV mapping (UV unwrapping)?

UV mapping maps textures onto a 3D surface. UV unwrapping, seam lines, texel density, and padding determine how patterns and baked maps appear on the model.

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What is visual storytelling?

Visual storytelling connects images into a story. Learn how to show furniture and interior products in context, develop a consistent visual language, and choose suitable CGI formats. With a workflow, practical examples, and FAQs.

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