Introduction
For industries with high technical and aesthetic standards, most existing online configurator solutions provide insufficient accuracy in digital material visualization. Here is where Ocean™ makes a difference: Using spectral measurements of materials with advanced geometric optics computation, it generates physically true images to test materials in specific environments, highlighting all their visual properties without reducing them through digitization. It enables companies to deliver an accurate digital catalog that replicates real-world scenarios, helping them stand out in competitive markets.
Why traditional online configurators fall short in material visualization:
Traditional configurators fail to accurately represent complex material effects. Because materials cannot be accurately visualized under real-world lighting and environmental conditions, these limitations lead to a contradiction of the desired effect, resulting in slower decisions, reduced confidence, and missed opportunities.
- Limited material accuracy: Traditional configurators fail to accurately depict complex material effects such as translucency, sparkles, and angle-dependent color shifts, as detailed volumic and surfacic materials proprieties needs to be considered for accurate modelling.
- Poor realistic scenario and customization capability: Materials are not visualized under realistic lighting and environmental conditions (e.g. on a car, in a building, as packaging). The configurator doesn’t offer enough customization options (e.g. different scenes, lighting conditions, viewing angles…). This can lead to differences in appearance between the physical product and the online visualization (e.g. color, large scale result…).
- Lack of data transparency: Acquiring the necessary measurement data (e.g., spectral data, goniophotometric measurements, microscopic images) can be expensive, time-consuming, and require specialized equipment and expertise. The ability to easily export configuration data (e.g., material specifications, images) for use in other design tools, for R&D needs or for communication with suppliers is not always possible.
Ocean™ addresses all of the above challenges by delivering realistic in-situ visualization for efficient customer conversion through the use of online catalogs.
Ocean™: Predictive modeling for high-precision online configurators
Ocean™ applies a rigorous scientific approach to ensure material accuracy, handle complex scenes, and enable physically true, in-situ visualizations. Here’s how:
- Capturing Complex Material Properties with scientific accuracy: Ocean™ utilizes spectral measurements to accurately simulate complex optical effects such as translucency, sparkles, and angle-dependent color shifts. By integrating advanced otpical properties such as BSDF data or gonio-spectrophotometric measurements, Ocean™ ensures true-to-life representations of materials, solving the challenges of visual fidelity and color accuracy. Its virtual lab capabilities enable the simulation of these properties without extensive physical measurements.
- Data Acquisition Made Simple: Because accurate and relevant measurements require specialized equipment and expertise, we provide material characterization services and a team of optical experts to support your projects.
- Advanced rendering for realistic visualization in any condition: Ocean™ employs advanced global illumination and bi-directional path tracing techniques to simulate billions of light paths, ensuring realistic renderings under any lighting or environmental conditions. Its robust computational algorithms optimize performance without compromising on visual accuracy, even for complex materials and geometries.
- Real-world scenarios: With Ocean™, materials can be visualized in situ, such as on buildings, vehicles, or packaging. This physically-true in-situ visualization builds client trust, reduces uncertainty, and supports faster decision-making.
- Extensive Customization capabilities: Ocean™ supports highly detailed CAD models, allows the use of real-world light sources (natural and artificial), and includes a wide range of cameras and sensors with no viewing angle limitations to ensure materials are accurately represented for any application.
- Open format for easy workflow integration: To ensure the best control over input and output data, Ocean™ uses and generates open data formats, making it easy to integrate into existing workflows.
Display your materials with accuracy in real-world scenarios:
Evaluate complex optical effects: Glossiness, transparency, angle-dependent color shifts…
Figure 1 - Comparing glossiness, transparency, angle-dependent color shifts, empty and filled containers on same shapes .
Explore materials in real-world conditions: Different lighting, viewpoints, and environments
Figure 2 - Testing car coating appearance at scale, in various environments and point of views.
Compare optical performances: Spectral accuracy in material visualization
Figure 3 - Left: Different PVB compositions offering different optical performances. Right: Color shifting coating in situ visualized on a building façade. Considering this position of the sun, the coating appears green or orange.
Ocean™ sets a new standard for accurate online configurators, offering an efficient, reliable, and visually stunning solution for industries that require high-precision in appearance and visualization.
Physically accurate digital material visualization with Ocean™
Achieving predictive digital material visualization requires precision in the treatment of lighting, geometry, and material properties. These elements must be approached scientifically to ensure true-to-life representations.
Figure 4: Simplified workflow to generate accurate visualization with Ocean™
Ocean™ sets itself apart by applying advanced scientific methods to each parameter:
- Lighting: Full-spectral calculations and consideration of light polarization ensure accurate simulation of how light interacts with materials.
- Geometry: Exact solutions in geometric optics paired with fully detailed CAD models capture intricate surface roughness and complex shapes.
- Material Properties: Comprehensive characterization of materials, including photometry and radiometry, accounts for their composition and optical behavior.
Ocean™ precisely manages these factors to deliver physically accurate images that go beyond traditional rendering approaches, making it the leading choice for high quality material visualization.
Comparing Ocean™ to traditional configurators
Ocean™ redefines accuracy in online configurators by delivering physically true renderings that simulate real-world scenarios by applying rigorous precision to the following parameters:
- Appearance Accuracy: Incorporates spectral data, polarization effects, and material complexity for highly realistic visualizations.
- Physics-based approach: Uses physical units, optical measurements, and colorimetry to ensure scientific reliability.
- Advanced 3D management: Handles complex scenes with high polygon counts, ensuring detailed and accurate representations of objects and materials.
This comprehensive approach enables Ocean™ to produce online catalogs with unique realism, enabling industries to make faster, more informed decisions while increasing customer confidence.
Figure 5: Comparison between online configurator powered by Ocean™ and traditional online configurators
Business benefits of Ocean™ for digital product configurators
Online tools that help design products need to display the right colors and textures. Ocean™ does this by using scientific methodology to ensure that what appears on the screen is exactly what the customer or the designer will get in real life. This results in faster decision making and increased customer satisfaction. Ocean™’s predictive modeling of material appearance also supports brand loyalty and customer conversion because there are no discrepancies between the digital visualization and the physical product:
- Stronger Differentiation: Stand out with a configurator that rivals real-world comparisons.
- Faster Decisions, Increased Conversions: Clients make informed choices without needing physical samples.
- Enhanced Trust and Credibility: Accurate visuals reduce uncertainty, building client confidence.
Conclusion - Tech pushed online configurators with scientific precision
Ocean™ represents a significant asset for online configurators application and digital catalog solutions by providing scientifically accurate material visualization that replicates real-world conditions and enhances product representation. Addressing the limitations of traditional configurators, Ocean™ enables precise digital representation of materials through spectral data integration, realistic lighting simulations, and advanced computational techniques.
Using rigorous optical measurements and physics-based rendering, Ocean™ ensures high-fidelity visualization, supporting industries that require exact material characterization, such as architecture, automotive, and packaging. This accuracy reduces reliance on physical prototypes, accelerates decision making, and increases confidence in material selection processes.
A future article will present specific use cases across different industries, including plastics, coatings, and glass, addressing B2B2C configurator challenges and demonstrating the practical applications and benefits of Ocean™’s capabilities for improving industry-specific visualization needs.
All images displayed in this article were generated with Ocean™.
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Q&A
How does Ocean™ enhance configurators?
Ocean™ realistic rendering software elevates online configurators by combining spectral accuracy, realistic visualization, and robust computational tools. It ensures that materials are represented with true-to-life details, enabling businesses to offer customers a highly interactive and engaging experience. This results in better decision-making and stronger customer trust.
What effects can Ocean™ simulate accurately?
Ocean™ excels at simulating complex material effects such as:
- Translucency: Capturing light scattering within materials.
- Sparkles: Representing fine reflective particles on surfaces.
- Angle-dependent color shifts: Accurately visualizing how colors change under different viewing angles.
- Surface finishes: Glossy, matte, or textured finishes with precision.
- Polarization effects: Simulating color shifts and details based on light interaction.
How does it integrate with CAD models and existing workflows?
Unlike traditional configurators, Ocean™:
- Uses spectral data for precise material rendering.
- Accurately handles complex optical effects like sparkles and translucency.
- Simulates materials in real-world scenarios, accounting for dynamic lighting and viewing angles.
- Provides a more interactive, high-quality experience, reducing the need for physical samples and enabling faster decisions.
What are the Business Benefits for Marketing Managers using Ocean™ predictive images for their configurators needs?
- Improved customer trust & conversion: High-fidelity visuals build credibility, leading to faster decision-making and increased customer satisfaction by enhancing customer confidence in online catalogs.
- Stronger competitive differentiation: Offering scientifically accurate configurators positions brands as industry leaders, differentiating them from competitors relying on outdated visualization methods. By embracing digital configurator innovation and next-generation online catalogs, businesses can enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.
- Reduced dependence on physical prototypes: Accurate digital visualization minimizes the need for costly sample production and accelerates the sales cycle.
What materials and effects can Ocean™ handle?
Ocean™ supports a wide range of materials and effects, including:
- Glass: Architectural glazing, automotive windshields, and specialty glass.
- Plastics: Transparent, translucent, or layered plastics, with and without surface effects.
- Coatings: Automotive paints, consumer goods coatings, and industrial finishes.
It simulates optical behaviors such as color shifts, light scattering, polarization, and reflections, making it ideal for industries with high aesthetic and functional standards.
Which industries can benefit from Ocean™'s renderings for online configurator ?
Ocean™ serves industries where material appearance and precision are critical, including:
These industries gain from Ocean™’s ability to visualize materials in realistic scenarios, enabling faster product development and improved stakeholder confidence.
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