How BDI Replaced Photography with CGI to Scale Visual Production and Cut Costs

The Challenge

BDI, a leading American furniture brand, faced challenges scaling visual production for its vast product range: high costs and long timelines for photoshoots, difficulties showcasing material variations, inconsistent visuals across platforms, growing need for lifestyle content.

The Solution

CGIFurniture offered a full-service 3D rendering solution to replace traditional photography entirely. Through silo renders, lifestyle scenes, animations, texture swaps, and more, BDI streamlined their visual pipeline—cutting costs and speeding up time to market.

Product Offering Used

• 3D modeling
• Product options
• Silo rendering
• Silo size
• 360 product view
• Hero shot
• Lifestyle rendering
• Inspirational lifestyle
• Fixtures shot
• Installation animation
• Promo animation
• Augmented reality

3D modeling

3D modeling creates precise digital twins of products. These reusable assets serve as the foundation for renders, animations, AR, or configurators — saving costs, streamlining production, and ensuring consistent quality across every channel.

Product options

Design and color options renders show multiple variations of the same product — from structural changes to finishes, styles, and colors. They let brands demonstrate versatility without extra photoshoots, speed up catalog production, and help customers compare options side by side, making choice easier and boosting purchase confidence.

Silo rendering

Silo renders place furniture on a clean background to highlight form, finish, and proportions. This consistency across collections makes them ideal for catalogs and e-commerce — helping buyers compare products easily and trust what they see.

Silo size

Add measurements directly onto clean product visuals. They make scale instantly clear, simplify comparisons, and reduce purchase hesitation — especially useful for online buyers.

360 product view

360° views let shoppers rotate products as if they were inspecting them in-store. This interactivity increases time on page, reduces uncertainty, and lowers return rates — making it a must-have for e-commerce and digital catalogs.

Client Quote

“We have been partnering with CGIFURNITURE for years. Their fine team of committed and innovative designers treats every project beautifully and does not stop until they get it right. Highly recommended for all rendering and animation needs.”

Dave Adams,
Marketing Director, BDI

Impact in Numbers

Hero shot

Hero shots are clean, front-facing visuals that make the product the star of the page. By removing distractions and focusing on form, texture, and finish, they strengthen product presentation in e-commerce and catalogs, boosting trust and conversions.

Lifestyle rendering

Lifestyle renders show furniture in styled interiors, helping shoppers picture products in their own homes. By adding context, textures, and mood, they create emotional appeal and increase conversions.

Inspirational lifestyle

Inspirational lifestyle renders add people and real-life context, showing products in use rather than just on display. They build emotional connection, make the brand relatable, and inspire customers to aspire to that lifestyle.

Fixtures shot

Fixture shots zoom in on key elements — from materials and finishes to mechanisms. They highlight craftsmanship and functional benefits, giving sales teams stronger visuals and customers clear reasons to trust the product’s quality.

Production Evolution

• Costly and time-consuming photoshoots
• Inconsistent images across platforms
• Limited finish/material options shown
• No fast way to test or launch new SKUs

• 40% savings on visual production
• Complete consistency across platforms
• Full product range shown in every variation
• Faster collection launches by 3 weeks

Installation animation

Installation animations are step-by-step 3D videos that guide customers through assembly or setup. They replace confusing paper manuals, reduce support requests, and cut down on assembly-related returns — improving both customer satisfaction and efficiency.

Promo animation

Promo animations showcase a product in a cinematic way, highlighting design and benefits in seconds. Perfect for ads, social media, and presentations, they capture attention in crowded markets, strengthen brand image, and increase conversion rates.

Augmented reality

AR visuals place products directly into a shopper’s home through a phone or tablet. They eliminate the guesswork of size and fit, boost purchase confidence, and significantly reduce costly returns.

Visuals in Action