Guide · 2026-11-12
How to Prepare Furniture Files for 3D Rendering
What to send a 3D artist so your furniture renders come back accurate the first time.
Start with dimensions
The single most useful thing you can send is a drawing with the main dimensions: overall width, depth and height, seat height, seat depth and arm height. Even a hand sketch with numbers on it is enough. Without dimensions, a 3D artist has to guess proportions from photos, and small errors add up to a chair that looks slightly wrong.
If you only have photos, measure one thing you are sure of, such as the seat height, and say so. Everything else can be scaled from it.
Send photos from several angles
Front, side, back, three-quarter and a top view if possible. Add close-ups of anything unusual: joinery, stitching, a weave pattern, how the legs meet the frame. Photos of the underside save a lot of questions, because that is where the construction is visible.
Describe the materials properly
Names like "walnut" or "linen" help, but a photo of the real material in daylight helps more. For fabrics, note the texture (smooth, slub, bouclé, velvet) and whether there is a visible weave. For woods, say whether the finish is matte, satin or gloss. If you have brand colour codes, include them.
If the product comes in several finishes, list them all at the start. It is much faster to build colorways from one master model than to add them later.
Say where the images will be used
A white-background packshot for a marketplace, a lifestyle scene for your homepage and a 3D viewer for your store all need different setups. Telling the artist up front avoids rework and lets them build a model that serves all of them.
If you already have CAD files
Send them, even if they are messy. STEP, IGES, OBJ, FBX, SKP and native files from most programs can be used. Manufacturing CAD often contains far more detail than a render needs, and a good 3D artist will simplify it without changing the look.