A 3D Configurator for high-quality Sofa Variations

Initial Position

Traditional craftsmanship is particularly important to the Swiss furniture manufacturer Horst. Highest quality, selected first-class materials and employees who passionately produce sustainable furniture on site: all indispensable pillars of the philosophy of the Artanova Switzerland furniture line. What also drives the company is the fascination for setting new trends today that will influence the way of life for many years to come.

This high-quality seating furniture should also be able to be experienced digitally and in order to do justice to the trend towards the most modern visual commerce technologies in the furniture industry, Horst approached Sitewerk with the wish to visualize their products in 3D and to enable customers to configure sofas themselves. The first product line from Artanova started with Castell II. The sofas in this furniture line impress with their timeless elegance and their strictly cubist lines, giving them a special charm. Whether configured as a single sofa, a corner group or a sofa with a lounger, there are countless variantions to meet the individual requirements of the most diverse customers. A 3D configurator as a software solution is ideal for presenting these diverse variation options in an attractive and clear manner.

Proceeding

After clarifying the scope and the customer's requirements, our design department immediately started on creating an attractive and intuitively-functioning UI for the new individual 3D furniture configurator from Artanova Horst. When configuring such high-quality design products, the user should also feel the first-class quality digitally in order to arouse emotions. So it was important that the user can zoom in closely and see the texture of the leather and almost feel it.

The configurator clearly shows the user the countless individual variations and can play with them intuitively to create their individual dream sofa. Plausibility and completeness checks ensure that only products that can actually be ordered can be configured. When visualizing furniture 3D, there are a few aspects to consider and think through (including the position of the feet when adding or removing armrests, headrests, material texture).

The product visualization, based on a 3D viewer developed by us, the 360-degree view feature and a detailed view of the material/leather will inspire users of Artanova's product configurator. The loading and response pages are impressive due to their high speed.

Configuration

The configuration can be started with an element of each of the following categories such as seat modules, armrests, sofas or corner elements. Any element can be added by clicking on the + symbol. By clicking on the wheel symbol, you have the option of adding neck rests, foot rests, stools or even decorative cushions. The responsiveness of the modelling and the 3D view are impressive as is the extremely detailed texture mapping of the leather.

At the end of the configuration process you get a parts list with all items with item number and dimensions. You can download this as a PDF or send it directly to Artanova using the contact form to start the quote and ordering process via sales.

Future Plans

This digital solution is modular and expandable. In this way, further product lines can be integrated into the configurator and further elements and accessories can be added. The 3D data created could be exported and used for planning software. Visualization in augmented reality is also on Horst's wish list for the future.