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

CGIFurniture helped BDI move fully from photography to CGI—reducing costs, increasing speed, and maintaining a premium brand look across all channels.

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.

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.

Grayscale render with visible 3D mesh—showcasing precision modeling and early-stage visualization in CGIFurniture’s workflow.

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.

Drag to compare design configurations
Quickly compare colors and materials

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.

Desk Drawer Silo CGI
Media Console Silo CGI
Desk Silo CGI
Office Desk Silo CGI
Bed Silo CGI

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.

Interact with a 360° view to explore every angle of the product

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

400+
Visuals created
5+
Years of partnership
40%
Cost reduction
3x
Faster launches

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.

Office Desk Lifestyle CGI
Desk Lifestyle CGI
Desk Lifestyle Product Rendering
Desk Product CGI
Bed Lifestyle CG Render
Bed Lifestyle Product CG Render
Coffee Table Lifestyle Render
Media Console Lifestyle Render
Desk Lifestyle Product CGI
Bed Lifestyle CG Rendering
Bed Lifestyle Product Render
Kitchen Furniture Lifestyle Render

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.

Product Render with a Woman Passing a Media Console
Product Render with a Girl using a Laptop
Product Render with a Girl on a Bed
Product CG Render with a Girl using a Laptop
Product CG Render with a Girl on a Bed
Product Render with a Couple on a Bed

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.

Sideboard cutaway with labeled shelves, drawers, soft close doors, and wire openings in product feature rendering
Table Drawer Close Up CG Shot
Media Console Close Up CG Render
Drawer Close Up CG Shot From Above
Desk Drawer Close Up CG Shot
Media Console Close Up CG View
Media Console Close Up CG Shot

Production Evolution

Before CGI

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

  • 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

E-commerce product pages
Print & digital catalogs
Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook
Paid ads & email campaigns
The client used the 3D product renderings and animation across every marketing channel. The visuals enriched e-commerce product pages, supported print and digital catalogs, increased reach on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, and strengthened the performance of paid ads and email campaigns.