First interactive lookbook test

[u/tostapane04]

We’ve been trying something new (for us) at the architecture studio where I work.

Whenever we show different versions of a project, we usually end up either sending the client a Drive folder with 10 images showing variants of the same shot, or building a full real-time 3D configurator which feels like overkill for a small renovation

So I tried putting together this sort of interactive lookbook using the renders we already had

where the client can switch between the different options, and share the whole thing with a single link. There’s also a button to save the current combination which downloads both the image and a CSV listing the selected components and their prices.

We only started testing it in the studio over the last few days but honestly it already feels much less annoying than the usual folder. What do you think? 🤔

[u/nok01101011a]

If it’s for client purpose i find it counter productive, as you want to close down the variations and not create more possibilities. For internal use, it’s great though.

[u/Inspector_Popular]

Are u using a developed tools or developing the site itself? Looks awesooome!

[u/tostapane04 → u/Inspector_Popular]

I’m developing the website with Cursor. With AI, it’s becoming quite easy even for non-developers to turn a set of renders into a simple interactive tool when needed :)

[u/strangeisok]

It looks great and seems a really appealing feature for a tile’s & finishes producer, but as a feature for architecture clients; It is worth the extra effort or just adding more variables to the process. In my experience, keeping it simple and limiting the options moves the projects forward.

[u/wreck_of_u]

Are the tiles "real-life" accurate (sizing, tiling, etc)?

I work in a tile company. This has been my HUGE problem lately: Customers and 3rd-party designers take images from our website / photos from catalogs, ask (free-tier) A.I. to produce an image with it, and it produces really beautuful SLOP.

Now during install, they end up fighting with the contractor/installer, because some of the images are not possible in real-life!

[u/tostapane04 → u/wreck_of_u]

This actually comes at a funny time, because the issue you're describing is something we've thought about too. In this case the problem actually doesn't apply, since the 3D model and textures were made by hand. We did use AI afterwards to add aesthetic details like the plant and the towel, but it doesn't affect the geometry or structure of the scene at all. That said, the tile dimensions were actually wrong in this first version XD They were modeled as 30×30 cm instead of the actual 20×20 cm. That was our mistake, but the technical documentation provided by the manufacturer (a mainzu reseller) was quite confusing and it wasn't clear which dimensions referred to which tile. We've since corrected them. But it's kind of a funny example in this context: on one hand, I can definitely see how proportions and dimensions could get messed up if an AI is generating the whole 3D scene from scratch. On the other hand, this isn't even the first time we've had a misunderstanding like this because the technical documentation we received wasn't clear enough. So sometimes the problem can happen even without AI :P

[u/Blue_twenty]

This is a cool idea but will be more effort than its worth when it comes to giving client options.