Welco Lumber Company
When this client, a B2B lumber wholesaler, approached us to create a website for his company, there was one big problem. He had no product images that we could use on his website.
Our client had two main product lines – specialty lumber and corbels. Getting photos of the lumber wouldn’t be a problem because he already had that at his facility.
The challenge was getting photos of his corbels because he never had any in stock. They were all made to order. So how were we ever going to get the photos we needed for the product pages of his new website?
We came up with an idea. Although our client had no actual corbels, we knew he had physical templates which he used to manufacture them. Through a multi-step process, we could turn photographs of the templates into accurate shaded renderings that we could use on the website.
What We Did
We began by going to our client’s facility to photograph the full-sized templates. Back at our office, we imported the photos into our 3D modeling software, outlined the profiles and scaled the drawings to the exact size. After applying the correct thickness to each profile, the 3D models were complete.
Next, we had to create the shaded renderings. We rotated the models in 3D space, added virtual lights and camera, then captured the image. By the time we completed this process, we created an entire line of accurate product images where none existed before. Best of all, we created all of the corbel styles digitally, without our client having to produce physical product samples, saving him thousands of dollars and weeks of labor.
Once all of the product images were completed, we began work on building this WordPress website. We integrated a custom products component featuring the shaded renderings we created. Thumbnail images of the corbels are arranged in a block grid, displaying 6-across on desktops down to 3-across on mobile devices. Web visitors can click on any thumbnail and go to a detail page containing dimensional information.
The intended audience for this site is construction industry insiders, primarily lumber yards. Our custom design incorporated wood-tone colors and a yellow caution tape motif, creating a style that’s both identifiable and familiar to this company’s web visitors.
Website Page Images
Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image and/or begin a slideshow.
