Definition

Usually refers to an online widget/application that allows the user to preview and interact with products in 360° view.

The main two approaches are render-based and 3D-based. With the render-based one, you are essentially creating an illusion of 360° spin by rendering 36 or 72 packshots of the product over a white background from different angles, essentially rotating the product by x° each frame until you reach full revolution.

Then you simply put it into a javascript plugin that makes it interactive and by rapidly changing the images according to the movement of your mouse – and you have got a 360° spinning viewer. Other functionalities like colour changes or product modularity can be built upon this principle.

The 3D-based one utilizes webGL rendering to load in an actual 3D model and allows you to rotate across all the axies and zoom in and out – perhaps to even add an animation loop if you wish to. On top of that, it is really easy to combine it with web-AR functionality.

The downside is slightly worse material quality due to restricted lighting setups of the framework.