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posted by n1 on Friday August 29 2014, @09:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the artists-representation-of-particleboard-furniture dept.

In the summer of 2004, IKEA decided to change the way they produced their product images for catalogs and other promotional materials. They made the first tentative moves toward CG rendered, rather than photographic, images. The real turning point came when, in 2009, an internal review review of the worst 200 product images turned out to be all traditional photographs and the handful of best images were all CG.

Today, around 75% of all IKEA’s product images are CG rendered at 4Kx4K resolution. They have a bank of 25,000 models. The first entire room image to be created in CG for one of IKEA’s catalogues was in 2010.

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  • (Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Friday August 29 2014, @10:40PM

    by Horse With Stripes (577) on Friday August 29 2014, @10:40PM (#87393)

    This message was generated by a computer, too. Though it had a little human assistance. ;-)

  • (Score: 2) by Geotti on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:37AM

    by Geotti (1146) on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:37AM (#87405) Journal

    This really blew my mind. I would never have thought that their pictures come from a ray-tracer. That's insane quality...

    How do they get the textures' look so realistic?

    • (Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:57AM

      by opinionated_science (4031) on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:57AM (#87411)

      I suspect they are going to get sued now under "trades description"...

      I hear that's a bit like most dating websites...

      Unless, they are gearing up to start making cartoons...?4K?

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by gman003 on Saturday August 30 2014, @01:10AM

        by gman003 (4155) on Saturday August 30 2014, @01:10AM (#87415)

        As long as the CG image is an accurate representation of the product, I doubt they'll be sued. From the sound of it, they build the mesh from the actual blueprints anyways.

        If McDonald's can get away with advertising their "food" with such blatantly manipulated images, Ikea should be fine using CG to cut costs on images. Sure, McDonald's is taking an actual photo, but it has much less resemblance to the real product than Ikea's shots.

        Or for a better example, all the video games advertized for consoles that use PC screenshots in the ads, running higher settings than the consoles can manage. That seems much less acceptable, but they haven't been sued over it AFAIK.

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @01:25AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @01:25AM (#87421)

          > Or for a better example, all the video games advertized for consoles that use PC screenshots in the ads, running higher settings than the consoles can manage

          I bet that doesn't fly in the UK. Their advertising standards are a lot higher than in the US.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @02:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @02:10AM (#87435)

      How do they get the textures' look so realistic?

      They use the same graphic that they stick over the chipboard on their shitty mass-produced products. It's easy to fake fakes, they look just as real.

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Tork on Saturday August 30 2014, @05:29AM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 30 2014, @05:29AM (#87480)

      How do they get the textures' look so realistic?

      It isn't the textures. Most of that scene has very little in terms of actual texture work done. It's a combination of using photographic lighting setups (i.e. the same sort of lighting arrangement a photographer would use) and using blurry reflections. What's telling you that the room in the article is real is that the white wall is subtly reflecting in the hardwood floor. That's 90% of the battle right there. Everything else is icing... like having a fruit in the bowl that has JUST the right shade of green in it.

      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
      • (Score: 2) by Geotti on Saturday August 30 2014, @03:29PM

        by Geotti (1146) on Saturday August 30 2014, @03:29PM (#87571) Journal

        Even if you look at the chair in the second picture, it's still astounding!

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:59AM (#87412)

    Could Oculus VR headsets be put in IKEA stores to demo, and customize, entire rooms?

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @04:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @04:26AM (#87464)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN8vyO8ILD8 [youtube.com]

    This story INSTANTLY reminded me of this!!! :D

  • (Score: 2) by evilviper on Saturday August 30 2014, @06:41AM

    by evilviper (1760) on Saturday August 30 2014, @06:41AM (#87486) Homepage Journal

    "an internal review review" huh?

    --
    Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.