When 3D earns its place on a website

Three questions we ask before adding a 3D scene to a page, and what we do when the answer is no.

A 3D scene is the most expensive thing you can put on a page. It costs design time, build time, load time and battery. Sometimes it is still the right call.

We decide with three questions. If a scene does not pass at least one of them, we use a photograph, a film or nothing.

Does it explain something a flat image cannot?

A product that folds, a part hidden inside a casing, a space you need to walk around: these are hard to show flat. If turning the object teaches the visitor something, real time is doing work.

Does the visitor control it?

A scene that only plays is a film with a worse frame rate. Render it as a film. Real time is for cases where the visitor changes the outcome: picks a colour, opens a door, moves the light.

Is it the brand's own material?

For a studio that makes 3D art, the scene is the portfolio. For a law firm it is decoration. The same technique reads very differently depending on who is showing it.

If turning the object teaches the visitor nothing, it should have been a photograph.

When the answer is no

• A looping film of the same shot gives most of the feeling for a fraction of the weight.
• A sequence of stills on scroll works on every device and is easy to art-direct.
• A generated line illustration can carry the idea with a few kilobytes.

None of these are a downgrade. They are the same idea at the right cost.