HDRI Lighting

HDRI lighting standing for ‘high dynamic range imaging’ and is a technique used in digital imaging. The technique involves reproducing a greater dynamic range of luminosity that what normal digital imaging produces to create a quality lit scene. HDRI is a much higher dynamic range of colour and values than traditional bitmap formats. HDRI is modelled after trichromatic base of the human eye and store actual luminance values in each pixel (NING, 2017). As well as colour being obtained, strength and brightness of the light is valued and inputted.

Examples of HDRI lighting:

In order for my scene to look professional and as realistic as possible, I will have to use HDRI lighting. This will give my work a professional look and will aid the advertisements and promotional video that will be an outcome of the modelled and lit scene.

Following a Jay Westson YouTube tutorial, he recommends using the ‘cycles’ render in Blender for optimum results. From then, he deletes the lamp and adds a plane to the bottom of his product in order for the HDRI lighting to be effective, and so that the audience can see.

The next step is to go onto the ‘world’ section in the right-hand-side toolbox, and chance the colour to environment texture. Then add in the HDRI setting and look at the rendered view of you product and the lighting should be applied.

In blender cycles render, Westson states that you get ‘fireflies’, which are speckles to the lighting. However, one method to enhance the look of the product with the HDRI lighting is to go back to the ‘world’ section of the toolbar and enable ‘multiple importance sample’ and turn it up to ‘2048’. This enhances the lighting to create a more apparent and aesthetic look.

Below is the YouTube tutorial video I watched to gain this information:

After following the tutorial, below is a screenshot of my rendered scene using HDRI lighting:

Here is another tutorial whereby Mark delivers a HDRI lighted sphere:

From this tutorial, I was able to find more information about downloading some HDRI images that would aid me in my scene.

The next aspect of my work I need to research is render engines. There are several render engines on the market which all have different qualities and outcomes once a modelled product or scene is finished.

An article from Blender Guru analyses and tests 6 engines as well as the blender cycles which I am currently using. The other 5 render engines are: LuxRender, Maxwell, Mitsuba, Octane & V-Ray.

On the first test (a car scene), cycles took the second longest time to render, however, produced few fireflies. LuxRender rendered in a faster time, however the quality of the image was more poor. Mitsuba, Octane and V-Ray were the quickest and noise-free in this test.

The next test was an interior scene. This scene will be the most relatable for my project. Interior scenes are quite problamatic to render as the main part of the lighting comes from indirect light. The quickest render engine for this scene was the LuxRender at 12:44 minutes, against the worse (Maxwell) at 24:27 minutes. Cycles again had few fireflies and looks aesthetically pleasing, however was slow. The recommended engine for this type of scene was V-Ray. However, V-Ray comes at a cost of $350, which is out of my budget so I will be looking into the free build in and add-on’s of: Cycles, LuxRender & Mitsuba.

Pros & Cons of the three render engines I could possibly use within my budget (Cycles, LuxRender, Mitsuba):

Pros of Cycles:

• Fairly simple to learn
• Good use of material nodes and viewpoint
• Good documentation

Cons of Cycles:

• One of the youngest engines, not completely optimised
• Only 2 rendering algorithms, neither suitable for caustics

(Image by Steve Lund)

Pros of LuxRender:

• CPU and GPU rendering
• Many rendering algorithms and samplers to choose from
• Lost of post-production filters like lens effects and noise reduction
• Great documentation with many examples

Cons of LuxRender:

• New version doesn’t support all features, for example, hair
• Complicated and hard to learn

(Image by Simon Wendsche)

Pros of Mitsuba:

• Many rendering algorithms and samplers
• Excellent documentation
• Open-source and popular among researchers

Cons of Mitsuba:

• Generally not suited to serious 3D production
• Ver complex and hard to learn

(Image by Zeealpal and Bashi)

To conclude, I will look into using the Cycles render engine that is already build into Blender. This is because the interface is interactive and fairly simple to use, unlike LuxRender and Mitsuba, which is a game changer as I am new to the software and rendering process. Furthermore, it is specifically for 3D production, therefore there are no missing features. Moreover, I will not be using Maxwell, Octane and V-Ray due to their high prices, even though their outcome was of good quality and time-efficient. However, moving forwards, if I had a greater budget in industry, I would look into these render engines in more depth.

Bibliography:

Blender Guru (2015) Render Engine Comparison: Cycles vs The Rest. Blender Guru. Available from https://www.blenderguru.com/articles/render-engine-comparison-cycles-vs-giants [accessed 21 November 2017].

NING (2017) What is HDRI? Flamingo nXt. Available from http://nxt.flamingo3d.com/page/what-is-hdri [accessed 21 November 2017].

Hyperfocal Design (2017) Blender HDRI Tutorial: Cycles. Hyperfocal Design. Available from http://www.hyperfocaldesign.com/tutorials/blender-hdri-tutorial-cycles/ [accessed 21 November 2017]. 

In order to construct a full scene/ environment, I had to build every aspect that would go into the room, including products that are extraneous to the Kontor collection of products. Therefore, I started to model these first before putting the Kontor products in, see below for screen shots of the development:

After the initial ‘scene’ was constructed, I imported the Kontor models in the finalise the room:

Everything above has been 3D modelled by myself. I experimented with new features such as creating the plant in the corner by watching tutorials and playing around. However, one thing I decided I wanted to include in the room was an office chair, therefore I downloaded a free model and imported it into ‘the scene’:

For the Kontor collection, graphics need to be designed in order to texture wrap around the 3D modelled products. I aim to create these in Adobe Illustrator, then transfer the textures onto the models to be placed into Blender for the final outcome.

To start, I decided to hand-draw some initial ideas for graphics. I have used various design features such as geometric shapes, and further experimented with tessellation, size, shape, orientation and abstract placement. Below are the scanned drawings:

The next step was to start producing some computerised graphic using Adobe Illustrator to reproduce some of the above initial ideas, and experiment more. Below are the first ideas:

The first graphics I produced use geometric shapes vastly. Further to shape, colour is experimented with, using one or two colours, then experimenting with opacity and shade. The first image is purely hexagons, and second experiments with a 5 shapes. Both ideas are very ‘fussy’ to look at, therefore I do not believe that they would make good wallpapers, and may look unprofessional and ‘childish’ to be placed as textures on products.

Above are the next lot of graphics I designed. They still use geometric shapes, however, don’t overcomplicate the style. After analysing the results from the survey which targeted potential consumers, a general consensus was that colours of ‘grey’ and ‘silver’ was preferred and looked aesthetically pleasing to consumers, therefore would attract them more resulting in sales. Therefore, I decided to stay with the grey colour, to later experiment in Blender with metallic aspects to create an enhanced and professional look.

Above are more experiments using different shapes of grey, with repetition in shape. These graphics are very bold and therefore would be suitable for one off products and feature walls.

After evaluating the designs above, I decided to continue developing graphics, however, keep content to a minimum, and create more ‘simple’ designs that follow a more aesthetically pleasing approach with a professional looking outcome. Below is a design I have created in Illustrator, and a graphic which I have chosen to use as the wallpaper in the Kontor collection.

A few articles are now stating that developing a digital marketing plan is the future for the furniture industry. An Ataxia article communicates how new home owners are living in a more immersive digital age, therefore furniture retailers need to stay on top of shifting consumer trends, advancements in online marketing initiatives and technology shifts (Ataxia, 2017).

Here is some research into how existing competitors market their products:

Below is a web advert which is advertising IKEA’s Christmas collection. IKEA is using two marketing methods here: web/online and campaign. IKEA have launched their Christmas collection around the appropriate time of year (November), in time for consumers to buy products ready for the most festive month (December). This advertisement is simple, yet effective; it uses products in situ, with minimal text to indicate what the collection is, without stating it directly. I aim to produce an advertisement like this, both for web and print, that will illustrate to consumers what the collection is without being too obvious, therefore leaving the consumers mind engaged and thinking about the Kontor brand.

Below is a web page of IKEA advertising their YPPERLIG collection. IKEA are using a web and online method of marketing and linking this directly with the ability for consumers to buy the products online.

Made.com produced a short 20 second video, which they use on their website and scheduled on TV. This video uses a minimalistic approach there only two things are in shot at any time: a furniture product and a consumer. This is an effective marketing strategy as it reaches people who are online and offline on a national scale.

As Made.com is all digital based, there are no print advertisements produced, however, they have a strong Facebook presence with 1,075,995 (Made.com, 2017) likes and a large Twitter following of 33,100 users (Made.com, 2017).

‘Banner ads on websites or in apps continue to generate significant revenue. In fact, banner ad revenue is expected to grow at 7% compound annual growth’ (Ironpaper, 2017). This therefore shows a positive outreach as a marketing strategy and is something I wish to adopt in the advertising and marketing of Kontor. Below are some examples of existing banner advertisements:

Even though the print media industry is facing an uphill struggle with increasing competition from the internet and digital platforms, spending on items such as magazine spreads are at a high of 8.65 billion, with gigantic organisations still advertising their content in this manner such as L’Oréal (Statista, 2017). Below are some examples of furniture being advertised using print as a marketing strategy:

However, examples seen above are just for one item of furniture. This is still vastly useful as I can look into advertising each piece of the collection separately, therefore consumers are able to purchase one object if they do not want to buy whole collection. Nonetheless, it is still highly useful to see the collection as a whole in advertising to market the brand and increase awareness of the different products. Below are some examples of furniture collection print advertisements:

Bibliography:

Adtaxi (2017) Developing a Digital Marketing Plan in the Furniture Industry. Adtaxi. Available from http://www.adtaxi.com/2017/05/10/develop-digital-furniture-marketing-plan/ [accessed 15 November 2017].

Ironpaper (2017) Banner Advertising Stats and Trends for 2017. Ironpaper. Available from http://www.ironpaper.com/webintel/articles/banner-advertising-stats-and-trends-for-2017/ [accessed 15 November 2017].

Made.com (2017) Made.com’s homepage [Facebook]. 15 November. Available from https://www.facebook.com/Madedotcom/ [accessed 15 November 2017].

Made.com (2017) Made.com’s twitter feed [Twitter]. 15 November. Available from https://twitter.com/madedotcom?lang=en [accessed 15 November 2017].

Statista (2017) U.S. Print Media Industry – Statistics & Facts. Statista. Available from https://www.statista.com/topics/1052/print-media/ [accessed 15 November 2017].

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a business advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.

Below, I have created a marking plan which discusses what Kontor will do in one year (2018) to raise awareness of the brand, to generate sales and to increase the brand’s overall professionalism to gain market share.

Advertisement is vital in todays society. The United Kingdom ranks fourth among the world’s largest advertising markets (Statista, 2017) giving Kontor a successful and vast opportunity to reach its target audience. On average, UK adults use their phones 264 times a day (CIC, 2017) therefore, having web, online and social media marketing plays a vital role with communicating to potential consumers.

In the marketing plan, I have granted 3 months out of the year to focus on SEO marketing. SEO marketing (search engine optimisation) uses strategies, techniques and tactics to increase the amount of visitors to a website through a search engine. One fragment of this type of marketing is local SEO; 30% of searches are related to location (Google, 2016) and 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles (WordStream, 2016). This illustrated how important local searches are, as they can direct local consumers to the Kontor website. 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority (HubSpot, 2017), therefore, SEO marketing has a a presence during a quarter of the year in order to increase business growth and get the Kontor brand and collection out for consumers to see.

Another effective tool to market a product is by blogging. 53% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority, and if Kontor posts 16+ blog posts per month, we will get 3.5 times more traffic the companies that publish 0-4 monthly posts (HubSpot, 2016). This therefore is vastly effective and is why every month is accounted for on our marketing plan to ensure content is being created on blogs to boost the Kontor brand, and enable consumers to interactive with the business, thus boosting awareness and leading to sales.

Another vital part of marketing is social media, to which every month of the year will have content across all of the various networks. Facebook continues to have the most engaged users with 70% of people logging on daily, and a further 43% who do so several times a day (Pew Research Center, 2015). This is why I have stated that marketing the Kontor collection over Facebook will happen every month, and more specifically, several times a month. Facebook is an engaged platform reaching a vast amount of adults which fit our target audience, therefore increasing view ability and leading to consumer purchasing. Instagram is a social media network which will be worked on every month. Instagram as 500 million monthly active users with over 95 million photos and videos shared every day (HubSpot, 2017), therefore, the amount of potential consumers reached is vast. Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform, therefore Kontor will be able to carry out free advertising and marketing of the collection and the brand.

In a 2017 e-strategy trends report, it is stated that 15% of consumers respond to banner ads and 7% of consumers respond to billboards from small businesses. This is reflected in the amount of months in the year that will look into these marketing services. They still play a vital part of a businesses marketing strategy, however, don’t reach as many consumers as say social media would.

To conclude, a marketing plan is a hugely effective way to increase brand identity and to raise awareness of the Kontor home office collection. There are several aspects to a marketing plan such as content marketing, web, online, national marketing and even campaigns. Therefore, keeping organised and planning ahead will allow more ease to the business when launching and developing the Kontor brand and collection.

Bibliography:

E-Strategy Trends (2017) Top Small Business Marketing Channels. David Erickson. Available from http://trends.e-strategyblog.com/2017/11/06/small-business-marketing-channels/28811 [accessed 15 November 2017].

CIC (2017) Digital is Transforming UK Media. The Creative Industries. Available from http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/industries/advertising/advertising-facts-and-figures/digital-advertising [accessed 15 November 2017].

Google (2016) Google Trends. Google. Available from https://trends.google.com/trends/. [accessed 15 November 2017].

HubSpot (2016) Content Marketing Statistics. HubSpot. Available from https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics [accessed 15 November 2017].

HubSpot (2017) Search Engine Optimization Statistics. HubSpot. Available from https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics [accessed 15 November 2017].

HubSpot (2017) Social Media Statistics. HubSpot. Available from https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics [accessed 15 November 2017].

Pew Research Center (2015) Social Media. Pew Research Center. Available from http://www.pewresearch.org/topics/social-media/2015/ [accessed 15 November 2017].

Statista (2017) UK: Advertising Industry – Statistics & Facts. Statista. Available from https://www.statista.com/topics/1747/advertising-in-the-united-kingdom/ [accessed 15 November 2017].

WordStream (2016) 8 Super-Fascinating Digital Marketing Stats Revealed at SMX East. WordStream. Available from http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/10/06/smx-east [accessed 15 November 2017].