3D model quality checks: our 14-point standard

Why quality standards for 3D product models matter

A 3D model stands in for your product at the moment a shopper decides. If a seam glows, a leg floats or the fabric looks printed, the shopper doubts the piece itself. If the size is wrong, they order a sofa that does not fit, and it comes back.

Our standard turns that risk into a list of checks with clear pass lines. Many run as scripts on every file, and every model is also reviewed by eye in close-ups and on real phones. Below are the 14 checks in four groups.

Shape and construction

1. No light through seams

We check that every joint which is closed on your real piece is also closed in the model. Our script measures open edges that stand away from any surface and fails the model when they add up past a strict limit. Without this check, a shopper would see thin lines of daylight through the corner of a cabinet, which makes a solid piece look cheap.

2. Nothing floats

Every part must rest on the part that holds it, and the piece must stand flat on the floor. Our script fails any part that hovers more than half a millimetre away from the rest of the piece, and the lowest point of a floor product sits within 1 mm of the floor. A floating cushion or a leg that hangs in the air is the first thing a shopper notices in AR, and it breaks their trust in the whole model.

3. No hairline gaps

Cushions, panels and legs that touch on your piece must meet cleanly in the model. We build touching parts with a slight overlap of 0.2 to 1 mm, so no hairline gap appears when a shopper looks up close. Gaps that exist by design on your real piece, such as the reveal around a drawer, stay exactly as they are.

4. Real hardware

Handles, hinges, studs and brass mounts are shaped in 3D, never painted onto a photo. Any hardware 10 mm across or more, or standing 1 mm proud of the surface, is modelled as real geometry. Painted hardware looks flat as soon as the shopper turns the piece, and hardware is often what sets a premium product apart.

5. Smooth curves

Rounded arms, piping and turned legs must stay smooth, with no facets or spikes. We bevel every product edge and our script measures the kinks along each cord of piping, failing any model where they go past our limit. A faceted curve makes a well-made sofa look like a cheap render, while a smooth one shows the craft your buyers pay for.

Fabric, wood and patterns

6. Fabric you can feel

The weave and the folds of a fabric must show on a phone held close. We add a fine surface layer at the fabric’s real scale, and our script measures that relief at the distance a phone shows it from. Without it, fabric looks like a printed photo stretched over a shape, and shoppers cannot tell velvet from linen.

7. Patterns that line up

Checks, plaids and stripes must carry on across every seam, as they do on your real piece. We lay each patterned panel out in one piece with seams on the real construction lines, and our script measures any break in the pattern across a seam. A broken check is the kind of flaw a shopper reads as poor workmanship on the product itself.

8. No repeating tiles

Wood grain and fabric are built from repeating tiles, and the line where a tile repeats must never show. We test every tile for visible edges after it has been compressed for the phone, because that step can bring a line back. A visible grid on an oak top makes real wood look fake.

9. Sharp up close

Surfaces must stay crisp when a shopper zooms in. We set a minimum level of detail per metre of surface, with a finer layer for fabric, leather and wood, and we count the real detail of the source photo, not an enlarged copy. Close-ups at 30 and 50 cm show any blur before a phone does, so the shopper sees the grain and the weave they are paying for.

Colour and light

10. Clean edges

No dark streak may appear where a surface wraps around a corner or meets a seam. Our script measures dark pixels near every seam and the jump in shading across it, and fails the model past a calibrated limit. Black shards along an edge are a common flaw in fast-made models, and they make a clean piece look damaged.

11. Clean colours

No stray black specks may appear anywhere on the piece. Our script counts near-black pixels across the whole surface and fails the model above a very small share. Specks read as dirt or wear, and nobody orders a new chair that looks stained.

12. Even light

Light must fall smoothly across the surface, with no sudden change at a seam and no studio light frozen into the colours. When we start from your photos, we remove the light baked into them and let the phone add its own light and shadow in the shopper’s room. The piece then looks natural in any room, at any time of day, instead of carrying the glare of a photo studio.

13. One finish per material

Each wood, metal or fabric must read as one surface, not a patchwork. We set the values of every material explicitly and keep metals within one reference range for brightness, so brass reads as brass on every part. Where a photographed part meets a modelled one, we check the join for any visible step.

Every angle

14. Seen from every side

No face may turn invisible or hollow when the shopper turns the piece or walks around it in AR. Our script fails a model when more than a tiny share of its surface faces the wrong way, and any part whose back can be seen is built with real thickness. A chair back that vanishes from behind would make the shopper doubt every other detail.

How we test every model

The 14 checks above sit inside a wider routine that every model follows before it goes live in your shop.

• We record your product’s dimensions from the product sheet before modelling starts. The finished model matches each one within 1 mm on pieces under 1 m and within 1 percent above, so the shopper sees the true size in their room.
• We render every model from the front, the side, three quarters and above, plus close-ups at 30 and 50 cm, the distance shoppers hold a phone to look closely. We set each view beside your reference photo at the same angle and compare them.
• We build two versions of every model, one for iPhone and one for Android. Every model is opened in AR on a real phone, and each version must pass its official validator with zero errors.
• We keep each file light, aiming for 4 MB or less and staying well under the 10 MB that Google recommends, with textures no larger than 2048 pixels. Your product pages stay fast, and the model opens quickly on mobile data.
• We fix the scale in AR, so shoppers always see your product at its real size and cannot shrink it by accident.

Every model also meets Shopify’s 3D model standards checklist and the file limits Google sets for its Scene Viewer, so it works on your Shopify product pages and in Google’s AR view.

For the file formats behind the iPhone and Android versions, read GLB and USDZ explained.

In short

Here is what you get with every model.

• Every model passes 14 quality checks covering construction, fabric and patterns, colour and light, and every angle.
• Most checks run as scripts with strict pass lines, and every model is reviewed in close-ups and on real phones.
• Every model matches your product’s dimensions, so shoppers see the true size and order with confidence.
• Every model comes in an iPhone and an Android version, light enough to load fast on a phone.

We build every model to this standard, install it on your product pages and change it until it matches your piece. If you want it done for you, get your first model free.