3-D Comes to the Web

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Since it was selling the pendant specifically for Mothers Day, gifts.com set out to create an emotional experience. A brainstorming session came up with the idea of creating a story around the pendant. RichFX created the 3-D image and the video story that went with it. “There is much more to a product than the product itself,” says John Mellor, vice president, product management with RichFX. “There’s the ambience and the experience of the product.”

Reader’s Digest will start using 3-D technology with its goodcatalog.com operation in September. It will display virtual rooms in different decors, such as Asian or African. “We are moving from one product to an entire environment,” McManus says.

With its success, gifts.com believes it has blazed a trail for the e-retailing industry. “It’s a breakthrough for us and for the industry,” McManus says.